This could be a good thing for the agricultural sector as a recently launched networking site, Farmz.com.au encouraged farmers to form commercial relationships online.

Farmz.com.au experienced early growth with more than 200 farmers nationwide signing up within the first two weeks of being launched.

Co-founder Alex Sparkes, of Taroom in central Queensland said the site was created to bridge the gap that existed in Australian farming.

“Farmz offers a central communication hub for farmers to stay in touch, share their experiences and develop new and valuable relationships with farmers from all over the country,” he said.

“This is particularly valuable in a time when foreign land ownership and mining of prime agricultural land threatens the Australian agricultural industry.”

Mr Sparkes, a sixth generation beef cattle producer, said constant developments in technology had people on the land relying on online tools which was why he and David Kowalski had created the site.

Having lived on the land for most of his life Mr Sparkes understood the communication challenges facing farmers and acknowledged the potential for better and more sustainable personal and business relationships in his sector.

“We’ve been blown away by the initial interest in the site and the number of farmers signing up,” Mr Sparkes said. “We hope that it will lead to more commercial relationships being developed between farmers.”

The website allows farmers to provide a professional image of their farm through photo galleries, farm casts (updates) and forming ‘farmships’ with fellow producers.

- Western Magazine