Enhancing farm productivity and guaranteeing cattle traceability and welfare using systems based on blockchains.
About half of the livestock farms across the European Union rely on subsidies. Furthermore, only big farms are proving profitable, keeping young investors skittish. CATTLECHAIN 4.0 aims to develop innovative tools that can restore interest and activity for younger generations, also assuring full transparency of the supply chain. By recording different parameters from the cows and analysing data with artificial intelligence algorithms, farmers are provided with a novel, decision support tool about their livestock.
The project will boost the growth of the two industries mainly involved – SENSO, a tech-startup company, and NATRUS, a hamburger company.
Analysis of the Direct Payment Scheme and farm incomes by DG-AGRI shows that on average about 50 % of the European livestock farms are reliant on subsidies. Currently, precision farming is only profitable for big farms and the investment is always difficult to pay back. Besides, there is an increasing demand on more information on food quality and safety and traceability. Thus, the EU livestock sector is in need of innovative tools to (i) increase its efficiency and become an attractive activity for the younger generations and (ii) assure full transparency and traceability along the supply chain.
In this context, CATTLECHAIN 4.0 project aims to develop an integral smart solution to support the EU livestock sector to overcome the aforementioned challenges. By recording different parameters from the cows with IoT wearables, and analysing this data with Artificial Intelligence algorithms, farmers get a decision support tool about their farm condition, so they can take immediate action if any issue arises and prevent losses/health issues. Besides, by aggregating the data from multiple cows and farms in a blockchain based cloud platform, consumers and public authorities can access a traceability tool with truthful and secure data about the meat/dairy supply chain. Finally, aligned with consumers’ demands and thanks to the information gather by the IoT wearables, an Animal Welfare Seal will be created that guarantees that the meat and dairy products meet the highest animal welfare standards. This ground-breaking technologies and services will be validated in ambitious trial scenarios with 5.000 cows.
The project will boost the growth of the two industries involved, firstly of the coordinator SENSO a tech-startup that will exponentially increase its turnover, and secondly of NATRUS, company specialised in premium hamburguers, who will gain a competitive advantage by being able to completely trace back their products.
