GFIA Europe highlights smart pig farming solutions
Several practical applications of smart data solutions for the pig industry were presented on the first day of the Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture (GFIA), held for the first time in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
During a specific ‘Future Farming’ session for pig production, Dr Jürgen Vangeyte of the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Belgium, dived into the topical theme of early disease detection in pigs using smart data.
Finding sick pigs using RFID
Calling the concept ‘management by exception, Dr Vangeyte explained that it revolves around the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags, with which any pig’s behaviour can be followed, tracked and individual behavioural patterns can be discerned.
Should animals suddenly display different behaviour than they would usually do – then that is a reason for a system to send a ‘red alert’ to a pig producer. That way automation can assist personal observations of pig producers.
Also see: Finding the sick pig in just over a day
Dr Vangeyte touched on solutions involving sow lameness detection, localisation systems, the monitoring of finishing pigs, to name a few.
Pig feed cost analysis
A completely different application, but also very useful for the pig business, was presented by Bart Teuwen, speaking on behalf of DLV Market Advisory Services, a Belgian agricultural advisory organisation.
Only for the Netherlands market, DLV Market Advisory Services has recently teamed up with Pig Progress to provide information on future feed price developments.
Using existing market intelligence, DLV Market Advisory Services developed a tool, which helps producers better to assess the future feed market, and to support risk management for anybody dealing with pig feed production.
GFIA from Abu Dhabi now in Utrecht
The GFIA is an initiative that was first held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, several years ago. This is the first time an edition of the event was held on European soil. The event continues today (Wednesday, May 10), with e.g. specialised sessions on poultry production, crop production and dairy farming.
The event consists of an exhibition in combination with a high-level conference. It was opened by the Netherlands agricultural minister Martijn van Dam.
Join 18,000+ subscribers
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated about all the need-to-know content in the pigsector, three times a week.
