Glen Keeley, together with brother Jason and their parents, farms 2270 acres across two separate blocks in Canterbury, combining a diverse cropping rotation with lamb finishing and dairy cow grazing. With such a diverse operation, Glen needed a clear system to stay organised across multiple agronomists, staff and field operations. As irrigation expanded and cropping intensified, so did the complexity of chemical programmes, nutrient management and compliance requirements. Paper notes and memory alone could not keep up with the demands of traceability, record keeping and profitable decision making for this scaling operation.
Solution
Glen began using Agworld in 2015 to help manage the planning and record-keeping of his cropping program. The system now acts as the central workflow for agronomy recommendations, field histories, spray plans, and application records. With several agronomists involved across the season, Agworld provides structured visibility of what is recommended, what has been applied, and what needs to be done next. Agworld's mapping tools, product lists, and reporting features allow Glen to stay ahead of compliance requirements and make informed decisions based on accurate field data.
Result
Agworld has improved the clarity, consistency and organisation of Keeley Farms' cropping workflows. Recommendations appear in one tidy system, completed sprays are recorded without confusion, and field histories are available instantly. Glen can prepare nutrient budgets, review rotations, and manage chemical plans with confidence. The platform helps ensure the right jobs are done in the right fields, with every detail documented for future seasons.
Keeley Farms represents four generations of family farming, shaped by the expansion of irrigation and the introduction of new crops. Glen and brother Jason, together with their parents, now operate across two blocks totaling 2270 acres, balancing arable production with livestock finishing and running dairy cows over winter.
Glen says the farm has changed dramatically in his time: more irrigation, more variety of crops, and more moving pieces to keep track of. “We've gone from a smaller, dryland setup to a fully irrigated cropping business,” he explains. “There's a lot more happening in every field now, and you can't just keep it all in your head anymore.” That push from a smaller setup to a larger, more complex operation is what led him to look for a digital tool that could grow with the farm. After speaking to his agronomists in 2015, Glen found out that they were using Agworld already and so he decided to join them on the platform.
Because Keeley Farms grows such a wide range of crops, Glen works with several agronomists across the season. Each brings specialist knowledge, but that also means more recommendations to keep track of and more potential for confusion if the information isn't managed well. With Agworld, Glen has a single platform where all agronomists' recommendations are recorded. He can see which products have been recommended, for which fields, and why. “We've got a number of agronomists involved in different parts of the program,” Glen says. “Agworld just brings it all together in one place so we're not chasing messages or trying to remember who said what.” Instead of juggling texts and notebooks, he can open Agworld and see the plan for each field, knowing it reflects the latest advice from his advisers.
Keeping track of field history across 2270 acres
The cropping rotation at Keeley Farms includes cereals, peas, ryegrass, pasture and vegetable seed crops, layered over different soil types and irrigation setups. Especially for growing seed crops, it's key to have the last 10 years of field history available for the agronomist and the seed contract provider, explains Glen: “They really want to know everything: herbicides that you've used in that period so they can track potential herbicide resistance issues or residual chemistry issues, whether you've grown brassicas there in the last 10 years which could cause volunteer issues, or maybe club root, or something else. They want to know everything that's happened in this field for the last 10 years so they can tell their clients with confidence that the seed they sell is grown in a field with a clean slate.”
With Agworld, this has become easy for Glen he says: “In Agworld it's easy to look back and remind yourself what exactly happened in a particular field without guessing. It makes rotation decisions a lot easier and it also makes it easy for us to show the seed companies the exact field history and give them confidence that they're signing up for a field that has the exact spec they're looking for. It's easy for me to find the last 10 years' worth of field history in Agworld and send this as a report to anyone who might need it.”
Spray programmes that keep everyone on the same page
With a large farming area to cover and such a diverse range of crops, making sure the crop protection applications are performed exactly as required, is a major focus for Keeley Farms. Agronomists create recommendations for crop protection applications in Agworld, which alerts Glen and his team that there's work to be done: “We have an iPad with Agworld on it in both the spray rig and spreader, which makes it easy for us to show our staff exactly what needs to be done so they can do it as soon as the conditions are right to do so.
When a spray job is completed, it's marked off in Agworld, so the digital record always matches exactly what has happened on-farm. “It just keeps everything tidy,” Glen says. “With Agworld you can see straight away what's been sprayed and what still needs to be done, and you're not doubling up or missing a field by mistake.”
Compliance and audits without the paperwork scramble
Like all modern cropping operations, Keeley Farms faces ongoing requirements around chemical use, nutrient management and environmental reporting. Agworld provides the documentation Glen needs to meet those expectations without the stress of last-minute paperwork.
In Agworld, all spray applications are stored against specific fields, with dates, products and rates recorded. When it's time for an audit, Glen can simply run a report or pull up the relevant fields in Agworld. “If someone wants to know what's been on a field, it's all there,” he says. “You're not digging through old diaries trying to piece it together, but instead just login to Agworld and it's all right there, ready to be sent to whomever needs it.”
After nearly a decade using Agworld, Keeley Farms now has a substantial digital history of its own operation. Glen can review past seasons to see which rotations have worked best, where specific crops have performed strongly, and how product programmes have lined up with results in the field. He regularly looks back through Agworld when planning the next season to avoid repeating mistakes and to build on what has gone well. “You start to see patterns over time,” he says. “It gives you confidence when you're deciding what to plant where, because you can see what's actually happened; not just what you think you remember.”
When thinking about where Agworld fits in his family's operation in future, Glen is very clear: “Once you get used to Agworld, you don't really want to be without it,” he says. “Agworld keeps you organized. You know what's happening in each field, you've got the records to back it up, and you can get on with farming instead of chasing bits of paper.”
"Agworld keeps you organised. You know what's happening in each field, you've got the records to back it up, and you can get on with farming instead of chasing bits of paper."
Roper & Son is a second-generation, family-owned cropping and processing business operating across 280 hectares on the Canterbury plains. Growing over 19 different crops, they manage a complex rotation across multiple blocks and contract operations. With multiple agronomists, contractors, and audits to coordinate, paper-based tracking was no longer efficient. Maintaining chemical traceability for NZ GAP audits, managing multiple suppliers, and aligning staff and contractors on recommendations required a single, transparent system to manage all field operations and input records.
