According to the 2009 report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the global population is expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, and food consumption will increase by 50-60% (based on today’s consumption patterns). One way to address this global food security problem is to increase production while maintaining current input or enhancing sustainability. A further increase in this demand raises ethical issues, including concerns about animal welfare.

What is precision livestock farming?
Precision livestock farming refers to the management of animal husbandry that continuously and automatically monitors the health and welfare of the animal. It means continuous real-time remote detection and monitoring of animals through the analysis of livestock images, sounds, tracking data, weight, physical conditions, and biological indicators.
Precision livestock farming technology has the potential to change animal husbandry, making traditional animal husbandry activities more efficient and beneficial. With the increasing global demand for meat products,  it will help increase profitability, achieve high-yield farming, and with minimal impact on the environment and climate at the same time.
Despite the great development of GPS-based animal tracking technology in recent years, there are still some factors that have limited its large-scale commercial applications. For example, in most remote areas, wireless data transmission is very challenging. In regards to cost issues, the application of the IoT, big data, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other technologies in the livestock industry is more important.

Smart animal husbandry promotes precision livestock farming development
Utilizing low-power wireless transmission technologies such as LoRa, NB-IoT, BLE, etc, animal GPS collars and ear tags achieve positioning and tracking of livestock, effectively reduce the cost of investment, improve the profitability of the livestock industry, and reduce Greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, relying on blockchain technology to get through the entire supply chain, precision livestock farming achieves transparent information sharing, source-level anti-counterfeiting traceability, and promotes new business models and partnerships to build a trusted digital mode for governments, enterprises and consumers.

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