* By Werter Padilha
The number of Brazilian livestock farmers interested and willing to invest in technologies associated with what we call precision livestock farming has increased. Any action aimed at optimizing production results and reducing operating costs is always welcome. To this end, researchers have sought to achieve success in recent decades through different sensing, traceability, control and automation technologies. But currently, agribusiness needs much more than just monitoring. It is increasingly important to guarantee excellence and answer any questions regarding the origin of production.
At COP 28, 28th United Nations Conference on Climate Change, held in Dubai, a program of individual identification and cattle traceability was presented by the government of Pará, based on the union between the state government and companies in search of transparency and integrity of the entire production chain, and guaranteeing respect for sanitary, land and socio-environmental rules, contributing to combat the deforestation. JBS, a major global player, is part of this Pará program and announced investments. Already the Marfrig, another powerhouse in this market, also announced that it will invest R$ 100 million in individual cattle herd traceability programs. Another ongoing initiative is led by the unit Embrapa Livestock Southeast, from São Carlos (SP), and focuses on real-time tracking of animals indoors and in outdoor paddocks. This action is already in the testing phase and being presented to groups of invited livestock farmers.
All this because traceability plays a fundamental role in guaranteeing the quality and safety of products of animal origin, a requirement of the Brazilian and international markets. Tools and technological solutions that allow real-time monitoring of animal performance, identifying problems early and taking measures to correct them are long awaited by livestock farmers. With this, it is possible to increase the farm's productivity and improve the quality of the milk and meat produced. The search for more precise answers to be given to the consumer market is urgent.
How can we ensure that the product arriving on Brazilian shelves or destined for export is free from socio-environmental liabilities? How can we guarantee that the meat was not produced, throughout its life cycle, on land with environmental disputes or illegal deforestation? How can we ensure that the workforce responsible for livestock management has not suffered from slave or child labor? To answer these questions assertively, livestock farmers need the guarantees that animal monitoring and tracking technologies can provide. Without this, there is no commercial future for these herds.
From pasture to table
I don't see how to respond to these demands without the use of the internet of things (IoT), which allows us to be increasingly efficient and precise, monitoring the calf's life from birth to adulthood and slaughter. It is essential to monitor all stages of the production and distribution process, from the farm to the consumer's table, ensuring that cattle do not bring with them the aforementioned environmental and social liabilities.
Therefore, sensors on animals and devices connected via the cloud are essential for collecting real-time data on various parameters: breeding habitat, animal welfare, growth and weight, transport care and even meat storage conditions. The information must be registered in databases, made available in a certified manner and accessible to all parties involved in the production chain, providing greater transparency and reliability.
Precision livestock farming has a lot to benefit from internet of things technologies, because they are resources that allow farm owners to better monitor and manage their herds. However, one of the challenges of the Internet of Things (IoT) in livestock farming is to guarantee its operation in the reality of field conditions, whether indoors or outdoors, ensuring local and cloud connectivity, low implementation costs and great ease of installation and use.
Traceability with beacons
For this monitoring system challenge, the recommended device is the beacon, together with gateways and a monitoring platform. Beacons operate using Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology, which has become increasingly widespread thanks to the pluralization of smartphones and countless devices.
Beacons are very well built, robust to withstand the harshness of the rural environment, with low energy consumption, ensuring their operational longevity, and with systemic intelligence to infer and adapt to the environment in which they are located.
Gateways that allow capturing and transmitting information to local and cloud platforms, regardless of the geography where the solutions are applied. To top it off, a robust and very intelligent software platform to provide the much-desired answers.
Identifying the animal from its birth, providing its location in real time and its history during all its productive phases, will answer the first and most important questions: where is or has the animal been? Are the places he passed through free from environmental and social liabilities?
A lot of manual work is currently carried out, without guarantees of reliability and exposed to the possibility of errors. The goal is to guarantee the desired results, which can be greatly expanded with integrations with sensors that measure water and food consumption, in addition to including connectivity with other services and market solutions in the project. A real win-win for everyone involved.
A project of this level is a sure success when the work is carried out jointly by zootechnicians, veterinarians, producers and managers with a team of technology specialists. After all, precision livestock farming is an area of multidisciplinary knowledge.
Origin and quality guarantee
The share of agribusiness in the total Brazilian GDP was 24.8% in 2022 and the goal is to increase this representation, establishing a steady pace of growth in the coming years. Furthermore, Brazilian livestock farming is already considered one of the most productive in the world and the country is one of the largest exporters of beef on the planet.
Therefore, the development of a low-cost animal identification and tracking system with genuinely Brazilian technology will help rural producers to improve their planning, management, monitoring of livestock and management of the property's strategic activities, providing data that will increase national livestock production. to a new level. The data includes: identification, location and traceability to maximize operational results, providing greater efficiency and cost reduction.
The traceability of the breeding conditions of this head of cattle will add value to Brazilian meat production, as the breeder will be able to store a series of data, ensuring that their product was raised under the sanitary and handling conditions recommended by Brazilian and international bodies.
Using this recorded information, it will be possible to provide consumers with detailed data about the origin of the cattle, such as where they were raised, the food provided and specific care. This transparency will contribute to strengthening consumer confidence in the quality and safety of animal products in Brazil.
Traceability is a growing need for exports, as purchasing countries have presented more stringent requirements regarding food safety. By offering meat with proven traceability, Brazil gains a competitive advantage in this globalized market and reinforces its position as a reliable, socially and environmentally responsible producer.
*Werter Padilha, CEO of Taggen Industries and Services and Advisor to ABES – Brazilian Association of Software Companies
Notice: The opinion presented in this article is the responsibility of its author and not of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies
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