GIS software released to farmers through the Victorian Government's Department of Primary Industries is helping farmers manage their land and bolster their operations.
The software, part of the FarmPlan 21 pilot program run by the DPI, is based on up-to-date aerial photography and offers precision mapping and paddock recording. It can be modified to support fertiliser planning and rotational grazing as well as other farming activities.
It can also show farm boundaries, slopes, soils, contours, general modelled direction of water flow, roads, dams, buildings, calculate the size of areas in hectares. All this information is dynamically laid over aerial photography, which places the farm in the context of its surrounds.
The software can also help in finding arable/non-arable land, determining fencing and farm-management decisions, or paddock and pasture strategies.
Access to the software is free to farmers enrolling in a FarmPlan 21 course. More info can be found at http://new.dpi.vic.gov.au/agriculture/education-training/farmplan-21
