If 30 years ago, the technological revolution of dairy farms came with the installation of milking machines, today, with Boalvet AI, a "New Era 6.0" is beginning, in which Artificial Intelligence (AI) will open the doors to a new food model.
The application of new information technologies associated with the correct agronomic management of crops began to develop a few years ago with good results. Data collection, data analysis and real-time decision making were welcomed with open arms in the field of agriculture. It has provided ingenious solutions to many of the acute problems that the field has been facing, such as pest control, reduction of resource consumption - water, inputs or fuels - and early identification of diseases, etc.
In the livestock sector, however, the technological revolution was lagging behind. This is incomprehensible, because feeding trends and the stringent demands of the food supply chains should have been the driving force behind a sector with great potential. Even so, dairy ruminant farming is one of the branches of animal husbandry that responds with rapid initiatives to the demands of the population to improve its management deficit.
In Europe alone, there are 23 million dairy cows on 287,000 farms and more than 10 million dairy goats and sheep. These farms must take a firm step towards improving their production processes in order to feed 10 billion people by 2040. According to FAO, food production will have to grow by 70%. Despite the "Plant Based" trend, researchers at IFCN Dairy Research Network show that animal-based dairy products will outlive alternative "milks".
The production of healthy and safe food for people and the environment, the exhaustive animal welfare criteria so necessary for cows, sheep or goats, are posing a difficult challenge to overcome in the hectic day-to-day management of health and food on farms. This is a great opportunity for Boalvet AI's bio-inspired AI, where we combine our patents in Reforcing Learning (RL) - based on emotions - with novel advances in the use of plant extracts of veterinary interest.
New approaches are needed to achieve new results. Where before we used to bet on a change of feed manufacturer to cushion price increases, now we try to: include low-cost by-products, reformulate diets adapting them to the productive capacity of the animals or include natural bioactive compounds. We have gone from a minimal control of the application of sustainability criteria on farms, to demanding from farmers knowledge and skills for the supreme innovation of their farms. We are therefore entering a transitional period where digitalization and mechanization of processes must be affordable. It is absolutely necessary to allow generational renewal and to encourage the development of new agri-food projects that will have to feed future generations in a democratic way. The constant waste of resources and production of waste had become unmanageable until the advent of AI. The time has come to innovate on the basis of experience and take advantage of new discoveries to lay the technological foundations of a new era for what we call "Reversing the degradation of the Biosphere".
Boalvet AI has thus taken a step further towards the sustainable production of quality milk. Our system not only consists of applying artificial intelligence for the autonomous management of processes, but also in the application of therapeutic alternatives that reduce the use of synthetic drugs and, therefore, their negative impact on food for human consumption and the environment. The dairy farm management system developed by Boalvet AI, "PAM Precision Animal Milking" combines for now artificial intelligence with the application of veterinary phytotherapy in dairy farms, recommending medicinal plant mixtures according to the needs of the animals to improve health and productivity. This is also possible thanks to the use of new discoveries in the area of algorithms inspired by the biology of human emotions made by Bren Worth, CTO Substrate AI. But it doesn't stop there, our medium-term focus is on applying our technology to other aspects of farm management such as feeding and breeding.
The supply of botanical compounds in diets, which already has a growing body of scientific evidence, must be accompanied by monitoring to increase efficiency when we use them. Taking real-time data, interpreting it correctly and then immediately translating it into simple, concrete instructions using Bio Inspired AI technology, improves the quality of life for farm owners and animals while reducing antimicrobial consumption as required by the European Commission. This is one of the focal points of the European Green Pact -The European Green Deal, which integrates the Field to Table Strategy -Farm to Fork Strategy, whose focus is to improve the EU food system by making it more sustainable and environmentally friendly by reducing antibiotic sales by 50 % by 2030.
We are facing an exciting challenge, ready to address the massive incorporation of farms to the era of Smart Farms 6.0, where currently one in fifteen goat and sheep farms do not have highly technical milking systems and face a scenario of constant improvements. They need to rely on the expertise of a professional team like the one offered by Boalvet AI, and we will be there to accompany them.
Source: Boalvet AI
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