Here is What Apple's Formula Could Mean for Dairy Technology
Farm Journal’s Smart Farming Week is an annual week-long emphasis on innovation in agriculture. The goal is to encourage you to explore and prioritize the technology, tools and practices that will help you farm smarter. Innovation today ensures an efficient, productive and sustainable tomorrow.
Apple's unparalleled success has fundamentally transformed public expectations surrounding technology. Known for its user-friendly interfaces, robust data security, and unwavering commitment to sustainability, Apple has redefined the benchmarks for technological achievement. Even Apple’s packaging is designed to delight. This legacy of innovation and user accessibility hasn't just democratized technology for the average consumer; it has also elevated standards across various industries, including the dairy sector.
Technology Offers Solutions
Contrary to the perception that farmers are slow to adopt new technologies, the real barrier to the adoption on the dairy, in my opinion, is the complex realities we face. Finding solutions that are as intuitive and impactful as those brought to the mainstream by Apple is difficult. Dairy operations encounter specific challenges such as lack of internet connectivity, dust, moisture, temperature variations, which all impede technological performance and even variable voltage, and power outages are familiar challenges when installing agtech.
For example, I estimate 50% of U.S. cows are outfitted with some kind of technology device or wearable sensor. However, when you ask dairy farmers how they're utilizing this technology, they often say "heat detection," omitting any reference to the array of additional functionalities they could be using with these expensive devices.
Despite these challenges, there is a clear demand for agtech solutions that are not only technologically advanced, but also practical and straightforward. Already, there are dozens of options when it comes to wearable devices, such as collars and ear tags, and smart rumen boluses. While boluses are the latest of these technologies in the U.S. dairy market, they are also already used by hundreds of thousands of cows. Being able to monitor movement, productivity, rumen function and health of cows, before health issues arise, can save hundreds of dollars per year for each animal on the average U.S. dairy farm and so will become indispensable.
Additionally, some companies are focusing on early disease detection and instant milk quality analysis, setting the stage for a new era in dairy farming where technology is not just advanced but also readily accessible.
Following Apple's Example
As dairy tech continues to mature, new solutions must be designed with a keen focus on user experience, taking cues from Apple's strategy. The future of dairy farming will be driven by digital technologies, with pioneering companies leading the way towards more efficient, sustainable, and technologically driven operations.
Apple’s success has set the expectations of consumers at a very high level and by extension those of farmers. Dairy tech must accomplish this while also emphasizing the ease of use, practicality, and resilience of its products against the unique challenges faced on the farm. Dairy tech needs to ‘delight’ the U.S. dairy user with their experience of technology. Not an easy task but that is the ask!
