We recently covered how Big Data can be leveraged to benefit dairy farmers, from tracking calf health vitals through real-time monitoring technologies to detecting breaks in the cold chain through IoT solutions. Generative AI and machine learning offer additional tools that can be adapted to many applications in dairy. An invited review published in Applied Animal Science traced the use of AI in dairy as part of expert systems and detailed the limitations of these systems due to hardware and software constraints. However, machine learning has been utilized to analyze large data sets since the 1980s, allowing scientists to develop new applications for AI in dairy farming and production.
Platforms that gather and monitor data for case-specific analysis – such as detecting early disease symptoms by logging temperature changes in cattle – are prevalent, and solutions designed to optimize manufacturing processes are gaining traction. Innovative solutions in the dairy industry are becoming more essential. Two commercial solutions aimed at optimizing dairy production have been announced in January 2024: a cheese yield optimization tool from Texas-based Ever.Ag and SPX Flow’s Anhydro SmartDry System in the US. Additionally, UK’s Innovate UK program is allocating £100m/$126.9m to invest in AI innovation in key sectors including agriculture. Automation and optimization tools are also showing promise for improving consistency and controlling dairy product quality on a global scale.
Aside from machine learning and automation solutions, the next wave of technology in the dairy industry is likely to leverage generative AI. For example, Dutch tech company Connecterra has developed Ida, an AI-powered assistant for dairy farmers, which can monitor and compare cow behavior and farm performance against the most efficient farms globally, helping farmers improve their environmental performance. Generative AI powered by large language models has the potential to be a game-changer for dairy, offering the ability to train AI models specifically for dairy farming.
