Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SmaRT (Small Ruminant Technology - Precision Livestock Farming and Digital Technology for Small Ruminants)
Période du rapport: 2022-07-01 au 2023-09-30
Rural economies across Europe, and associated countries, heavily rely on small ruminant (SR) systems (sheep and goat), particularly in areas unsuitable for other alternative agriculture purposes. Despite recent advances in precision livestock farming (PLF) and digital technologies (DT) to improve farm practices, the small ruminant sector shows a slow rate of farmers’ uptake. There is a need to improve awareness and knowledge transfer on the potential of technology applications and return on investment. Sm@RT aims to improve understanding, awareness and uptake of the different useful technologies currently available to the SR sector, and further to facilitate “solutions to needs” and identification of technology gaps.
The overall objectives of the project are:
• To create a European/International network of farmers, scientists, technicians and advisors, around the use of PLF and digital technologies in SRs,
• To identify stakeholders’ needs for technology uses and available solutions across the EU that could respond to those needs,
• To encourage knowledge exchange, technology adoption and communication between farmers and stakeholders of the SR sector, via workshops, farm training sessions and open days,
• To increase awareness of DT for the SR sector using trusted means of communications and by sharing key findings with the scientific community and policy makers.
Sm@RT is using an original multi-actor approach, relying on 5 different levels of networking:
1. A Network Facilitator (NF), one person per country. NFs are the main drivers of this methodology. They interconnect farmers, producer associations, companies, researchers and other relevant actors of the sector in their respective country, encouraging the exchange of information and knowledge between them. They also standardise methodologies used in each country within the project, for multi-actor, cross-fertilisation and transdisciplinary approaches, facilitated by a common training at the start of the project.
2. Scientific and Technical Group (STG) in each country. They comprise members of the consortium and complementary third parties, for a transdisciplinary approach. Their work is coordinated by the NFs. The STG help implement the project and identify and mobilise different national networks and operational groups.
3. A Digifarm in each country and per production. They are demonstration/research sheep or goat farms, which are well equipped with PLF technologies and/or with some digital equipment. They act as a booster for new technologies and innovation and are also used to offer training sessions to farmers who want to try some digital tools or enhance their knowledge of the technologies they already use on their farms.
4. Innovative Farm: 3 per country and per type of production. Innovative farms are commercial farms who already use some of the PLF technology for their management, and who are prepared to share their views and uses with other farmers, as peer-to-peer exchanges.
5. Small Ruminant-AKIS composed of relevant national organisations and networks with large stakeholder representativeness and EIP-AGRI Operational Groups. They are used to capture the expectations and needs of farmers and involve them in the co-construction of relevant key PLF solutions and innovations. They also enable the dissemination potential of existing distribution channels within the consortium and thus ensure that Sm@RT has deep and lasting linkage with the grassroots.
The overall objectives of the project are:
• To create a European/International network of farmers, scientists, technicians and advisors, around the use of PLF and digital technologies in SRs,
• To identify stakeholders’ needs for technology uses and available solutions across the EU that could respond to those needs,
• To encourage knowledge exchange, technology adoption and communication between farmers and stakeholders of the SR sector, via workshops, farm training sessions and open days,
• To increase awareness of DT for the SR sector using trusted means of communications and by sharing key findings with the scientific community and policy makers.
Sm@RT is using an original multi-actor approach, relying on 5 different levels of networking:
1. A Network Facilitator (NF), one person per country. NFs are the main drivers of this methodology. They interconnect farmers, producer associations, companies, researchers and other relevant actors of the sector in their respective country, encouraging the exchange of information and knowledge between them. They also standardise methodologies used in each country within the project, for multi-actor, cross-fertilisation and transdisciplinary approaches, facilitated by a common training at the start of the project.
2. Scientific and Technical Group (STG) in each country. They comprise members of the consortium and complementary third parties, for a transdisciplinary approach. Their work is coordinated by the NFs. The STG help implement the project and identify and mobilise different national networks and operational groups.
3. A Digifarm in each country and per production. They are demonstration/research sheep or goat farms, which are well equipped with PLF technologies and/or with some digital equipment. They act as a booster for new technologies and innovation and are also used to offer training sessions to farmers who want to try some digital tools or enhance their knowledge of the technologies they already use on their farms.
4. Innovative Farm: 3 per country and per type of production. Innovative farms are commercial farms who already use some of the PLF technology for their management, and who are prepared to share their views and uses with other farmers, as peer-to-peer exchanges.
5. Small Ruminant-AKIS composed of relevant national organisations and networks with large stakeholder representativeness and EIP-AGRI Operational Groups. They are used to capture the expectations and needs of farmers and involve them in the co-construction of relevant key PLF solutions and innovations. They also enable the dissemination potential of existing distribution channels within the consortium and thus ensure that Sm@RT has deep and lasting linkage with the grassroots.
The 5 levels of networking have been created and the different actors have been identified in each partner country.
The work of the project is based on farmers’ needs and challenges around technology use, so a first task has been to devise an online survey to gauge stakeholders’ needs, challenges and uses of existing technologies. A total of 669 usable answers were collected, 68% being farmers, shepherds or farm workers.
These results have since been used during the first series of national workshops and during the first transnational workshop, to identify and discuss the main needs/questions. During the second series of national workshops, a total of 60 solutions to answer the needs from a) the meat sheep farmers (26 solutions), b) dairy sheep farmers (14 solutions) and c) dairy goats farmers (20 solutions), have been identified. Some of the solutions were common to some countries and across production type. All this has been compiled within a portfolio of solutions grouped by production (dairy goats, dairy sheep and meat sheep), that was presented to the stakeholders to be evaluated and matched to needs in each country during the second transnational workshop. Following a voting for solutions by all the participants, a final list of 36 appropriate innovative PLF and DT solutions for exchange between countries and stakeholders was identified. Guidelines and cost-benefit analysis on solutions are being prepared in all the project’s languages, and an evaluation has been carried out during national workshops 3 and 4 with training sessions on Digifarms and farm demonstration days on Innovative farms. Farmers’ acceptance is being assessed using the ADOPT software (https://adopt.csiro.au/) to predict rates of adoption. At the same time, an inventory of digital and technological innovations has been made that currently includes information on 130 technologies. Information from the inventory will be used to further develop the solutions’ guidelines. Two more transnational workshops have been completed face to face: in France in July 2022 and in Norway in June 2023. An international visit to New Zealand in Jan/Feb 2023 allowed wider connections with sheep and goats sectors overseas.
For a better and wider dissemination of the collected information, the Sm@RT Platform (www.smartplatform.network) has been setup in 7 languages. Social media such as X (@H2020Smart) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/H2020-smart/) have also been used. Videos to showcase the identified technologies have been realised, as well as testimonies from digifarms and innovative farmers. All videos are on the Sm@RT YouTube channel (H2020SmaRT). Sm@RT communication is also based on the use of existing means such as farming press, existing websites, national and international conferences, trade events/fairs, newsletters and press releases.
The work of the project is based on farmers’ needs and challenges around technology use, so a first task has been to devise an online survey to gauge stakeholders’ needs, challenges and uses of existing technologies. A total of 669 usable answers were collected, 68% being farmers, shepherds or farm workers.
These results have since been used during the first series of national workshops and during the first transnational workshop, to identify and discuss the main needs/questions. During the second series of national workshops, a total of 60 solutions to answer the needs from a) the meat sheep farmers (26 solutions), b) dairy sheep farmers (14 solutions) and c) dairy goats farmers (20 solutions), have been identified. Some of the solutions were common to some countries and across production type. All this has been compiled within a portfolio of solutions grouped by production (dairy goats, dairy sheep and meat sheep), that was presented to the stakeholders to be evaluated and matched to needs in each country during the second transnational workshop. Following a voting for solutions by all the participants, a final list of 36 appropriate innovative PLF and DT solutions for exchange between countries and stakeholders was identified. Guidelines and cost-benefit analysis on solutions are being prepared in all the project’s languages, and an evaluation has been carried out during national workshops 3 and 4 with training sessions on Digifarms and farm demonstration days on Innovative farms. Farmers’ acceptance is being assessed using the ADOPT software (https://adopt.csiro.au/) to predict rates of adoption. At the same time, an inventory of digital and technological innovations has been made that currently includes information on 130 technologies. Information from the inventory will be used to further develop the solutions’ guidelines. Two more transnational workshops have been completed face to face: in France in July 2022 and in Norway in June 2023. An international visit to New Zealand in Jan/Feb 2023 allowed wider connections with sheep and goats sectors overseas.
For a better and wider dissemination of the collected information, the Sm@RT Platform (www.smartplatform.network) has been setup in 7 languages. Social media such as X (@H2020Smart) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/H2020-smart/) have also been used. Videos to showcase the identified technologies have been realised, as well as testimonies from digifarms and innovative farmers. All videos are on the Sm@RT YouTube channel (H2020SmaRT). Sm@RT communication is also based on the use of existing means such as farming press, existing websites, national and international conferences, trade events/fairs, newsletters and press releases.
The Sm@RT project will provide and enable:
• A long-term collaboration between the partners and other interested countries,
• A strong interaction between different small ruminant actors and scientists, with the multi-actor approach,
• A network of small ruminant actors that can dynamically interact, facilitated by knowledge sharing across Europe,
• A series of guidelines, cost-benefit analyses and solutions to needs, based on scientific and practical knowledge, available in a knowledge reservoir,
• An improvement of understanding, awareness and uptake of the different technologies currently available to the sheep and goat sector, that will help increase efficiency and sustainability of small ruminant farming in Europe and beyond.
• A long-term collaboration between the partners and other interested countries,
• A strong interaction between different small ruminant actors and scientists, with the multi-actor approach,
• A network of small ruminant actors that can dynamically interact, facilitated by knowledge sharing across Europe,
• A series of guidelines, cost-benefit analyses and solutions to needs, based on scientific and practical knowledge, available in a knowledge reservoir,
• An improvement of understanding, awareness and uptake of the different technologies currently available to the sheep and goat sector, that will help increase efficiency and sustainability of small ruminant farming in Europe and beyond.