A peek into the future dairy farm

While many dairy farms in the U.S. and abroad are trying to dig their way out of the most recent milk price crisis, a 200-plus person group of producers and industry, mostly from Canada, met in Toronto, Ontario, last week for the First North American Conference on Precision Dairy Management. Perhaps, Dairy Farming of the Future would have been an appropriate name, as well. The plethora of high-tech equipment couldn't help but make us think of our industry's next generation of managers who prefer push-button controls to back-breaking work. But, the bigger question on our mind was — who can afford this right now? One exhibitor at the conference touted an in-line NIR (near infrared) feed control system. The technology has the capabilities to monitor and alter moisture, ADF, NDF, and much more in your ration as it is being mixed. Could this be the link that removes the variation between the ration formulated by the nutritionist and the ration actually mixed and fed?

Feeding wasn't the only focus of the meeting. Robotic milking was a natural fit under the precision dairy management umbrella. The conference's coordinator, Jack Rodenburg of DairyLogix and the Vetvice group has authored an article that will be appearing our March 25 issue about optimal barn design for robotic milking facilities. If you're thinking of going robotic, you'll want to read it.

Breeding, a not so obvious fit to precision dairy farming was also discussed. Getting cows bred has become an Achille's heel for many dairy farms, but we must admit that public relations has, too. One U.S. veterinarian presenting at the conference blasted the U.S. dairy industry's reliance on timed A.I. protocols because of its potential to become a public relations nightmare. He pointed to the potential expanded use of activity monitoring to manage heat detection instead of OvSynch protocols. Another heat detection tool discussed was in-line milk sampling for progesterone levels.

Ephraim Maltz, of the Volcani Institute in Israel, has been researching precision dairy farming technologies for many years. He reminded attendees that decades ago, individual animal care was the norm when farms were only home to a few cows. Today, cows tend to be managed in groups on large farms. "We can now manage the smallest production unit again," he says when referencing the variety of tools now available to manage cows individually and precisely.

Working together to educate consumers

Last week, we headed up to the AFACT annual summit in Minneapolis. AFACT stands for American Farmers for the Advancement and Conservation of Technology. This nonprofit agricultural education organization is made up of agricultural producers along with industry supporters. They are working to educate the food chain, especially those in the grocery sector, about modern agricultural technologies that have come under attack in recent years. Topics like animal welfare, BST, antibiotics, and GMO crops were all topics of discussion. The second annual summit was host to speakers like dairy and poultry producers from California who discussed how Proposition 2 will affect their farms. The summit also welcomed Alex Avery, director of research and education at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food Issues, who discussed the sustainability of modern agricultural practices. Beyond listening to speakers, attendees learned more about the organization and took part in small group discussions on what more can be done to educate consumers while working side by side will all of agriculture.

Monty Miller, a member of the AFACT leadership team, shared some of the group’s efforts in online education. He highlighted a Moodle page (an internet-based learning website) that was used to pilot an online course to educate consumers about food production technologies. Miller believes that education of consumers and improving their science literacy is essential today. “Five to ten years ago we had a choice. Its not a choice anymore, it’s what we have to do,” Miller said.

Nearly a billion go hungry

Just this week, the Washington Post published an article about recent world hunger estimates from the U.N. food aid organization. It says that the number of hungry people in the world could soon reach a new record of 1 billion. What’s hungry? Well, by their definition: Hungry is those who receive fewer than 1,800 calories per day. According to Food and Agriculture Organization experts, it is likely that well over 100 million more people will go hungry this year. They say this is due, in part, to the global economic crisis. Many of those individuals are from developing countries with low, yet rising, consumption of meat and dairy products. What can be done to change this?

To start — by the year 2050, we will need to produce 100 percent more food, with only 10 percent more tillable land not already in agricultural production. Jeff Simmons, president of Elanco, recently authored a whitepaper which addresses this growing challenge of feeding our world’s population. Simmons cites the FAO saying, “The FAO concludes that 70 percent of the world’s additional food needs can be produced only with new and existing agricultural technologies.” The dairy industry has made great strides in efficiencies and production within the last century. Will we continue this progress, or will consumer groups challenge this? How can we (as dairy advocates) promote farming efficiencies at home, abroad, and especially in developing countries in order to feed the world? Discuss below.