Objective sustainability assessment by Precision Livestock Farming

Sustainable livestock production is needed to feed the growing, wealthier and urbanizing world population. This results in a need for better genetics and a more precise way to monitor them. The challenge and the success of intensive farming will lie in how precisely we can steer the animals towards their genetic potential. Sustainability is however often a subjective phrasing that is hard to quantify by numbers. The continuous automated monitoring of varying needs of individual living farm animals at every moment and anywhere is called Precision Livestock Farming (PLF). Sensors have the potential to replace the eyes, ears and nose of the farmer by continuously assessing different key indicators throughout the production process, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. The aim of this research is to demonstrate the value of a Business Intelligence product that gathers farm data from automated PLF sensors to score an objective set of measures that provide evidence on sustainability. This information can then be used, not only to improve the various processes that make up good production, but output can also be used in labelling, ‘a license to produce’. The roadmap towards a sustainable on-farm meat production is described hereafter in four categories: production efficiency (also regarded as the indicator for profitability), welfare, health and emissions. Production efficiency Key Production Indicators are generated from data created by Farm Controls that use PLF-sensor technology to monitor production. Typical basic production variables are feed provided, daily growth, water use... For the automated health and welfare assessment, production data will be scored against a predetermined standard, and the current production round will be compared against historical. Emerging PLF sensor technologies use the animal as a sensor to gather evidence on the animals’ bio response to its environment and management by the farmer. Typical examples of health and welfare variables are pig coughs, activity level of the flock, distribution of the flock... The final indicator of sustainable production is emissions, or more commonly accepted the carbon score. For this, a set of production KPI’s will be translated to their equivalent carbon measures. It is important that all stakeholders understand the environmental impact per individual animal and not the production unit as a whole. PLF-technology and continuous monitoring of animal bio responses will improve the understanding of the production process. This will allow the farmer to manage his process by exception. The fact information is created by machines means the system provides an inbuilt efficiency and frequency that cannot be equalled by humans. Current assessment by inspectors takes us so far, but to have sensible dialogue will require rethink, this is where technology will play a significant role. On-farm data collection and sharing will enhance the transparency throughout the production chain and help the consumer make educated decisions.