28 July 1984 Workshop encourages computer use by farmers

Farmers carry many different things in the boots of their cars, but those who were at a recent Lincoln College workshop arrived back at the farm with a bootful of brand-new computer equipment.

They had each spent about $4600 for a computer, with double-sided, double density disk drives, 80-column screen, 64K memory and 132-column printer, and a three-day workshop.

Farmers from as far from Lincoln College as Auckland in the north and Tokanui in the south were at the workshop.

Bulk purchasing allowed the computers and printers to be sold at well-discounted prices, and buyers were able to choose one of two makes.

The workshop and bulk purchases were arranged by the Kellogg Farm Management Unit at Lincoln College.

Dr Peter Nuthall, head of the Kellogg unit, said leading members of Federated Farmers had been encouraged to go along to the workshop.

"The intention was to encourage leading farmers into using computers and to spread the word on computers on farms," he said.

"Both the workshop and the computer purchase were very successful, and we will be looking forward to doing this again soon."

Dr Nuthall said that on the first day of the workshop the farmers got used to the computers, and they used ready programmed disks so they could get to work quickly.

On the next two days they were taught about financial recording and management systems, production recording and analysis, stock management and breeding systems.

Dr Nuthall said in the final session the farmers looked at the future use of computers on farms.

Further information from Dr Peter Nuthall, Kellogg Farm Management Unit, Lincoln College, Canterbury, New Zealand.