Innovations in Raising Animal Protein
Farmers are turning their backs on CAFOs by combining regenerative agricultural practices with technology to sustainably raise animals for human consumption
I don’t know about you, but when I’m looking for animal protein these days, I tend to favour whatever is produced on smaller, more local farms. Just the thought of purchasing chicken or beef or pork that I know is raised in CAFO-like conditions makes me squirm, as I know I’m getting what’s likely an inferior product (from the perspective of animal welfare, nutrition and overall environmental impact). Just thinking about the 26-story pig farm in China makes me queasy.
Conventional farming practices often involve the use of pesticides and other chemicals that can harm the environment and the animals themselves. Animals are often confined to small, cramped spaces where they are unable to move around or exhibit natural behaviors. This can lead to stress and health problems for the animals, which can in turn impact the quality of the meat or dairy products they produce.
The challenge, of course, is how to switch over the more sustainable production methods, that lower the impact on the environment and raise a better, more nutritious product? Regenerative agriculture holds promise, as it re-integrates animals onto the farm, and leverages them in the production of crops, through their use of compacting herbs and grasses into the soil, and their production of manure. In other words, stop feeding them grains and other feed, and re-acquaint them with feeding on grasses, given that most animals raised for protein are herbivores. It also means using methods that minimize the use of harmful chemicals and allow animals to live in more natural conditions. These methods not only result in better-quality meat and dairy products but also benefit the environment by reducing the amount of pollution, waste and soil degradation produced by traditional farming practices.
As consumers become more conscious about where their food comes from and how it is produced — which creates demand for better quality products — some farmers are turning to technology to raise animals in a way that is better for the environment and the animals themselves.
Take the Automated Range Coop developed by Pasturebird, a farm in Temecula, California. This innovative system allows farmers to raise chickens in a way that mimics their natural habitat while still protecting them from predators. The coop is fully automated, meaning that it moves to a new patch of grass every day, giving the chickens access to fresh food and water and preventing the buildup of waste in any one area. This not only improves the health of the chickens but also reduces the environmental impact of farming by minimizing the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Each coop is fairly large, about 700 square metres, and capable of holding 6000 birds. They are solar powered, have motorized wheels and can handle variety of terrain and soil types. The coops move at ‘chicken pace’, about 15 metres in an hour. While not automated quite yet, they can be controlled remotely through an app.
Another technology being developed by farmers is the Cluster Cluck 5000, aka, the Cluster Cluck nano or the StockCropper. This was invented by (relatively) small lot farmers south of the Iowa-Minnesota border, whose main crops are corn, soybeans and beans. Because they are small, their scale is not sufficient to maintain a healthy income when prices for these commodities fall. As a result, they decided that they would diversify into animal protein by modifying their farms by widening the space between the rows of the main cash crops to accomodate a mobile barn.
This mobile barn accommodates eight sheep in the front, 10 hogs in the middle and 125 chickens in the rear.
Early models had to be moved by hand, but later models — as shown in this video — are designed to be solar powered, and be moved via remote commands made through an app.
The benefits are not just for the animals, however. The inventor, Zack Smith, wants to find a way of farming in the Iowa corn belt — an area that is known for hyper-industrialized farming techniques — that is more sustainable by returning nutrients to the soil and reducing significantly the use of artificial fertilizer. The row crops are rotated, i.e., moved over to the strip that was used the previous year by the mobile barn, and the mobile barn moved to a previously unused strip. Like other farmers before them, Smith and others in Iowa want to create an ecosystem that is more profitable for farmers, by helping them cut their input costs, and boosting their income through the sale of high welfare animal protein from the animals raised in the mobile barn. They think that, with refinements, they can probably cut their nitrogen use by 75% and eliminate added phosphorus and potassium altogether.
As technology continues to advance, there is no doubt that farmers will continue to find new and innovative ways to raise animals more sustainably and humanely.
One promising area of focus is the use of sensors and other monitoring technologies to track the health and well-being of animals. For example, some farmers are using sensors to monitor the temperature and humidity levels in their barns, ensuring that the animals are kept in optimal conditions. Others are using GPS trackers to monitor the movement of their animals, allowing them to graze in areas that are less prone to overgrazing and erosion.
All of these developments point to efforts by farmers to integrate technology to raising animal protein in more humane conditions that not only benefits the animals in question, but also, the soil on which they feed. By encouraging the grazing by animals of open pasture, rotating the areas where the animals graze and inserting automation into some aspects of the process to drive down cost, farmers can improve the quality of the animal protein they raise, gradually improve the soil they use for other crops and reduce their dependance on artificial inputs.
It’s a win-win-win all around — for farmers, for consumers, for animals.
