A multinational team of researchers have been awarded funding from the EU Horizon 2020 network to share knowledge and improve uptake of new digital technologies in sheep and goat farming systems.
The research will help to increase the efficiency and sustainability of sheep and goat (small ruminant) farming systems in Europe and beyond.
The project, entitled Sm@RT (Small Ruminant Technologies) will bring together a network of researchers from seven European countries: Ireland, Estonia, France, Hungary, Italy, Norway, UK; and Israel.
Dr. Tim Keady from Teagasc is the lead researcher in Ireland.
Sheep and goat farming are important to the rural economies of Ireland, Europe and many other countries across the world, particularly in areas that are unsuitable for other farming-production systems.
New tools to improve sheep farming
New tools called precision livestock farming (PLF) tools, also known as digital technologies, have been developed for other sectors such as dairy, to improve farm efficiency.
However, the development and uptake of such tools have been slower in the small ruminant industry.
The project will use a variety of methods to facilitate productive knowledge exchange within the European small ruminant community, working with a wide range of stakeholders including those operating well-equipped demonstration farms (‘digifarms’) and innovative commercial farms.
Commenting on the project, Dr. Keady said:
“This project will deliver practical information from the ‘digifarms’ and commercial farmers that will be helpful to farmers throughout Ireland and Europe.”
Sm@RT aims to use a step-by-step approach to ensure that the relevant people are involved at the right stages to facilitate and enable discussion and the exchange of ideas in a trusting environment.
It is intended to use these discussions to motivate IT companies to develop further practical, cost-effective, digital solutions for the sheep and goat sectors.
Have your say
The Sm@rt project team is seeking opinions from farmers and stakeholders on PLF tools.
You can get involved in the project by completing a short survey to help the SM@RT project team understand the main challenges, needs and interests along the whole sheep and goat value chain for PLF tools and digital technologies. The survey is available here and will be open to responses for one month.