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Fairport News
Historical FTI news articles and PRESS RELEASES
Download PDF - Get PDF Viewer hereMarch 2005
IN THIS ISSUE
| Welcome |
Once again we welcome all our new and old clients and especially those of you reading the Fairport News for the first time!
We hope you all had an enjoyable Easter break and hope that winter is a good one for all concerned.
| Rogers Ramblings |
We have a new and improved web site! Please visit www.fairport.com.au for a refreshing take on what we have to offer.
Grape growers: while things start to quieten down after vintage it’s the ideal time to take a look at the Grape Forecaster program which we developed in conjunction with the GWRDC and Victorian Department of Primary Industry. Follow the Grape Forecaster links on our web site home page for information.
Recently Fairport and Rinex launched our new PAM-GuideTRAX interface which we have been co-developing since October 2003. GuideTRAX 3.0 users can import PAM data (farms, paddocks, chemicals, spaying plans etc) and enter data in the tractor or spray rig, then export the records back to PAM. For more information call Rinex (+61 8 9474 4771)or our office.[top]
| Pasture Watch News |
New pricing structure announced at start of Season 2005
Areas up to 4000ha = $299 plus GST
Areas over 4000ha = $500 plus GSTPrices now apply to one calendar year 1st January to 31st December 2005
The Fairport Team would like to sincerely thank everyone that subscribed to the Pastures from Space service for 2004. We trust you were able to use the information to good effect in your pasture and livestock management decisions.
We have had a promising response from both the Eastern states and WA since a letter went out to our 2004 Pastures from Space subscribers early in February this year.
You will all be pleased to hear that during the Summer, the Fairport developers have reworked the Pasture Watch software; here are the changes we have made.
Pasture budgeting has been made a whole lot simpler. There is now no need to allocate stock to paddocks to get a Supply vs. Demand Graph.
Supply vs. Demand Graph now shows percentage of utilization of feed.
Pasture Growth Rate graph now shows paddocks carrying capacity.
New report, showing paddock Pasture Growth Rate values and paddock carrying capacities.
We strongly recommend that anyone wanting to receive pasture growth rate data for their farm this season should register their interest with us as early as possible by phoning 1800 500 195. Setting up a subscription to the Pastures from Space service involves a simple process usually taking about a week, so the earlier in the season we set you up the better.
For those in the Eastern states that need to digitize paddocks and don’t have a geo referenced aerial photo, DLI has now acquired satellite imagery at 12.5 m resolution (previously 25m) which is available on request through us at Fairport as part of the registration and setup process.
Your yearly subscription will provide you with weekly pasture growth rate data for all paddocks within your farm as well as our new improved Pasture Watch software. Remember to get involved nice and early this season, we’re looking forward to your call.[top]
| PAM's New Features |
New features added to PAM since our last newsletter include:
• Configuration: Horticulture and Viticulture Users Only ~ Block Layout Configuration: You can now configure Section and Row details for a Block Layout and therefore when recording Activities, you can now specify which Rows were affected or treated. However, when specifying the Area of a Tree/Vine or Block Layout Detail at set up time, you can specify an Area without having to specify the Section and Row detail information. If you specify the Section and Row details, PAM will calculate and display a "Total Calculated Area" value for you to compare to your area value.
• Budgets: Copying Budgeted Activities to another Budget: PAM was not calculating a correct new Job Date for the copied Activities.
• Data Entry: Chemical Spraying Activities: PAM was not using a user entered default rate for a consumable.
• Restoring Data: A new option has been added to allow you to automatically restore datasets without having to assign each one to an existing Client dataset in a PAM MultiClient system. If the Client dataset does not exist, then it will be automatically created.
• Budgeted Harvest Deliveries: You can now specify yield in yield per ha. and PAM will calculate a total yield value.
• Annual Paddock and Annual Crop Summary Reports ~ Costs & Income totals display: The breakdown by Areas at the end of the report was including all costs and income items. Now the reports only include cost and income amounts for the activities or items you have selected.
• Budgets: You can now copy selected Activities from one Budget to another. Please note : Batch Number records, Contract and Staff Labour records, Row Detail records (Horticulture Users Only) are not copied.
• General Purpose Diary: Calendar Report ~ This report now displays the selected Month and Year.
• Budgets: Copying Paddock Budgets: You can now copy an entire budget to another via the Budgets menu / "Save selected Budget as.." menu option.
• Reports: Paddock Budget Summary Report with Timings : Report now displays the farm name.• Season Costs: Paddock Season Costs: You can now print a selected Paddock or Crop season's costs via the Print button at the bottom of the screen.
• Reports: Viticulture Users Only : Block Layout Report : Report now displays the number of irrigation emitters.
• Data Entry: Soil, Sap, Leaf, Nutrient Tests and Pasture Composition: Data entry screens now observes the Farm Filter setting.
• Data Entry: If you enter data prior to 1900, PAM was not making records available for all reports.
• Inventory of Consumables: If you now change a Batch Number for an Inventory Purchase Record, PAM will now ask you if you wish to update any Usage Records (eg Chemical Records) to the new Batch Number.
• Data Entry: Chemical Spraying Conditions: When Adding a new Chemical Activity the last water rate recorded was not being used as a default for the new job. Now it does!
• Reports: Budget Reports: Fertiliser, Chemical, Machinery, Manual Tasks, Sundry, Irrigation Reports: PAM was sometimes displaying duplicate records if you had recorded another job on the same day for the same season but in another budget.
• Data Entry: Machinery and Manual Tasks: You can now configure a Machinery or Manual task item with a default "per Item" unit. For Horticulture/Viticulture users, you can also configure these configuration items in "per Plant" or "per Vine" units.
• When recording associated Labour records for these new types of Machinery/Manual tasks, PAM will now allow you to specify a "Quantity of Items" and "Rate per Item". Note: The original $/hour labour method is also still available.
• Data Entry: If you change the date or season of a job via Tools menu, and you select only some of the activities recorded for the job, PAM splits the selected activities off into a new job. For Planned jobs, PAM was not generating a new plan number.
• Wool: New Wool Sales were not always being saved. In some circumstances, if you created a new Wool Sale then closed the Wool Book, when reopening the Wool Book the Wool Sale was no longer available.
• Budgets: Harvest Deliveries: PAM now allows you to enter a Base Price value in order to calculate a Total Income figure.
• Cropped Areas Reports: Chemical Reports Grouped By Crops, Grouped By Products: Reports now display the Quantity applied in Purchase Units.
• Data Entry: Budgeted Cotton Harvest: You can now specify Income amounts.
...and much more.
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| PAM Enterprise |
The PAM Enterprise versions operate with the Microsoft SQL Server database system and allow for much larger data sets, centralised and combined datasets and virtually unlimited concurrent users.
Enterprise options and pricing are available upon request from Fairport.
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| Dealer News |
Booth Technology WA
Booth Technology has complete running a series of PAM workshops around the state. All those attending were very happy with the courses and left with renewed enthusiasm to make more use of the data they have been keeping in PAM already.
A series of seminars and workshops are also planned for the horticultural and vineyard areas over the next few months.
We have also been extremely busy doing new PAM installations and on form training so everyone is up and going before the break of season in the Wheatbelt.
Goundry & Amberly vineyards will also be coming on line after Easter and we look forward to seeing that installation up and running.
Gina Castelli is leaving after 7 years with Booth Technology and will be sadly missed, she is relocating to Bunbury and we wish her all the best in the future. Sue Coid is her replacement and has been through a month of training with Gina so we should have a smooth transition.
Remember anyone wanting training either on farm or at our offices in Perth please contact Chris, Stephen or Colin on 9383 4443[top]
FarmTek Australia VIC
It was great to catch up with so many clients at the Wimmera Field Days. It was also a good opportunity to demonstrate the value of our FarmStar product working with a variety of Variable Rate controllers.
We have had great response to our on-line training requests. I have just completed PAM training at Dubbo and Wagga Wagga in NSW. The following venues are being scheduled:
Parkes NSW - April
Hillston NSW –April
Murray Bridge SA - April
Moree NSW - May/JuneThe Training request is still on-line at www.farmtek.com.au or www.fairport.com.au so please keep the request coming in to assist us in scheduling training in your area.
FarmBIS funding is available for all PAM training in Victoria so please contact me directly if you would like to organize any on-Farm training.Wishing everybody a safe and happy Easter break; until June.
Joanne Richardson
FarmTek Australia
~ 1300 553 446
www.farmtek.com.au
[top]Maelroan Computers WA
Thank you to all our clients who have heard about my recent surgery and who sent cards, visited, phoned and are very supportive.
The good news is that I will be as good as new and able to return to work in a couple of months. There are rumours around that I am "not going to make it", that I have retired, and the usual information from people who think they know the story.
As soon as I am given the all clear from my specialists, we will be advising clients, so that we can organise our usual runs to minimise travelling costs for all of us.
Please do not hesitate to phone me on my mobile if you require assistance, or want to make a booking. Mobile is better, as I have to visit specialists in Perth every three weeks.
Here is to a good break to the season, and good things to follow.
If you see the coach parked on the side of the road, don't hesitate to call in for a cuppa and a chat.
Cheers, Liz Alford
[top]ARM South Australia & Tasmania
PAM AusVit and PAM UltraCrop are in a class of their own in the world of Farm Management Software Tools - a fact shown by the amount of work we are doing with some large Australian corporate wineries and vineyards. There are a number of trials and pilot projects underway which will significantly add to the number of people and businesses using PAM.
Of course it is stimulating for us to support these projects and the new users. A side effect of this work is the continuing enhancement of PAM as new features are identified.
Now that Farmbis funding has restarted, there are plenty of opportunities for training. Basic and advanced courses on PAM will keep Tim busy over the winter months.
We have been progressively introducing a change in our company name. We are now ARM - Agricultural Resource Management, which is a spin-off from Serve-Ag, the company that you will recognise as the original Australian Distributor. The people looking after PAM Ultracrop and PAM AusVit stay the same - Mick Lehman, Vincent Ball and Tim Woolley. Find out more at www.agrm.com.au
Regards Vincent Ball
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Agbis NSW & QLDAgbis has hit the ground running in 2005, with plenty of enquiries regarding PAM. We continue to increase our presence in NSW and Qld with a constant stream of new agents joining the team (refer below).
Recent new agents as follows:
Brett McCarthy and James Nieymeyer of Orana Region Communications (ORC) located in Dubbo have added the Fairport Product range including all PAM QA Plus software. ORC specialises in radio communications, auto steer and guidance systems for tractors. Brett also holds a Marketing Certificate from the Australian Institute of Management, Cert IV in Workplace Training and Assessment, and currently completing the Cert IV in Small Business Management.
Brett can be contacted on 0418 840 000
Email orcomms@bigpond.com
James Niemeyer has recently joined Orana Region Communications, specialising in Precision Ag based in central west NSW. He spent many years with Connor Shea Napier as Area Manager for the central west of NSW and in 2000, became the Area Manager in the central west NSW for the GPS guidance company BEELINE.
James can be contacted on 0428 856 555 Email nims@aapt.net.auJohn and Lisa Minogue who are located at Barmedman in Southern New South Wales have added the Fairport Product range including all Sales of PAM QA Plus software and on-farm training to their operation. John and Lisa operate an independent agricultural consultancy business, Agricultural & General Consulting Pty Ltd.
John and Lisa can be contacted on 02 6976 3023 or 0428 763 023 Email: office@agandgeneralconsulting.com.auMick Alexander has recently joined as an Agbis Trainer specializing in gpMapper. Mick is based at Yeppon in Queensland. Mick is an experienced agricultural consultant and trainer specialising in property management planning and property development aimed at maximising productivity. Mick's experience includes working with Taroom Landcare in Central and Resource Consulting Services (RCS) at Yeppoon specialising in Property Planning and specifically property development mapping by computer.
Mick can be contacted on 0438 395 255
Email: malexander@rcs.au.comTony Crowley has also recently joined the Agbis team as a Reseller and is based in far North Queensland at Walkerston.
Tony can be contacted on 0409 475 317
Email: tcrowley@mcs.net.auAnthony Wallis has joined Agbis as an Agbis Agent in the Hannaford area in Southern Queensland.
Anthony can be contacted on 07 4665 9201
Email: walandaim@dodo.com.auOur long term agents as follows:
Dorothy Barton and the team at Leading Edge in Griffith (Southern NSW) still provide Reseller assistance. Leading Edge are able to assist with the initial introduction to the PAM QA Plus product range. They can be contacted on 02 6964 1611
Email: admin@clickstartit.com.auAndrew Rice of Ivey ATP is located in Parkes, Central NSW. Andrew can assist with the initial introduction to the PAM QA Plus product range.
Andrew can be contacted on 02 6845 1611
Email: andrew@iveyatp.com
Sarah Hall (based at Toowoomba, Southern Qld) joined Agbis in June 2002 as a Trainer. Previously Sarah completed a Diploma of Rural Business at Sydney University in 1999, Certificate IV – Workplace Trainer and Assessor in 1998 at Dalbly TAFE and a Diploma of Teaching at the University of Southern QLD in 1990.
Sarah can be contacted on 0417 620 611 Email: sarah@agbis.comGraham Spackman, Ed Windley and Kylie Borchardt of Spackman Mackay Consulting P/L
Spackman Mackay Consulting is an Independent Agricultural Agronomy and Consulting business based in Emerald, Central Queensland. Graham, Ed and Kylie support the Fairport Product range including all Sales of PAM QA Plus software and on-farm training.
They can be contacted on – Office: 07 4982 0958
Graham Spackman – 0407 156 306
Ed Windley – 0418 820 958
Kylie Borchardt - 0428 820 958
Email: spackman@tpg.com.auLucy House is based at Rockhampton in Queensland and provides PAM QA Plus and gpMapper training.
Lucy can be contacted on 0428 876 364 Email: lucy@agbis.comGlenn Milne of Horizon Rural Management is an Independent Agronomist based at Jimbour in Southern Queensland.
Glenn can be contacted on 0408 487 989
Email: glenndm@bigpond.comFinally, Matt Meehan (Agbis Armidale, Northern NSW) can be contacted on 0407 729 936 or 02 6772 9200.
Full details can also be found on our Website www.agbis.com.au
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| In Closing |
The Fairport Team wishes all our clients well for the winter
Until June 2005 … Farewell from Roger Wiese and the Fairport Team
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