Testimonials
Feedback From Our Clients
From the Manager of a Kiwifruit Operation
Chris Anstis manages a very successful kiwifruit farming operation at the top of New Zealand’s North Island which employs up to 50 staff. Chris is also a leader in the New Zealand kiwifruit industry as the grower representative for the Opotiki region for the NZKGI.
Here’s what Chris had to say about agCommander.
“With agCommander it is not until you show another Grower what it can do, that it really sinks home the breadth and width of its capabilities. Our neighbour is looking at introducing his 8th different piece of software into his business. We do the same, and more as those 8 programs, using agCommander and one other. Even after he left, I kept remembering what agCommander can do that I forgot to mention. All of this capability is testament to time in the game. I have used new flashy software for things and quickly run into the “we will add it to the development list” for basic functionality. The 30+ years of ticking away shows in agCommander”
Chris Anstis – Manager, P & M Anstis Trust, Opotiki, New Zealand
From a Mixed Grain and Livestock Family Farming Operation in New Zealand
We operate a 900ha cropping and livestock finishing business in the South Island of New Zealand. We have had a long association with agCommander as an early adopter of the programme and its former version as PAM since 2004.
To run a successful farming business you need good financial visibility of every production unit and records to meet compliance obligations, as well as information and reports you can share with advisors and staff to build a strong team and business. You also need tools to help with future planning and an integrated mapping programme to visually support management and record keeping.
agCommander achieves all of this and more for our cropping and stock finishing system.
Over the years one of the most powerful tools for me has been the gross margin reporting. I can quickly see what the best returning crops are, where the costs have been well managed and where they haven’t.
It is very easy to group crops and see what my average yields are over what ever time period I select.
Average yield data can then be used in agCommanders budgeting module to help with future planning and management, producing lists of consumables such as chemical, making pricing and ordering a much easier process.
Another strength of agCommander has been their back up support and commitment to develop and to grow along side our farming business.
I would also rate them 10/10 for adding feature requests and improvements.
agCommander has many features some we have used for a long time and some we are introducing as our business grows, such as the livestock module and the mobile app for staff and data entry. And then there are features that we could use in the future should we require.
agCommander offers many solutions in one software platform and is very configurable at many levels within each module to meet your own business situation.
Peter Mitchell – Managing Director, Rosedale Farming Company, Oamaru, New Zealand
From the Manager of a Mixed Grain and Livestock Farming Operation in Western Australia
We have had a long association with agCommander as an early adopter of the programme and its former version as PAM from as far back as yr 2000.
agCommander is valuable to all our enterprises as it is unique in the fact that it caters exceptionally for all enterprises as its fully integrated modules for, cropping , livestock mobs (plus our Individual Animal records), harvest /consumables inventory’s -configurable from basic to intensive, Weather data with APIs connecting to many sensors/services, Soil data with import -export functions , underlying Mapping module, and Assets management. The ability to switch data views from diary to field view is a powerful concept not often seen in other software. We have found that the Livestock module is an essential tool for maintaining animal welfare and keeping track of profitability values.
The mobile app lets all levels of staff feed data in an uncluttered, intuitive format utilising prefilled lists, map options and to easily apply the prescriptions sent out from management. The staff can follow complex crop prescriptions, track stock and enter traceability data, review on farm rainfall, track along buried pipelines on sub meter accurate paths to find valves for kilometres or enter geo -referenced observations on the fly amongst many other operations and reports available to them on their mobile devices at their predetermined level of data access.
The whole platform comes well structured from the startup but is fully configurable for managers to set-out the programme from small plots to large paddocks catering for multiple crops and varieties simultaneously in the same field if required.
I feel the ability to quickly budget different scenarios in the cropping and recently in the Livestock modules has been the real power for our operations in an environment of fluctuating enterprise profitability. Our ability to switch between enterprise mixes is strongly influenced by planning and budgeting done in agCommander and caters for reporting back over archived farms /fields or stock by choice through the infinitely configurable grid style reports that lets massive data sets be drilled down to the last parameter if required.
The reports grouping, sorting, summarising including/ excluding functions means we rarely need to export data out to other platforms to manage reportable information, although this is an option.
Once informed decisions are made, the scenarios are simply converted to work orders for all to accurately carry out in the real world.
Thank you agCommander for a solution for management to empower staff and partners in a complex business model to get the job done, recorded quickly and give back valuable records for all levels of engagement.
Murray Hall – Manager, Hallsbrook, Brookton, Western Australia
From a Mixed Grain and Livestock Family Farming Operation in South Australia
We operate a mixed farm enterprise, consisting of wheat, barley, canola, field peas, beans, vetch, lentils, export and domestic oaten hay and prime lambs from Dohne ewes and White Suffolk rams.
It’s a family operation with one full time employee, located in the upper mid north of South Australia.
agCommander has become an integral part of our operation and has grown into a very powerful program. It’s now become our “right hand” man, always looking something up on our phones/laptops and it’s always up and running on the office computer.
We have now added the Asset Manager module, as we were not happy with the software we were using. We can now record all our machinery/vehicle services and parts/filters etc in the one easy to use software.
One of the big benefits to using agCommander is that you have direct contact/input to the program product manager, so if you want a feature added and it would be of benefit to other users it can be added.
It’s great have our data on the “cloud” so that it’s accessible anywhere by phone/tablet/laptop and by our agronomist. The integration with other software such as PCT AgCloud, John Deere, weather stations etc. is a major benefit.
If someone asks me “what farm production software do you use”? Simple answer……agCommander.
Craig Humphris – Yongala Ag, Jamestown, South Australia
From the CTO of an Agricultural Technologies Company with a Horticulture Focus in Israel
Our company is located in the heart of an agricultural community in Israel, our activities include providing farmers training services, pest control, agricultural research farm and field service lab.
As an organization that deals with constant data collection, we are always in constant search for tools to help manage and use these data correctly. agCommander felt like “the real thing” from the first moment.
Professional mapping interfaces, proper data management thinking and the ability to manage a large regional system has led us to choose it. Along with the ability to be several levels of system management for our customers, this is a very powerful tool we can trust.
But agCommander’s most prominent feature is in the service consciousness and commitment to the success of its customers. Every request we raised had a reference and answer.
Idan Elingold – CTO, Zemach Agricultural Technologies, Jordan Valley, Israel
From the Viticultural Agronomist of a Wine Producer in Argentina
Additionally, we implemented the GrapeForecaster module for yield estimation, which delivered very positive results. The platform offers a wide range of reports that we now use daily, making it an indispensable part of our vineyard management.”
Emiliano Caetano – Ing. Agrónomo – Anaia Wines, Agrelo, Argentina
From the Viticulture and R & D Manager of a Wine Producer in Thailand
From the Managing Director of a Macadamia Grower in South Africa and Australia
Saratoga Holdings is the Australian holding company for the macadamia farming businesses at Hinkler Park Plantations (HPP), Queensland, Victoria Park Plantations (VPP), New South Wales and Barberton Valley Plantations in South Africa. It is one of the largest producers of macadamia nuts in the world having started in 1979 at VPP. The Saratoga group worldwide has approx. 5,000Ha of macadamias and produces over 15% of the Australian crop employing hundreds of staff in Australia and South Africa.
Here’s what Peter Zadro, former Saratoga CEO and now Managing Director of the South African operations had to say about agCommander …
I am very happy to say good things about agCommander.
We have been agCommander clients since 2005 and the majority of the business practices of our farming operations rely heavily on the software for control and oversight.
Macadamias are harvested daily for 6 months of the year, generating large numbers of records. Nuts are moved from silo to silo for drying and sorting. agCommander manages this whole process and our team rely on it through the 6 months of harvest.
We use the agCommander mobile app throughout the harvest to record the loads of nuts as they are sent off to the silos. We also use the mobile app for our extensive scouting program s which span across several months.
The agCommander reporting flexibility is excellent. Besides the very useful map reporting tools, being able to configure table columns included, their position, sort by, group by, summaries and expand/collapse options .. it is tremendous.
Peter Zadro – Managing Director, Barberton Valley Plantations, Barberton, South Africa
