How technological advances in agriculture are changing the face of farming

  • Find out how farmers are embracing new technology to improve efficiency and animal welfare

From cow fitness trackers to semi-autonomous tractors, farming methods have evolved massively over the years.

The agricultural sector is embracing new modern ways of working which has allowed them to achieve greater efficiency and results.

But what is causing these changes? The simple answer is technology.

Jersey arable farmer Matt Le Maistre says: "People think of farmers of the past as a man in an old tractor with a little cap on and now these machines are highly precise and highly versatile.

"The whole industry of farming has changed, we're not just doing 10 or 15 vergée per farm [one Jersey vergée is equivalent to 2.25 acres], now we're doing over a thousand ourselves."

Matt Le Maistre says new technology in tractors has really changed the way farmers work. Credit: ITV Channel

A few decades ago, the idea of tractors driving themselves on the farm was implausible.

Fast forward to today and GPS technology, coupled with auto steering, has completely changed everything.

You can now pre-programme tractors to automatically fertilise the field and the sprayers can even turn themselves off when on ground already saturated.

But the best part is, they can now drive themselves within 2cm of accuracy.

Matt adds: "It uses GPS satellite so just like you've got on your phone but really, really accurate. Sometimes it uses up to 13 different satellites to strategically place exactly where you are, it's a fantastic system."

So just how close are we to tractors becoming completely autonomous? Well, there are trials taking place in the UK and USA to test exactly this.

Matt Le Maistre says auto steering in tractors has helped to improve accuracy with planting and reduce driver fatigue. Credit: ITV Channel

New technology really has revolutionised the way farmers operate from managing wastage and making growers greener to reducing driver fatigue.

But it is not just the farmers that benefit, livestock do too.

Many dairy herds across Jersey are now all fitted with health monitors, similar to Fitbits. It comes in the form of a small orange tag in their left ear and is packed full of crucial data.

So why exactly do they need them? Well, just like a health smartwatch records helpful data to monitor human activity, this tag keeps track of important welfare indicators in dairy herds and the information can be accessed in the palm of your hand.

These orange health tags in a cow's ear significantly improve the monitoring of animal welfare. Credit: ITV Channel

Jersey dairy farmer Paul Houzé explains: "When I tap on this cow's number on my phone, I can immediately see that her appetite is low and she's spending a lot of time resting.

"That isn't normal for a cow so immediately earlier this morning, we identified her and she's had some medication to try and get her back to full health very quickly."

Paul says it is intervention like this that is having a dramatic effect on the herd's recovery rate.

He adds: "It's really about an early warning system which allows us to intervene very quickly and get medication in, if it's necessary."

The tag on the cow's ear connects to an app on your phone, which then provides the farmer with all their health data. Credit: ITV Channel

A happy and healthy cow is thought to produce the best quality milk but even how that milk is collected now employs cutting-edge technology.

Milking parlours in Jersey have come a long way in recent years and are now fitted with advanced sensors and monitoring systems that allow them to produce more volume and be more efficient.

Dairy farmer Tom Perchard has recently installed a state-of-the-art milking parlour at his farm in St Martin which even uses infrared technology.

He says: "We've got a feature in the milk meter which measures conductivity and if you get variations, that can indicate that a cow might be starting to get mastitis.

"We're using the technology to benefit us in in terms of production and profitability but also in cow health and welfare as well."

The new milking system is helping to improve productivity, cow health and welfare. Credit: ITV Channel

These digital tools are helping to unlock new possibilities for dairy farmers.

From the moment cows step into the milking parlour, the system reads their chip and knows exactly which is which.

It is such an advanced system that makes you wonder where farming goes from here.

Tom says: "The next phase of tech in farming is probably going to be AI-related [artificial intelligence]. I think there's certainly a place for that in agriculture.

"Satellite navigation, GPS, those types of things are already common place, so I think it's in the interest of agriculture to at least stay in line with where technology is moving."

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