AGROS, the research program in which Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and 26 private partners worked on an ‘Evolution towards sustainable AGRicultural Business Systems’ recently concluded with a final meeting. It was also announced there that the program will be continued with AGROS-II.’Modelling is not objective’Modeling and artificial intelligence (AI) have become indispensable within the [ … ]
Dairy
AGROS knowledge sessions
Knowledge sessions are currently being organized for the partners of AGROS to dive deeper into the knowledge developed during the project. The first sessions about Digital Twin and Computer Vision were organized in November 2023. On Tuesday, December 5, the spotlight was on the cultivation plan in an online webinar, led by Monique Bijlaard of [ … ]
AGROS Dairy use-case at the EAAP-Congress in Lyon
The European Federation of Animal Science held its 74th annual conference in Lyon, France, between the 26th August and 1st September. The dairy use-case of AGROS was present with an oral presentation on breath analysis and a poster presentation on 3D computer vision. In his talk, researcher István Fodor summarized the results of the collaborative [ … ]
Invitation to the network and knowledge event AGROS: “Data and intelligence in horticulture, arable farming and dairy”
Date: Wednesday April 5, 2023 Time: 13:00 – 17:00 Venue: WUR Greenhouse Horticulture, Violierenweg 1, Bleiswijk, The Netherlands Complexity of systems in greenhouse horticulture, arable farming and dairy is increasing, and society demands sustainable production systems. Current farming systems can only meet this demand to a limited extent. The way forward involves [ … ]
Breath analysis for disease detection in dairy cattle
Due to the challenges in (near-)real-time disease detection on dairy farms, sick cows are often found late in practice, decreasing the chance of successful treatment and recovery of the animal. Ultimately, this leads to impaired animal welfare and economic losses. Therefore, real-time, non-invasive monitoring tools are continuously being studied in research and implemented on the [ … ]
Using computer vision to estimate feed weight in dairy barns
The ability to measure individual feed intake has been a desire from the dairy industry for long, in order to breed for feed efficiency, but also to support farm management decisions. In addition, changes in feed intake and feeding behaviour are indicators of disease (e.g. ketosis, lameness) in dairy cows. Roughage intake control bins are [ … ]
First meeting AGROS – Exchange between the three sectors
On May 31, 2022 representatives of the 3 sectors were invited to share experiences within AGROS. Some 20 participants listened to the visions that are the basis for the activities per sector. Renske Landeweert (IMEC-One Planet) kicked off with their vision on the developments in data use. IMEC-One Planet works at the forefront of chip [ … ]
Sensor and livestock experts join forces to improve diagnostics in dairy cattle
Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and Radboud University (RU) are collaborating strongly to further advance the sensing potential for diseases and resource use efficiency of dairy cows. On 3rd May the Life Science Trace Detection Laboratory of RU hosted researchers and PhD students from WUR, to share their experience with state-of-the-art laboratory technologies that can [ … ]
(Genetic) differences between dairy cows in feed digestibility
An important challenge for the 21st century is to create a sustainable food system. Dairy farmers face challenges such as limiting greenhouse gas emissions and preventing nutrient losses to the environment. At the same time, profitability remains important, and feed represents one of the major production costs on dairy farms. Therefore, to improve the resource [ … ]
Breath provides insight into the health of individual cows
Traditionally, milk, blood and urine samples have been used to monitor dairy cows under field conditions. Exhaled air from the dairy cow is mainly used for monitoring methane emissions, with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the long term. Breath, which consists of a complex mixture of molecules, can also provide valuable insights [ … ]
Kick-off AGROS project
In may 2020, the AGROS programme was launched with a digital kick-off during which the plans for the coming four years were explained. The programme is developing agrotechnologies to support ecological and biological processes in the greenhouse horticulture, arable farming and dairy industries. The AGROS programme is a collaboration between Wageningen University & Research (WUR) [ … ]