The Hungarian Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (ÖMKi) received the Agricultural Digital Excellence Special Award presented by the Agricultural European Digital Innovation Hub (AEDIH) at the National Agriculture and Food Exhibition and Fair (OMÉK).
This year’s agricultural fair placed a special focus on digitalisation in agriculture, and visitors interested in the latest topics and results in organic farming had the opportunity to meet ÖMKi researchers in one of the dedicated digitalisation exhibition areas.
The purpose of the AEDIH Agricultural Digitalisation Excellence Award is to promote the widespread recognition of best practices in agricultural digitalisation available in Hungary, while also acknowledging the achievements of developers and service providers delivering these outstanding solutions. Based on the decision of the expert jury representing the AEDIH consortium members, ÖMKi’s project Establishing the foundations of complex advisory services based on digital data collection in grazing-based livestock farming was selected as an exemplary, innovative service in the field of Hungarian agricultural digitalisation and honoured with a special award.
The award was received by Dr. Aliz Márton, Head of ÖMKi’s animal husbandry team, on the second day of OMÉK.
Digital Support for Grazing Systems
Due to severe labour shortages in the beef sector, farmers are finding it increasingly difficult to continuously monitor their herds – even once a day. As a result, they have less information about the condition of both their animals and pastures, which entails risks from both nutritional and animal welfare perspectives.
Today, a wide range of Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies enable the measurement of animals’ physiological processes, health status, and environmental impacts, allowing continuous data collection not only in barns, but in free-range conditions, directly on pasture. Regularly collected large-scale data play a key role in identifying and improving weaknesses in farm management, ultimately enhancing production competitiveness.
Within its On-farm research, ÖMKi’s animal husbandry team examined how technologies originally developed for intensive dairy farms could be adapted to beef herds, testing the benefits of using sensor-based data in farmers’ daily management. Among the devices tested (rumen boluses, pedometers, GPS trackers, and neck and ear transponders), sensors designed to measure rumination proved to be the most useful.
Monitoring rumination is critical in cattle as most common health problems manifest as a decline or cessation of rumination. Commercially available neck transponders used for continuous animal monitoring make it possible to track feed intake, digestion, and activity. During the summer period, they also provide information on the extent of heat stress and various reproductive parameters (e.g. oestrus, conception, pregnancy loss). GPS ear sensors allow the monitoring of grazing livestock’s land use, helping specialists to design the optimal size of grazing sections.
ÖMKi researchers complemented animal monitoring with botanical surveys of pasturelands three times a year, yield estimation, and analysis of soil and forage nutrient content. Grazing planning also requires meteorological data from on-site stations and a detailed understanding of topography and soil conditions, for which experts use satellite imagery and drone recordings.
A New Approach to Advisory Services
The digital approach makes it possible to establish a complex, data-driven advisory system.
“One of the pillars of our advisory system is the farmer-oriented morning report. This practical report includes key information from sensors on the herd’s condition (such as health status, list of cows in oestrus, and the extent of heat stress), highlights current issues, and points to potential causes. It supports farm veterinarians and animal caretakers in the rapid and effective detection and treatment of diseases.”, said Dr. Aliz Márton, Head of ÖMKi’s animal husbandry team, describing the award-winning, data-driven advisory service.
“Based on the data collected from the pastures, we prepare the farm’s grazing plan for the following year, recommend optimal grazing section sizes and rotation sequences, and determine the ideal timing of section changes using the herd’s average daily rumination values recorded by the sensors. “As a result, even on protected Natura 2000 pasture areas, we contribute to improving the quality and yield of grasslands, while also enhancing animal welfare,” the expert added.
Introduction of digital technologies requires not only investment but also appropriate expertise built on practical experience. Since 2021, the results of ÖMKi’s livestock research have enabled the development of a complex service for grazing-based livestock farmers. This service encompasses the identification of farm-level challenges, the review and selection of suitable digital technologies to address them, the design and implementation of data collection structures, the proper storage and processing of data, as well as its high-level professional interpretation. The effectiveness of applying digital technologies ultimately depends on the extent to which data can be transformed into information and then into effective decisions. Only in this way can we achieve a truly sustainable form of livestock farming that simultaneously serves the interests of producers, animals, and the environment
