Areare Farms uses John Deere technology to limit repeat spraying

The business operates across several properties, with siblings Jenna and Brian Rogers working with their parents, Phil and Jackie. The siblings represent the family's third generation on the farm. Phil's father started with roughly 36 hectares at Taupiri, north of Hamilton. The operation has since expanded beyond 220 hectares, while additional support land brings its combined area to more than 400 hectares.

Phil purchased his first John Deere tractor around 1980, well before the family began using precision systems. Today, the farm operates tractors from the company's 6 Series range with technology for managing fieldwork. Brian says rising expenditure on electricity, fuel and animal feed has made the management of those inputs increasingly important, and that the equipment helps the family use them more effectively.

Brian identifies irregular paddock boundaries as a practical challenge for applications. He says Section Control helps prevent product being applied again to ground that has already been treated. The family also uses variable-rate technology. His assessment of the system's accuracy is based on the amount of product remaining after work, compared with the quantities the farm continues to order.

Beyond tractor operations, the family uses JD Operations Center to maintain digital records of completed work across the properties. Those records show application locations and provide evidence of product placement. The system helps the family handle reporting requirements and retrieve information needed for regulatory purposes, alongside keeping a record of activities carried out on the farm.

The platform's Work Planner feature is also used to organise machine assignments and identify paddocks requiring work. Brian says operators receive a prepared job, with the tractor already carrying instructions on its destination and task. With dairy operations continuing around the clock, he says time released from one task can be used for other work on the farm.

The family's dealership contact, territory manager Colin Henderson, has worked with the Rogers for 32 years. His relationship with the business began when he maintained their tractors as a diesel mechanic. He subsequently moved into sales and support, continuing to work with the family as its machinery and use of technology changed.

Brian is now considering yield mapping and the potential use of those records to direct fertiliser applications at variable rates. He says combining yield information with application machinery could allow fertiliser to be delivered where it is needed. He regards that use of data as a way to avoid wasting inputs.