Overseer
Overseer Limited is a New Zealand not-for-profit that provides the OverseerFM nutrient budgeting and farm management platform to more than 15,000 farms, along with the OverseerEnterprise benchmarking product for corporate supply bases, regulators, and industry groups.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1994
- HeadquartersWellington, New Zealand
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingSoftware
What Overseer does
Overseer Limited is a New Zealand not-for-profit that develops and operates the OverseerFM farm nutrient management platform and the OverseerEnterprise benchmarking product. The company is jointly owned by the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), AgResearch Limited, and The New Zealand Phosphate Company, and is headquartered in Wellington. OverseerFM models nitrogen, phosphorus, and greenhouse gas flows at the farm level, enabling scenario testing, compliance reporting for regional council resource consents, and benchmarking against anonymised peer farms. The underlying Overseer model is built on more than 30 years of agricultural research and was independently validated in 2023 by Crown Research Institutes (AgResearch, Plant & Food Research, NIWA, and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research).
Overseer sells OverseerFM as a $750+GST per year self-serve subscription to individual farmers, growers, and rural consultants across New Zealand, with more than 15,000 farms reported to be using the platform since its 2018 launch. OverseerEnterprise is sold via direct enterprise sales to milk companies, banks, processors, and catchment groups for supply-base benchmarking and ESG reporting, with rural consultants acting as a parallel channel. The company has shifted its business model toward financial independence, raising subscription pricing in July 2022 and again in November 2025, with all subscription revenue reinvested into product development. Recent product work has emphasised emissions mitigation (EcoPond methane modelling with up to 96% reduction), NZ Grass-Fed compliance, digestate biofertilisers, and flexible milking strategies, supported by co-development partnerships with Lincoln University, Ravensdown, DairyNZ, and the Bioenergy Association of New Zealand.
The company's stated long-term goal is to have 80% of New Zealand's farmed land benefiting from its work by 2030. Distribution remains confined to New Zealand, and customer-facing AI is currently limited to a Zendesk-powered HelpBot launched in June 2025 rather than proprietary AI models. Operations are ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified (achieved March 2026) and supported by a small team of approximately 13 experts including PhD scientists and a CTO with industrial data science background.
Overseer firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Overseer
- Legal name
- Overseer Limited
- Website
- https://overseer.org.nz
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1994
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Overseer Limited is a New Zealand not-for-profit that provides the OverseerFM nutrient budgeting and farm management platform to more than 15,000 farms, along with the OverseerEnterprise benchmarking product for corporate supply bases, regulators, and industry groups.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Overseer industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Agricultural Nutrient Management Software
- NAICS
- Farm Management Services (115116)
- SIC
- Agricultural Services (700)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Whole-Farm Business Management & Budgeting Advisory (AFACAJAA)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Regulatory Compliance, Permitting & Audit Readiness (Food Safety, Environmental, Labor) (AFACAJAE), Farm Technology Enablement & Data Integration Advisory (FMIS/ERP, IoT, Decision Support) (AFACAJAG), Carbon, Sustainability & Farm Certification Support (Agro-Environmental Advisory) (AFACABAL)
Keywords
Where Overseer is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Wellington
- HQ country
- New Zealand
- HQ region
- Oceania
Offices1 record
Markets served
Overseer business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- OverseerFM Subscriptions: Annual farm account subscriptions for OverseerFM software. Income solely derived from software subscriptions outside of government and owner investment. All subscription money reinvested into business for further development.
- Government and Owner Investment: Funding from owners including Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI), AgResearch Limited, and The New Zealand Phosphate Company. Subsidised initial pricing for farmers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | OverseerFM - Farm Account Subscription |
| Subscription | Annual | OverseerEnterprise |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Overseer product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Overseer develops and sells science-based farm nutrient management and emissions modelling software for the New Zealand agricultural sector. Its core products are OverseerFM (a $750/year per-farm subscription tool for individual farmers to model nitrogen, phosphorus, and greenhouse gas emissions and benchmark against other farms) and OverseerEnterprise (an enterprise-tier platform for businesses like milk companies, banks, and processors to monitor and benchmark their supply base). Supporting services OverseerSci and OverseerEd extend the underlying Overseer nutrient budgeting model to scientific and educational users.
Product overview
Overseer offers a suite of farm management and decision support tools built on over 30 years of scientific research. The core products are OverseerFM (for individual farmers at $750/year subscription) and OverseerEnterprise (for enterprise/organizational use). These tools are powered by the Overseer model which provides nutrient budgeting, nitrogen/phosphorus/GHG emission modelling, and benchmarking. Supporting services include OverseerSci and OverseerEd for specialized scientific and educational applications. All products draw on data from over 15,000 New Zealand farms.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- OverseerFM Farm decision support software for individual New Zealand farmers, providing science-based nutrient budgeting, nitrogen/phosphorus/greenhouse gas emissions modelling, crop modelling, farm impact reporting, and benchmarking against other farms. Priced at $750+GST per year per farm account.
- OverseerEnterprise Enterprise-tier farm data insights platform for businesses managing agricultural supply bases (milk companies, processors, banks, catchment groups). Enables national-scale benchmarking, supply-base risk monitoring, strategy simulation, corporate ESG reporting, and prioritised technical support. Pricing requires enquiry.
- OverseerSci Scientific software service updated alongside OverseerFM releases, used by researchers and scientific modellers for nutrient budgeting and farm systems research applications.
- OverseerEd Educational software service updated alongside OverseerFM releases, supporting agricultural education and training in New Zealand.
Quantifiable outcome
- 27.5% decrease in mean nitrogen loss per hectare over five years in Canterbury dairy farms
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Overseer
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Overseer technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
Feature9 records
Overseer partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.
- Lincoln UniversitycoreDevelopment of EcoPond technology for chemical mitigation of effluent methane, achieving up to 96% reduction in methane emissions when applied to dairy effluent systems.
- RavensdowncoreDevelopment of EcoPond system - polyferric sulphate application technology for effluent methane reduction, currently available to farmers with the EcoPond system.
- DairyNZcoreCollaboration on flexible milking strategies, using lessons from DairyNZ's Technology & Workplace Practices Survey to update milking frequency modeling in OverseerFM.
- Dairy Women's NetworkminorSupporting the DWN Monopoly NZ Dairy Farming Edition, representing Overseer on properties within the game for Manawatu and Tararua regions.
- Bioenergy Association of New ZealandcoreCollaboration to add digestate biofertilisers as a new form of organic fertiliser in OverseerFM, enabling farmers to evaluate the potential benefits of using digestate in their farm systems as anaerobic digestors become more prevalent.
- AgResearchcorePart of the science programme evaluating OverseerFM's performance alongside NIWA and Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research, with comprehensive evaluation confirming tool's accuracy for nitrate losses.
- NIWAcorePart of the science programme comprehensively evaluating OverseerFM's performance for New Zealand farming systems.
- Manaaki Whenua Landcare ResearchcorePart of the science programme comprehensively evaluating OverseerFM's performance for New Zealand farming systems.
- Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI)flagshipGovernment owner and partner in science programme, providing funding and strategic direction. MPI issued NZ Grass-fed Administrative Standards that OverseerFM aligns with.
- Plant & Food ResearchcoreProvided new information for extensive crop changes in OverseerFM version 6.5.1, incorporating expertise from New Zealand cropping specialists.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Overseer competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Granular (Corteva): Enterprise farm management and agronomy software owned by Corteva. Comparable in crop planning and farm financial management but serves larger North American row-crop operations as part of a wider ag-input portfolio.
- Climate FieldView (Bayer): Digital agriculture platform from Bayer offering field data collection, analytics, and benchmarking. Comparable in on-farm data-driven decision support and sustainability reporting, but operates inside Bayer's crop-input ecosystem.
- Trimble Agriculture: Global precision agriculture software and hardware suite with farm management, telemetry, and decision-support. Comparable in farm data integration and decision support, but serves a much broader precision-ag portfolio.
Direct peers
- Figured: New Zealand-based farm financial management and benchmarking SaaS for dairy, sheep, beef, and arable farmers. Closest direct peer: shares NZ market, SMB farmer customer, subscription model, and integration with rural accountants and consultants.
- AgWorld: Farm management and crop planning platform with agronomy workflow and input recommendations. Comparable in SaaS farm planning, crop modeling, and rural professional channel partnerships.
- AgriWebb: Livestock farm management software with grazing, compliance, and emissions tracking. Comparable in product scope (on-farm decision support, environmental reporting) and target customer (commercial livestock farmers).
- Conservis: Farm management software for row-crop operations covering planning, inputs, and profitability. Comparable in enterprise farm record-keeping, benchmarking, and supply-chain transparency for growers.
Emerging players
- Intelinair: AGMRI crop intelligence and farm analytics platform. Comparable in field-level analytics and farm management insight but focused on row-crop imagery and US geographies.
- Muster Limited: Australia-based agritech offering farm benchmarking and sustainability reporting for livestock supply chains. Comparable in dairy/beef supply-base benchmarking and emissions reporting, but focuses on Australian red-meat supply chains.
Others
- Ravensdown: New Zealand farmer-owned fertiliser cooperative and Overseer partner (EcoPond). Comparable as a New Zealand ag-services stakeholder shaping farmer demand for nutrient and emissions modelling, though not a software competitor.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Overseer social profiles
Digital presenceOverseer compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
Overseer financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Overseer leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Overseer funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Overseer M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Overseer
What does Overseer do?
Overseer develops and sells science-based farm nutrient management and emissions modelling software for the New Zealand agricultural sector. Its core products are OverseerFM (a $750/year per-farm subscription tool for individual farmers to model nitrogen, phosphorus, and greenhouse gas emissions and benchmark against other farms) and OverseerEnterprise (an enterprise-tier platform for businesses like milk companies, banks, and processors to monitor and benchmark their supply base). Supporting services OverseerSci and OverseerEd extend the underlying Overseer nutrient budgeting model to scientific and educational users.
Is Overseer a public or private company?
Overseer is a private company. It is classified as state government owned and is currently operating.
When was Overseer founded?
Overseer was founded in 1994. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Overseer based?
Overseer is headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, in the Oceania region.
How does Overseer make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. OverseerFM Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are government and Owner Investment.
Who are Overseer's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Granular (Corteva), Climate FieldView (Bayer) and Trimble Agriculture. Direct peers are Figured, AgWorld, AgriWebb and Conservis. Emerging players are Intelinair and Muster Limited. Ravensdown is listed as an others.
Does Overseer have an API?
No public API is recorded for Overseer.
What industry is Overseer in?
Overseer's product category is Agricultural Nutrient Management Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is AFACAJAA, Whole-Farm Business Management & Budgeting Advisory, with a secondary code of AFACAJAE, Regulatory Compliance, Permitting & Audit Readiness (Food Safety, Environmental, Labor). Its NAICS code is 115116 and its SIC code is 700.