Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste and the startup Taggen Industries and Services, specialized in IoT and RFID, work together to develop a technological solution for individual monitoring of cattle from birth to the final consumer.
The product, which is already in the testing phase at the Canchim farm in São Carlos (SP), headquarters of Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste, aims to be economically viable and easy to implement so that it can be adopted on a nationwide scale.
On Thursday, November 23, the technology was presented to potential partners. According to Taggen's CEO, Werter Padilha, the technical part has already been completed, but there are still some challenges that will be resolved by the partnership.
The meeting also featured the multinational Qualcomm, a technology and smart connected devices company, the Telecommunications Research and Development Center (CPQD), an innovation institution focused on information and communication technologies, the Brazilian Association of Zebu Breeders (ABCZ ) and the Brazilian Association of Canchim Breeders (ABCCAN).
The purpose of the meeting was to demonstrate the potential of the solution and, together with the invited organizations, facilitate ways to accelerate the next steps in order to overcome the technological challenges that still exist, validate the solution in more environments and meet the expectations of the Brazilian livestock sector.
One of the challenges of the Brazilian agricultural sector is to guarantee the origin of the meat and ensure that the cattle were not raised in areas with environmental and social liabilities, such as deforestation regions. The traceability and monitoring system, being developed by Embrapa and Taggen, will contribute to this objective and add value to the final product, both for the domestic market and for export.
According to researcher Alberto Bernardi, who coordinates the project at Embrapa, the technology, which is being evaluated in the field with animals raised on pasture, is already being adopted in indoor environments. “We are now adapting and starting in the field (outdoor) to track, monitor, locate and manage animals in real time. The main problem is still connectivity, as the idea is to monitor the animal's entire life, from birth to the final consumer. Another is the cost, which must be viable for adoption on a scale by livestock farmers”, explains the researcher.
For CPQD's director of sales and market development, Sirlene Honório, there is no major technology challenge in this project that cannot be overcome, because technological solutions advance very quickly. For her, the challenge is to be viable and possible to scale. To serve the customer, it is necessary to observe one or more of these pillars: increase revenue, reduce costs or eliminate risks.
Experiment
The research is being conducted at Embrapa Pecuária Sudeste, in São Carlos (SP). Sixty animals are already being monitored on the research center's experimental farm. Twenty dairy cows and 40 beef cattle in an extensive and intensive system with Crop-Livestock Forest integration (ILPF).
The innovation is initially based on wireless digital communication technology BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy), consisting of individual devices (beacon), readers (gateways) and Taggen's TG Bov cloud monitoring platform with applications on tablets and smartphones. also. The idea is that the tool does not require high qualifications from the operator, because the devices They are simple to install, whether on the animal or in the environment, simplifying and accelerating their use process.
“We want devices to be easy to purchase, install and use. Animal monitoring needs to be available to livestock farmers wherever they are. It is the direct and immediate application of the 'plug and play' concept, that is, the customer buys it and installs it themselves”, says Padilha.
