For dairy farmers
SmartDairyFarming continues to build data highway
A year ago, the Agrifirm, FrieslandCampina and CRV cooperatives joined Smart Dairy Farming (SDF)† The aim is to build a 'digital data highway' for dairy farming. Simply put, (sensor) data is collected and distributed to livestock farmers and third parties. By investing in a database, SDF has taken a new step.
SDF took the info broker, a kind of database that collects data from sensors on the dairy farm, from software company Rovecom. The information includes animal health, life expectancy, sustainability and mineral efficiency. The aim is to collect all (big) data on the dairy farm. Both dairy farmers and other companies can use this bundled data.
'It is up to the livestock farmer himself. He determines for whom his data is available," said SDF chairman Ton Loman. 'Big data will help agricultural entrepreneurs in their day-to-day business operations. A lot of data is already available via sensors. This data is brought together, after which applications help to make decisions.'
In the meantime, SDF and Rovecom are continuing to work on the data highway, which should be operational for dairy farming by the end of 2017. According to Loman, it's not just about the dairy sector. 'It offers future possibilities for several agricultural sectors.' Agrifirm Plant already has the Akkerweb initiative for arable farming, which uses decision support systems in a similar way.
Niels van der Boom
© DCA Market Intelligence. This market information is subject to copyright. It is not permitted to reproduce, distribute, disseminate or make the content available to third parties for compensation, in any form, without the express written permission of DCA Market Intelligence.