The update of the Overseer model to version 6.5.12 is a significant technical update. The update addresses a series of model defect fixes identified through user feedback and internal reviews at Overseer Ltd during model refinement. It also introduces a number of new features to the software.
In addition to model defect fixes, this release introduces several new features:
- Addition of digestate biofertilisers.
- Addition of “Soya” as a selectable supplement type for user custom supplements.
- Addition of Fert Wholesale Direct as a fertiliser product provider.
The Overseer team have worked with The Bioenergy Association of New Zealand to add digestate biofertilisers as a new form of organic fertiliser.
“A number of anaerobic digestors are either in place or are currently in development, meaning that this new form of fertiliser will be available to more and more farmers.
BANZ saw including digestate biofertilisers in OverseerFM as an important step to enable farmers and their advisors to fully evaluate the potential benefits of using the fertiliser in their farm systems”, says Mark-John Bruwer, Chief Technology Officer for Overseer.
For the first time, alongside the usual Version release notes, Overseer Ltd are providing users with insights into the robust quality assurance which goes into a model version update.
“We have developed a practical, risk-aware governance framework to steward the Overseer science model and its software embodiment, OverseerFM – tools widely used across New Zealand’s primary sectors for nutrient budgeting, environmental risk assessment, and scenario-based farm planning” says Mark-John.
“The framework balances scientific integrity, software quality, and stakeholder trust through proportional and transparent processes”.
“As a very visual part of this framework, we are pleased to be able to share with users details of the Full Impact Assessment and Model Performance Assessment as part of this version update”.
“The Full Impact Assessment enables our team to contact farmers who may be affected by significant changes to modelled results” continues Mark-John, “while the Model Performance Assessment compares model results against measured leaching data from farmlet trials”.
“The performance metrics demonstrate that the N leaching predictions remain highly consistent following the 6.5.12 update. The variation is negligible and falls well within the “Very good” performance classification for pasture and “good” for cropping”.
As part of our OverseerFM service, all farm analyses were updated to version 6.5.12 where the farm account had a current paid subscription. All publications were also updated. OverseerSci and OverseerEd software services will be updated in the coming days.
[Click here] to read the release notes for OverseerFM version 6.5.12 which details the changes made and the impact of these on N, P and GHG results at the farm level.
