Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CP Foods) has applied cutting-edge technologies and environmentally friendly innovations, integrating smart farm system and blockchain technology into animal husbandry to leverage “BASIC HEALTHY OF ANIMALS” in conjunction with animal welfare standard. The effort helps CP Foods to significantly reduce dependence on antibiotics and increase consumer confidence in food safety standards.
Dr.Payungsak Somyanontanagul, D.V.M, Vice President Farm Standard and Regulatory as Head of Ambition – Animal Welfare at CP Foods, said the company recognizes that Animal Welfare is directly related to food quality and safety. Thus, the company has established a policy on animal welfare and prudent use of antimicrobials to raised animals ethically, ensuring the well-being of animals in line with international regulations and laws. To put policies into practice, multiple digital solutions and technologies have been adopted to support the live of animals at farms.
The "Smart Farm" system has therefore been integrated with the company's farming business. A vast amount of online information being collected by the company has resulted in big data to be used for analysis and optimize efficiency. CP Foods has also adopted blockchain technology to build and raise the level of confidence in a wide range of information and, ultimately, create transparent traceability.
The data analysis enables CP Foods to come up with precision feed formulation, and the living environment that are comfortable for animals in each age range. This will enhance the natural animal's growth more effectively.
In addition to in-depth data analysis, CP Foods has implemented multiple hi-tech innovations at its smart farms to keep animals in healthy condition and minimize the contact between human and animal, such as the use of surveillance cameras and IoT technology to help remotely control animal health monitoring and displays real-time results and data analysis. Also, the Smart Farm system provides timely warning of abnormal status within the farms. For example, the company has applied a sound talk system to detect the coughing sound of pigs to monitor and analyze their health conditions.
These innovations are not only helping animals to live comfortably but also enabling farms operators to take care of the animals and manage work via mobile anywhere, anytime.
"Smart Farm can reduce feed wastage and significantly efficient production cost. Most importantly, it also increases biosecurity and keep farms safe from disease outbreak. If minimize risk of disease and enhance good animal well-being, this leads to a reduction in the use of antibiotics,” he summarized.
Aside its own business, the company introduces solutions, such as automatic feeding and watering systems, remote observation system, etc., to its contract farmers. This is to make sure that consumers around the world have received high-quality, hygienic, and safe meats from internationally recognized animal welfare practices.
