About us
Getting the balance right
FARMAX is a modelling and decision support tool, developed for pastoral farmers in New Zealand. The tool allows you to build a model of your whole farm system and use this model to record actual farm performance data, forecast future expectations and create unlimited scenarios for your farm system.
FARMAX accurately predicts the impacts of business decisions before you make them.
The origin of FARMAX
Commercially launched in 2003, FARMAX was developed by AgResearch and was born out of 20 years of research. It is an evidence-based software system developed for the industry, by agricultural experts.
The FARMAX Engine®, which drives all our products, gives farmers a truly unique advantage, because it accurately models the complex biological system that is their own pastoral farm. It creates a digital ‘twin’ of the farm business.
Who is FARMAX for?
FARMAX is used by farmers, rural consultants, scientists, councils, research bodies and academics to find the right balance between production, profitability and sustainability.
We believe FARMAX is good for pastoral farmers, good for the industry and good for New Zealand. Doing industry good by helping pastoral farmers succeed remains at the heart of our organisation.
Better together
Today, FARMAX is owned by FarmIQ. Through AgResearch being a shareholder of FarmIQ, FARMAX continues to work closely with our preferred science partners to ensure the application is kept relevant with the aim to create the most valuable farm planning and analysis tools for New Zealand farmers.
Together, FarmIQ and FARMAX provide the most complete farm management system solutions with both recording and predictive modelling functionality. Using both tools provides a holistic view of the whole farm system, not just profit, production and sustainability, but people, land and processes as well.
Our vision
Optimised farms that balance profit, production and sustainability are at the core of our vision, as we power pastoral farming success today and in the future.
Leadership team
With a depth of experience across all relevant business disciplines,
this team is leading FARMAX towards a strong and sustainable future.
Gavin McEwen
Executive General Manager
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Gavin is from a Waikato dairy farming background, with a Bachelor of Horticulture from Lincoln University. He has 30 years' experience in the agricultural sector, both owning and operating his own businesses through to managerial positions in LIC, Turners and Growers, and Farmax Ltd. Gavin's focus is on furthering the potential of New Zealand pastoral agriculture, believing that transparency and collaboration among the agricultural service industry is long overdue and is key to unlocking that potential.
Kelly-Ann Hubbard
Head of Technology
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Wellington born and bred, Kelly-Ann originally studied exercise science, but for the last 20 years she has worked in a variety of IT roles, including development, business analysis, testing and management. As Head of Technology at FarmIQ, Kelly-Ann manages the teams that build and support our software, and ensures our technology stack is reliable and efficient.
Russell MacKay
Head of Sales and Marketing
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From a 150 year old family farm in eastern Southland, Russell MacKay has lived and breathed farming and agribusiness, with roles including fencing, shepherding, agri-tourism, farming and rural banking - as well as a stint dog sledding in Canada for a change of scenery. As Head of Sales and Marketing, Russell is passionate about showing farmers how FarmIQ can take their business to the next level.
Todd White
Head of Product
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Todd has more than 25 years' experience in agriculture and agritech, including completing a PhD in pastoral science at Massey University, working in the farm system team at AgResearch, and working in various farm, science and education roles across the United States. He has been at FarmIQ for 11 years. As Head of Product, his goal is to solve farmer problems by delivering simple but powerful technology solutions that advance the financial performance and environmental sustainability of pasture-based farming systems.
Pete Young
Finance Manager
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Pete has been a chartered accountant for over 15 years and started his accounting career with Deloitte in Hamilton. He is responsible for the finance and accounting functions of FarmIQ Systems Limited, and reports regular financial information to the board and the management team.
Development team
Tom Botica
Business Development Manager
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Tom joined Farmax in 2016 as a Technical Specialist and, following the merger with FarmIQ in 2021, became a Rural Professional Channel Specialist.
He supports rural professionals in using FarmIQ and FARMAX products within their businesses, and also plays a vital role in the ongoing development of FARMAX Dairy, FARMAX Red Meat and FARMAX DSM.
Paul Marshall
Desktop Developer
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Although he is a senior software developer for Rezare Systems, Paul spends most of his time as a desktop developer contracted to Farmax. He helped create the original Stockpol software in the 1980s, which later became FARMAX. Watching British comedy and choral singing keep him busy outside of work.
Support team
Adam Richards
Technical Support
Specialist
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Adam is a Technical Support Specialist for both FARMAX and FarmIQ, supporting customers with technical issues and running online training sessions. He also manages the FARMAX accreditation programme, supporting rural professionals and farmers to level-up their FARMAX skills and knowledge.
Tara Hegarty
Technical Support and
Environmental Specialist
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Tara is our Technical Support and Environmental Specialist for FARMAX and FarmIQ. She assists customers with any questions about the FARMAX products and hosts training workshops around the country. Additionally, Tara works with the FarmIQ team to develop environmental tools such as the Freshwater Farm Plan. Tara has a Master's in Environmental Science looking at land use conflicts between conservation, forestry, and agriculture.
Legal information
You'll find links to all of our legal information and policies below. If you have any questions,
please feel free to get in touch through support@farmax.co.nz.
