“The era of robotic milking has arrived” - Irish farms go digital
Wednesday, 19 July, 2023
Dr (opens in a new window)Dimitrios Argyropoulos is Assistant Professor in the School of Biosystems and food engineering at University College Dublin. He is also the UCD programme director of the new masters in Digital Technology for Sustainable Agriculture and a principal investigator with the UCD Institute of Food and Health. Here he talks about smart farming and the digital transformation of agriculture.
Robotic milking, AI collar tags for cows, smart tractors - the digital transformation of Irish farming is well underway.
With the world’s population set to reach 10 billion by 2050 - against a backdrop of food shortages caused by climate change - never before has the need for sustainable agriculture been more urgent.
“According to a (opens in a new window)recent survey, half of Irish farmers are using smart farming technology, while a further third plan on using it in the near future,” says Dr Dimitrios Argyropoulos.
“The majority of farmers believe that smart farming technology can simplify work and give useful information for optimising productivity on the farm.”
The survey also found that farmers operating larger farms are more likely to believe that digital farming technology can increase yield.
“And they believe that such technologies can improve their environmental impact and help them to cope with climate change, which is a major issue at the moment.”
Ireland has some 135,000 farms and the estimated total value of our agri-food exports in 2022 was €18.7 billion. The promise of digital transformation is to improve the sector even further. Smart tools include sensors that collect data to help farmers monitor crop health, weather and soil quality. Other ag-tech systems use big data and predictive analytics to help farms save energy, increase efficiency and optimise agricultural operations.
“The era of robotic milking has arrived,” says Dr Argyropoulos, of automatic systems that require no human labour. Though a “considerable investment” at €135,000, milking robots have been shown to significantly increase both yield and quality.
“I would say there are currently more than 200 units operating in the republic with a similar number of farms in the North. And all the research indicates that in the near future robotic milking will be the norm.”
Meanwhile, technology based on animal tracking, featuring GPS attached to the collar of the cow, also boosts milk production and decreases the use of antibiotics.
“It does this by detecting illness much earlier and protecting the rest of the herd.”
Internet of Things (IoT) devices measuring climate, soil and crop data have been shown to “increase crop yield by 4% and reduce pesticide by 10% in arable crops. These sensors can give you exact information about needs in terms of fertilisation, pesticide use and irrigation”. Argyropoulos describes them as “decision support tools” for farmers, and says they are user friendly.
“ Smartphone applications have been developed and offered to farmers to help them make challenging decisions on how to optimise their farm operations. Farmers do not need a degree in computer science, but specific training on digital technology by agricultural advisors. Also, the new generation of farmers nowadays are computer savvy. ”
He describes modern tractors as “computers on wheels”, with the world’s largest farm machinery manufacturers prioritising digital transformation.
“They now employ more software engineers than mechanical engineers. Why? To enable their machines to gather data - and that data can be used to help farmers improve their practices.”
The increasing take-up of digital technologies by farmers has led to much homegrown innovation.
“Ag-tech start-ups are blooming in Ireland. There are around 150 already.”
Technological advances are also enabling safer supply chains. Argyropoulos is co-ordinator of WATSON, an €11 million European project which aims to tackle food fraud.
“It brings together 44 partners across 19 EU and non-EU countries. There are 13 universities and research organisations involved, 11 large enterprises and SMEs, NGOs, think tanks, food safety authorities. WATSON was launched earlier this year here in UCD and is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary consortium with all kinds of expertise.”
One of the most common examples of food fraud is adulteration.
“This is where something fraudulent is added to a food product that is not on the label, usually to lower costs or create a false sense of quality.”
The WATSON project will apply digital and artificial intelligence based technologies to rapidly identify and prevent the spread of food fraud across the supply chains – and create digital passports for food products.
“ We have six pilot sites and these include tackling the counterfeiting of Portuguese wine, preserving the authenticity of Spanish Northwest PGI honey, ensuring the rapid traceability of extra virgin olive oil in Italy, identify possible manipulations at all stages of the meat chain in Germany, improved traceability of high value products in cereal and dairy chain and combating counterfeiting of fish in Norway. ”
To meet the growing demand for digital literacy in agriculture, UCD has launched a new Masters in Digital Technology for Sustainable Agriculture, beginning in September 2023.
“I would say it is one of the first degrees in the world to integrate data science and agriculture.I will be teaching a great variety of modules focusing on technology and engineering,” says Argyropoulos, its programme director, listing, among others, precision livestock management, precision agriculture and IoT implementation in the farming and food sectors. Students will also learn how to code using Python and MATLAB and undertake a research project.
“The masters is unique because it offers hands-on experience on the reins of novel digital technology. Students will learn the theory in class and in state-of-the-art labs and then apply what they have learned in practice on the UCD Lyons Farm.”
And, eventually, on their own farms too.