A lot of farmers we work with still do it the old way: drive out to the pivot, have a look, drive back, and hope nothing’s changed by the time you check again. It’s not a bad system. It’s just a slow one, and it means you’re only ever finding out about a problem after you’ve made the trip.
FieldNET is the alternative, and it’s simpler than it sounds. If “another app to learn” isn’t exactly appealing, this one’s worth a proper look, because it solves a problem you’ve probably had for years.
What FieldNET actually does
Strip away the tech talk and FieldNET comes down to a few core things: it shows you exactly where your pivot is and what it’s doing, it lets you start, stop, or adjust it from your phone, and it tells you when something’s wrong before you’d otherwise find out.
That’s GPS tracking of the pivot’s position, remote stop and start, and the ability to change application rates without leaving the house. If it’s paired with VRI, which most of our newer installs are, you get all of that plus the variable rate zones running in the background, adjusting automatically as the pivot moves through different soil types.
What this actually looks like day to day
Say it’s Saturday and you’re at your kid’s sport, forty minutes from the farm. Normally you’d be doing the mental maths on whether the pivot made its way round like it should have, or planning a detour past it on the way home just to check. With FieldNET you glance at your phone from the sideline and know exactly where it is and whether it’s tracking on schedule. No detour, no guessing.
Or the other common one: the power trips out to the pump at 2am, or the water scheme shuts off, and the pivot’s sitting there not putting any water down without anyone knowing. Without FieldNET, you don’t find out until the next time someone happens to drive past it, which could be hours, sometimes most of a day. With FieldNET, you get an alert the moment it stops. That’s the difference between a five-minute fix in the morning and a paddock that’s gone half a day without water during the part of the season when that actually matters.
Does it work with VRI?
Yes, and this is where it gets genuinely useful rather than just convenient. VRI adjusts application rates automatically as the pivot crosses different zones in your paddock. FieldNET is what lets you see that happening, check it’s behaving the way you expect, and make adjustments on the fly if conditions change. The two are built to work together, not as separate systems bolted on top of each other.
Is it actually hard to set up?
This is usually the real question underneath “sounds complicated,” and for you the answer’s no. We handle the installation and the configuration, and we walk you through how to use it before we leave. Most farmers are checking their pivot from their phone within the first week, without needing to think about how it works underneath.
If you want a proper run-through beyond that first walkthrough, we also run training sessions, so nobody’s left figuring it out alone
What farmers tell us after a season with it
The reaction we hear most after the first season isn’t about the technology at all. It’s how much time and driving it saves, and how much less they’re second-guessing whether the pivot’s doing what it should be. A few describe it as the first time they’ve actually felt in control of the system rather than just hoping it’s behaving. That’s a fair way to put it. FieldNET doesn’t change what your pivot does. It changes how much you have to guess.
If you’re still driving out to check, it might be worth a conversation. Ask us about adding FieldNET to your system, or give the team a call on 0800 752 467
