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.
Solution
Lance Roper and his team adopted Agworld in 2016 to centralize their mapping, record-keeping, and agronomy workflows. Initially used for mapping and spray recommendations, Agworld has since become the core digital platform across the business. Recommendations from six different agronomists are now recorded and approved in one place, while work orders are sent directly to sprayer operators or contractors. Compliance and crop costing are all integrated within the same system. Agworld’s mobile accessibility, product library, and collaboration tools give Roper & Son instant access to field histories, chemical actives, and audit reports from anywhere.
Result
Agworld has transformed how Roper & Son manages its complex cropping business. The platform has reduced compliance stress, improved traceability, and created a 10-year digital history of inputs, rotations, and weather patterns. Audit preparation that once took days can now be completed in minutes, and agronomists and contractors can work seamlessly with clear, accurate records.
Based across blocks in Leeston, Darfield, and Lincoln, Roper & Son is led by father and son team Lance and Lincoln Roper. What started 30 years ago with Lance Roper as a 1st generation grower on a small block of lease land, is now one of New Zealand’s leading produce growers, specializing in red onions.
“I’m a second-generation grower here in Canterbury,” Lincoln explains. “Dad started about 30 years ago growing a few different vegetables, but now we specialize mainly in peeled red onions. We are one of the largest domestic suppliers of red onions in New Zealand and are able to secure year-round supply for our customers by working with a number of key growers both nationally and internationally. We supply loose red onions, our premium product ‘3count’ - which are 3 premium red onions in a breathable sleeve, and 6-packs of baby onions. We don’t just grow red onions however; in any given season we grow up to 19 different crops across our 690 acres here on the Canterbury Plains.”
Next to red onions, the business also produces cereals (wheat, barley, oats, triticale), pumpkins, potatoes, and small seed crops such as radish, beetroot, and chard. Lamb fattening and some dairy grazing round out the rotation, helping maintain soil health and year-round productivity. Lincoln explains: “What makes us unique is that we control what happens in the field right through to the packhouse and even the marketing at the end; sending produce all the way to Auckland in the north and Invercargill in the south.”
When Roper & Son first adopted Agworld in 2016, it was mainly to track rotations and store maps. “We started using Agworld in 2016,” Lincoln recalls. “We were probably a little bit guilty of not using it very well right at the start. We jumped into it as a handy tool to track our rotations and spray recommendations working with our agronomists.” As the team’s digital skills developed, so did their use of the platform. “We’ve gone from using it as a mapping tool to tracking and tracing everything: what’s been in each field - even weeds we’re now seeing come through,” Lincoln says, “we track it all in Agworld”. “You can look back on ten years of data and see patterns with chemical issues, fertilizer timing, weather impacts and more; it’s very powerful.”
Now, all recommendations from agronomists are received through Agworld and converted into work orders for either self-application or contract spraying. “We’ve got three blocks between Lincoln, Leeston and Darfield,” Lincoln explains. “Darfield is contract-sprayed, while the block at Leeston and the home blocks are self-sprayed. Contractors get a PDF or link from Agworld with the work order, which is very clear and concise. It shows them exactly what we need them to do and prevents misapplications or other issues that can arise from unclear communication.”
Compliance and Audit Confidence
For Roper & Son, one of Agworld’s most valuable features is its ability to simplify NZ GAP compliance and audit preparation. “In your NZ GAP audit you have to show a spray diary,” Lincoln says. “Agworld makes that easy because we can just pull out any data from our spray diary and show this to the auditor - that tends to instantly alleviate any concerns they might have! The auto-weather feature is great too. It’s one thing to say what you put on, but when you did it, who did it, and why you did it is the other part. Having it all in one spot in Agworld is great.”
The business also uses Agworld for health and safety audits and tracked-substance reporting, ensuring every chemical or fertilizer application is documented with time, operator, and location. “Our in-house compliance person uses it too,” Lincoln says. “We sit down in our GAP or health and safety audits, and all the information we need is right there in Agworld. When reconciling fertilizer or chemical bills, we can go straight into Agworld and see exactly what was applied to each crop.”
Agworld isn’t just a compliance tool for the Ropers however, it’s also become a collaboration hub for the team. “Creating records is not just an admin job anymore,” Lincoln explains. “We’ve made it part of the operator’s job. The person who sprays a field has to tick it off in Agworld. Before, we’d have a month’s worth of recommendations sitting there not marked off and no other information available. Now, that’s just part of the workflow.” This behavioral shift has improved accountability and data accuracy. Every completed job is recorded in Agworld immediately, creating real-time visibility across the operation. “You’re only using half of Agworld if you’re marking applications as ‘completed,” Lincoln adds. “Now it’s just part of the job: spray it, record it, done.”
The administrative team also benefits from better cost tracking and budgeting.“We’ve started adding operational costs to Agworld at the start of the season,” Lincoln says. “It gives us a true idea of what it costs to do it ourselves versus using a contractor. You can’t just say it’s free because you’re doing it yourself; Agworld helps us cost ourselves properly.”
Expanding into Livestock and New Integrations
In 2025, Roper & Son expanded their operation to include lamb finishing, while also integrating the livestock data into their Agworld account through the Mobble platform. “We started lamb fattening through the winter,” Lincoln says. “We looked at different software options, but the easiest was Mobble because it integrates with Agworld. We love Agworld, so it seemed a natural fit.”
The integration allows Lincoln to track animal health treatments and withholding periods digitally. “I could carry a big notebook and write down when I drenched lambs,” he says, “but being able to pull it up on my phone, see when they’re safe to truck, how many days on feed, how long they grazed, and more, that makes life easier.”
Mobble and Agworld together provide a unified view of crops, pastures, and livestock movements. “It’s not our core business, but it’s great to analyze what pastures perform best for lambs,” Lincoln adds. “Like when we started with Agworld ten years ago, we didn’t know much, but in ten years with Mobble, we’ll perform even better.”
Agworld’s customer support is one of the biggest ongoing benefits for their business, says Lincoln. “The ability to message the Agworld chatbot with a question is great,” he says. “I’ve asked some quirky ones, but it’s always answered by email or phone from the customer support team really quickly. They know the system inside out.” Lincoln also values Agworld’s proactive development: “When we have ideas, we know they’re being heard,” he says. “A few months later, we’ll get a call saying, ‘Remember that idea you mentioned? It’s in there now.’ That’s pretty cool and shows me Agworld is a great business to partner with.
Building a Legacy Through Data
With nearly a decade of data in Agworld, Lance & Lincoln are now looking to take the next step by using that historical data to drive planning, rotation management, and budgeting decisions. “Planning and budgeting are probably the next big steps for us,” Lincoln says. “We’re getting good at rotations, but being able to look back ten years and see what worked and what didn’t, and why, that’s really powerful.”
The goal is to future-proof the business for the next generation. “We want to build a business where my kids or anyone else can come in and test their own skills,” Lincoln says. “Adding diversity like lamb finishing is part of that, but so is having the data and systems that make it easy to step in.”
For Roper & Son, Agworld has become far more than a record-keeping tool. It’s the digital backbone of a diversified Canterbury cropping and livestock enterprise. With seamless agronomic collaboration, livestock integration, and long-term data management, Agworld provides the clarity and consistency needed to manage 690 acres, 19 crops, and multiple partners, without the usual paperwork. “It’s about having information in your pocket,” Lincoln concludes. “You can carry a big book around if you want, but if it’s on your phone, all in one place, that’s powerful - that’s what Agworld gives us.”
"“Agworld makes NZ GAP audits easy because we can just pull out any data from our spray diary and show this to the auditor - that tends to instantly alleviate any concerns they might have!”"
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