Rick Burke and Jan Loney have farmed Pukekauri Farms, 300 ha south of Katikati running back up to the Kaimai Range, since the 1980s. They’re known across the Bay of Plenty for their environmental work, with awards to show for it. They were long-time Cash Manager users. When the move to cloud-based Farm Focus came, Rick admits he wasn’t a natural with technology.
“I have to admit to a bit of angst when dealing with tech matters but the automated processes Focus delivers are a tremendous help for users like me.”
An award-winning farm that keeps changing
Around 75% of Pukekauri is rolling country and 25% is steep. Over the years, Rick and Jan have changed how they farm it, matching each part of the land to what it does best.
“We’ve put 162ha into pasture as beef, sheep and dairy grazing while the rest has been retired and planted with some going into exotic forestry (23ha) and the rest (110ha) in native trees, regenerating bush and fenced off wetlands.”
Their work won the Supreme Award at the 2014 Bay of Plenty Ballance Farm Environment Awards. In 2024 the family was named a Cawthron Freshwater Champion. Pukekauri was also an Ag Matters case study farm on knowing your greenhouse gas numbers. Between 1998/99 and 2020/21, net emissions more than halved while farm profit per hectare roughly doubled. Rick says it was great having years of financial data and stock reconciliations on hand to show the effect on profitability.
Can an old dog learn new tricks?
Rick and Jan liked Cash Manager. When it was being retired, they saw the move to the cloud as a chance, not a chore.
“We loved our old Cashmanager, but times change, and information is all on-line now – our mail, grocery orders, our news and movies are all available in real time. When the company signalled Cashmanager was being retired and they were launching their new cloud-based Farm Focus we immediately saw benefits for our business.”
For Jan, the frantic month-end reconciliation was the first thing to go.
“I save our invoices as these come in and they are automatically matched with corresponding information on our bank statements and saved securely in the system forever!”
Because Farm Focus is online, she uses it little and often.
“It’s an online tool so it’s just like opening an email so now I drop in and out more often. The beauty is you can enter information as you go along so I’m using it more effectively and building confidence along the way. Being able to refer back to our old Cashmanager information for comparisons is also handy because we still have full access to our historical records as well.”
By month end, there’s little left for Rick to do.
“We make a good team but to be fair Jan does the prep and I’ve only got a couple of entries to make at month’s end before giving the detail a final check and pushing the button!”
How do advisers see the farm accounts?
Their accountant and bank manager log in online and see the same figures.
“No-one has to leave their office so now down time for all is zero. Even the Beef+Lamb economic service team said it was useful to be able to log on and look at our figures without leaving their office. It was something new, quite a revelation for them too.”
From farmers, for farmers
For Rick and Jan, the best part is the people. They say the Farm Focus staff are fantastic: always helpful and open to suggestions. Because Farm Focus designed and built the software itself, it can keep adapting it so it stays relevant. They see it as a long-term partnership, not a product that’s sold and forgotten.
That’s still how Farm Focus works. Questions and suggestions from farmers like Rick and Jan help shape what the team builds next, and new features roll out regularly. Since moving to the cloud, Rick and Jan have seen a new look, better budgeting tools and, since July 2026, the AI Farm Assistant, which answers quick questions about actuals, plans and reports.
Rick and Jan still run Pukekauri’s accounts in Farm Focus today. Their bank feed brings in transactions, they keep a working budget, and GST is filed every two months from the same numbers. Their advisers can see the figures whenever they need them.
Every Farm Focus customer gets free onboarding and phone support from a team that knows farming, in New Zealand and Australia.
