Waitawhiti Station, in the Wairarapa, has been in the Richardson family for more than 150 years. Lisa and Graham Richardson farm its medium to steep hill country, running Perendale/Finn/Texel ewes and Angus cows, with part of the station in forestry.
“We switched to Farm Focus a couple of years ago and it’s completely changed the way I work. I now spend half the time I used to spend in the office and achieve twice the outputs!”
How do you cut time in the farm office?
For Lisa, it started with the paper.
“I love the invoice scanner! Apart from being able to run a paperless office, there’s no more chasing down bits of paper or matching up a stack of invoices that previously made months end a stressful time.”
“There are refinements that just make sense such as using my own code names which mean something to me. I code and enter invoices as they come in and then match them up with our bank statements… job done!”
Compliance records on hand
Lisa adds details such as batch numbers and product expiry dates to transactions, so they’re saved with the records.
“Reporting is an important part of any business and farming is no different. We are required to produce and store business information for initiatives such as the New Zealand Farm Data Code of Practice Standard or the National Animal Information and Tracing Programme (NAIT) and Focus does this for us.”
Everyone looking at the same screen
“No one has to leave their office to check details and, when we do make a trip to meet with our adviser, he pulls our Farm Focus account up on a big screen so we’re all looking at the same thing in real time. There’s no chance of confusion because we’re looking at the same information.”
Stock reconciliation and planning are part of the budget too.
“Stock recs can be completed through the Focus budget page, saving time and duplication. The budgeting tool is far superior, and we can plan well ahead which is an important part of being prepared in a fast-moving industry.”
Farmers who are listened to
“I feel farmers are listened to and our input is valued by the company because the company owns the product from the ground up. There were things that I felt needed tweaking when Focus was launched and, because the company has been responsive to feedback, changes have been made which have improved the customer experience.”
(In the interest of openness: Lisa’s daughter Zoe has worked at Farm Focus.)
Still paperless today
Lisa still runs Waitawhiti’s accounts in Farm Focus. Bank feeds, Farmlands and PaySauce flow straight in, the Invoice Scanner handles the bills, and a working budget sits alongside the actuals. GST is filed every two months, and their accountant sees the same live numbers. Since July 2026, they can also ask the AI Farm Assistant quick questions about their actuals, plans and reports.
Every Farm Focus customer gets free onboarding and phone support from a team that knows farming, in New Zealand and Australia.
