AgriBase™

AgriBase™ is a comprehensive national database of rural property ownership, location and management throughout New Zealand. It lists both farming and horticultural properties (over 105,000 currently registered), each with a unique identification code, the AgriBase Farm ID.

Initially developed in 1993 for the management of properties susceptible to foot and mouth disease incursions, AgriBase™ has been developed and expanded to contain data on all types of livestock, crops and forests.  AsureQuality’s national coverage of agricultural properties through routine contact with farmers and horticulturalists ensures the maintenance and accuracy of this data.

AgriBase™ links property management and land use details to geographic location information (land parcel boundaries, co-ordinates, local authority regions), through Geographic Information Systems (GIS), thus "geospatially enabling" the system.  AgriBase™ also has the capability to link to wider pools of farm-specific information contained in related databases.

AgriBase™‘s geospatial capability allows its data to be mapped and overlaid with other geographical features (such as contours, waterways and catchment areas), to show distribution of land use and stocking densities throughout New Zealand, making it a vital tool for pest and disease control and eradication operations, and for environmental monitoring.

The primary purpose of AgriBase™ is to provide information that underpins national and regional policies and programmes that benefit rural New Zealand and primary sector industries. These principal programmes include:

• Civil defence and emergency management
• New or emerging exotic disease investigations and analysis
• Pest and disease eradication management
• Product and stock trace backs
• Land use change information
• Food safety and quality assurance programmes, including traceability
• State of Environment reporting
• Provision of agricultural statistics
• Land use decision support for daily farming operations (for example, mapping of paddock boundaries over soil types)

Examples of AgriBase™ in Emergency Response Management

• Rescue Helicopter services in many areas throughout the country rely on AgriBase™ to pinpoint individual rural homestead points, essential for rapid emergency response.
• Ovis Management Ltd, a meat industry organisation, has been a long-term user of AgriBase™, for identifying and monitoring the prevalence and geographic distribution of sheep measles.
• GNS Science, formerly the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, is using AgriBase™ data to predict possible losses under natural events such as volcanic ash distribution or widespread flooding.
• AgriBase™’s geospatial capability is currently being used for modelling the potential spread of a Foot and Mouth Disease incursion within New Zealand, and the effect it would have on the economy. 

AgriBase™ Links