As part of a three-day press tour in Brittany, experts from research, advisory services, innovation support and agricultural journalism gathered at Institut Agro Rennes-Angers to explore how digital innovations can be more effectively transferred into practice within the livestock sector. The panel event, held on 6 July, was supplemented by a platform for knowledge exchange on innovative digital tools, pilot initiatives and recent scientific results, including the EU-FarmBook project.
The international press tour was organised by EU-FarmBook, the European Network of Agricultural Journalists (ENAJ) and the French Livestock Institute (IDELE). Around 30 participants from the scientific and media communities attended the event and were welcomed by Patrick Sarzeaud, Senior Innovation Manager at IDELE; Dr. Inge De Bo, Scientific Coordinator of EU-FarmBook and researcher in Biosystems Control and Gaseous Emissions in Livestock at Ghent University; and Yanne Boloh, Chair of ENAJ, journalist and President of the press agency Philéas Info.
Sarzeaud said that IDELE had been involved in 40 European projects already. “We are quite proud to say that last year we filled as ambassador for France EU-FarmBook with more than 2000 files. And we will of course keep on going with this involvement,” he added. This seminar was a way to present innovations in the French livestock sector to European agricultural journalists and guests of IDELE.
De Bo highlighted the open access to EU-FarmBook in 24 EU languages. “You can ask the AI-based chatbot – the “farm assistant” – in your own language and then you have the translations,” she explained. De Bo is convinced that this will be a very important function for the practitioners. “Right now, the platform is still under development,” she said. “Every day, there will be more content uploads and improvements.”
Boloh pointed out that the EU-FarmBook could provide a lot of good stories for journalism. “ENAJ and IDELE are pursuing the same goal: to encourage farmers to adopt these innovations on their farms,” she said. The strength of European agriculture depended on collaboration between farmers and researchers, between innovators and practitioners.
Participants highlighted the importance of accessible, practice-oriented knowledge resources and multi-actor collaboration in supporting the adoption of innovative approaches that contribute to the sustainability, resilience and competitiveness of European agriculture.
The central topic explored by the panelists under moderation of Peter Rakers, strategic coordinator of EU-FarmBook, was digital innovation and data technology for livestock farms.
Prof. Yannick Le Cozler from the Institut Agro Rennes-Angers presented image based technologies in dairy herd management. This technology can help farmers to control the animal wellbeing, the estimation of weight and the body condition score. Le Cozler reported that there are promising results of 25 farmers. The technology could be implemented in a wide range, but many farmers are sceptical, Cozler said.
Adrien Lebreton, livestock farming expert at IDELE, presented the hype of digital innovation. He said that digital technologies are already widely used in livestock farming, but their adoption varies greatly on systems and contexts. The return on investment remains highly variable and depends on technical and economic conditions. Journalists should have in mind the Technical Readyness Level (TRL) when reporting about innovations, he stressed.
Claudie Guyomarch, director of the pig research farm CRÉCOM of the Chamber of Agriculture of Brittany, presented actual research projects. She highlighted projects of temporary farrowing crates for sows, tail biting trials and a trial of light intensity in the post weaning phase.
Pauline Créach from the French technical institute for applied research in poultry, rabbit and fish ITAVI, talked about innovations. She showed examples of robots in poultry production like sexing chickens, the monitoring of environment and poultry movement and an egg packing machine. Asked for the farmer’s acceptance of innovations, she pointed out that the return on investment has top priority.
Accompanying the panel discussion, numerous research projects presented in an “innovation marketplace”. Bérenger Morel from IDELE highlighted News from the EU-Farmbook platform. The Institut Agro Rennes-Angers featured digital innovations in dairy farming. New technologies in pig production, AI support and precision farming were presented by CRÉCOM. IDELE focused on TRET, a platform for transfer, research and expertise in milking located on an experimental farm in Derval, and on digital innovation in livestock farming with the Digifermes® network. ITAVI presented several digital tools, including EBENE for the assessment of animal welfare and Cap2ER, which measures the environmental footprint of agricultural holdings.
Fonte: EU-FarmBook
