Engineering A Better Farm

Tuesday, November 19, 2024

Building Bridges Outside Of Traditional Livestock Research Fields

By Lilian Schaer, For Livestock Research Innovation Corporation

There are many big issues facing the livestock industry, from climate change and emerging diseases to changing societal expectations and an evolving regulatory environment. It’s a topic that Livestock Research Innovation Corporation (LRIC) is working to tackle on behalf of Ontario’s livestock sector – and the answers require big ideas and new thinking, says Mike McMorris, who just recently retired as the organization’s CEO.

“The issues facing livestock now are bigger and more complex than ever before. It’s not just about better or more efficient production, although that, of course, is still important, but finding solutions to climate change adaptation or reducing antimicrobial use go beyond the research capacity of a single commodity,” McMorris says.

“We need to involve experts from automation, engineering, computer science and other fields and use their skills and knowledge to support the betterment of the livestock sector,” he adds.

According to McMorris, the key to making this happen is fostering cross-sectoral research approaches and building relationships with scientists and experts not traditionally linked to agriculture who can bring new perspectives to the table, like engineering or computer science, for example.

This has evolved into the Engineering a Better Farm initiative, with LRIC working to learn what on-farm challenges could be solved with engineering while also starting to make connections with some of Ontario’s engineering schools to introduce them to possibilities offered by the agriculture sector.

It’s attracted the interest of Dr. Mary Wells, Dean of Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada’s largest engineering school with over 10,500 students and ranked in the top 50 globally for engineering and technology.

“The Engineering a Better Farm initiative aligns well with Waterloo Engineering priorities and expertise in teaching, experiential education, research and innovation,” she notes. “We’re interested in growing our connections with the livestock sector; there is good interest among our researchers to work more closely with agriculture, and key to this is building connections and networks.”

She was the keynote speaker at a panel discussion LRIC hosted in Elora, Ont. in June that explored how research from outside the agriculture sector could be used for the benefit of the livestock industry.

She was joined on the panel by Drumbo, Ont.-area dairy producer Chris McLaren, Ontario Agricultural College Associate Dean Rebecca Hallett, and Darrell Petras, CEO of the Canadian Agri-Food Automation and Intelligence Network.

“In some cases, technologies have already been developed at Waterloo that could apply to livestock and agriculture and could be targeted and modified to fit the needs of the farming sector. It would be fantastic to see some of this work we do translate into livestock applications.”

This includes work in areas like robotics and automation, vision and imaging, data capture, wireless communications, sensors, artificial intelligence and explainable decision-making, cyber security, logistics and supply chain management, remote monitoring, climate change and environmental sustainability, energy, air quality, biomedical devices, biomanufacturing, epidemiology and more.

Wearable devices can provide real-time monitoring of health indicators and could be expanded to include wearable medication delivery systems.

Innovations in robotics will replace repetitive tasks to reduce labour costs and ensure consistent quality or delivery – such as of feed, for example.

Computer vision, video analytics and image analysis can support remote sensing by drones and satellites to assess field conditions and land use. Remote and wireless monitoring enables RFID tags and innovation in movement detection. Sensors can detect water leaks or monitor gas emissions.

And work in circular economy applications can convert plastic, crop and livestock waste into green bioplastics and biofuels like ethanol, hydrogen or biodiesel.

All panelists emphasized the need for researchers to work closely with end users – in this case farmers – to understand and evaluate approaches and solutions in the context of modern livestock farming environments.

Wells was impressed by the audience’s readiness and eagerness to implement and engage in new ideas and technologies, particularly in areas linked to animal welfare and comfort, farmer and worker welfare and environmental considerations as well as business goals.

For McLaren, having producers in the room that day was important to keeping the discussion grounded to practical solutions that can be applied immediately as well as longer-term, more blue-sky thinking – and he came away impressed with what could be possible.

“It’s important to make sure that we keep farm technology affordable, accurate and durable,” he says. “But what stands out in my mind from the day was Mary Wells asking how engineering students can be engaged and encouraged to look at agriculture as a career. I think there are so many opportunities with technology in agriculture that could encourage young people to consider careers in our sector.”

In terms of next steps, both McLaren and Wells believe it’s important that the industry continue to show engineering students the opportunities and technology in agriculture. One way to do that is for businesses in the sector with technology-based solutions to offer co-op placements.

Another is to host challenge competitions for engineering students focused on solving on-farm issues faced by livestock farms to introduce them to the opportunities in the sector.

The industry can also offer topics and mentorship for the fourth-year immersive design projects that all undergraduate engineering students at Waterloo have to complete by applying what they’ve learned in class and through their co-op placements to a real-world problem.

And finally, notes McLaren, nothing beats farm tours for students and researchers to show them the integration of technology and agriculture first-hand.

“We look forward to continuing to engage with LRIC and its members to build new networks, determine needs and create new partnership opportunities so we ensure that research results are practical and useful,” says Wells.

It’s a relationship McMorris says LRIC will continue to foster, along with outreach to other engineering schools, as part of its ongoing mandate to drive innovation in Ontario’s livestock sector.

“The future is rife with possibility, and new approaches and initiatives like Engineering a Better Farm will help us unlock its potential,” he believes. BP

Livestock Research Innovation Corporation is funded in part by the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (Sustainable CAP), a five-year, federal-provincial-territorial initiative. This article is provided by LRIC as part of its ongoing efforts to report on research, innovation, and issues affecting the Canadian livestock industry.