Zero Mistakes, Maximum Clarity

A diverse Canterbury operation built on precision

Read Farming is operated by brothers Mike and Steve Read near Ashburton, where they manage a combination of high-value horticulture, row crops and store lambs. The horticulture enterprise includes 37 acres of apples, primarily Honey Crisp, for export and domestic markets, alongside blackcurrants produced for nutraceutical and juice markets worldwide. The row crop operation includes wheat, maize, grass and a variety of seed crops, as well as several thousand store lambs grazed through winter to support soil health and rotation planning. “We run a few thousand lambs on the arable side of the business, store lambs brought in, then sent out October or November” Mike explains. The business's diversity requires an equally robust record-keeping and planning system, which is where Agworld delivers the consistency they need.

Before implementing Agworld, Mike trialled different software tools, none capable of handling the complexity of their horticultural crops. “Pre-Agworld we had a play around with different programs,” Mike recalls. “There's a whole range of them out there, but it's hard to find one that ticks all the boxes. We've found Agworld ticks most of them, so it's been the one that we've adopted and continued on for the last five years.” Today, the system underpins planning for every field on the property.

Smarter planning with Templates

One of the most transformative tools for Mike has been Agworld's template-based planning, which lets him build a full year of crop inputs quickly and accurately. “We use Agworld at the start of the season for budgeting purposes. We find it really easy to make a plan, adding what we're going to be planting and using the templates on Agworld. We can just apply them to the fields, see how that shapes up, and it makes it really easy to translate through to accounting software.” Agworld's planning tools also help Read Farming meet environmental-plan requirements before the season even starts.

“With Agworld we can print out a one-pager that has all of the chemicals we're going to use in a standard season. It's handy for farm-environment auditing because we can double-check how much fertilizer we're going to be applying with our crop rotations before we plant to make sure it lines up with our FEP (Farm Environment Plan)”, says Mike. This strengthens both compliance and agronomic decision-making while giving the team vizibility over cost and chemical use before any inputs leave the shed.

Weekly Work Orders to guarantee zero mistakes

Once seasonal plans are set, weekly spray work orders become the backbone of day-to-day operations. Mike: “From the template that I've created for each field, we'll then turn those into work orders as we're planning the week's spraying. I'll generally do that on a Sunday so we know what we're going to be doing for the week coming up.” Each work order includes exact rates, field locations, and pre-calculated tank mixes. Mike continues: “Agworld will tell them the specific amount of chemical and water rate to finish the block, so there's no wastage. My operators sign off that they've completed a block and return that through to us where we put it into Agworld as an actual completed job.”

This precision supports one of Read Farming's key operating principles, says Mike: “We run a zero-mistakes policy when it comes to applications. Agworld's definitely helped us with that. We can't afford to have the wrong thing go on produce that people are going to be eating. Having a sheet in the tractor with exactly what's going on and accountability for spray operators is absolutely key.” The clarity of each job, combined with the requirement to sign off completed work, has eliminated errors and improved accountability across the business.

Compliance That Holds Up Under Audit

Horticulture audits demand precise chemical and timing records, something Agworld provides instantly to Mike: “When we do our audits and pre-harvest checks on all of our horticulture crops, we have to get a certificate to say they're fit for harvest. We have to prove exactly what we've applied to each field and the exact timings and reasons for that product going on.” Agworld's data gives auditors immediate confidence: “We can just pull up Agworld with the auditor and show them the list of applications. It has weather records, reasons for application, what's been applied and why; it ticks all of the boxes.” Mike has found that digital professionalism also changes audit dynamics: “When auditors come around, they do ease off a bit when they see you're using actual software. It's not just a couple of diaries scattered around. It's in one place on your PC. You can pull up exactly what they're asking for and get the audit done quickly, so you can get back to farming.”

Support that makes a difference

When it comes to customer service, Mike is very clear: “I can send Agworld an email at 10 o'clock at night and say, ‘I need to add a product to your inventory,' and I'll get a response within hours or by the next morning, job done. Backend support is excellent.” Mike concludes with: “Agworld's a great piece of software because you can use it as little or as much as you want. For us, it's taken the guesswork out of planning and compliance. Everything's in one place, easy to use, and it makes us look professional when the auditors come. Most importantly, it lets us focus on growing good crops and running the farm, not chasing paperwork.”