May 24, 2011, by brzjch

Robots and fuel cells create food security on The University farm – Dr John Strak

I was given a tour of The University’s dairy unit last week – part of the University’s 400 hectare farm. Dr Stephen Ramsden, the farm’s director, showed me around and, unsurprisingly, I was shown a dairy enterprise that was at the leading edge of dairy production research.

The University’s herd is usually around 200 cows but is currently a little less than that. The primary focus of the herd (and The University’s farm) is to enable teaching and research in key aspects of primary production. In that regard The University’s cows are certainly very productive with 10,000 litres per cow being attained – that’s around 30% higher than the average in the UK. But what struck me about the herd was the air of calm relaxation that pervaded the cowsheds. These cows spent about three-quarters of their time indoors – away from the extremes of wind and weather and all their feed is brought to them. Unusually they are milked by robots – using equipment that The University has been testing for several years. This frees up time for the farm staff to ensure that all aspects of the cows’ welfare and feeding and breeding programmes are exactly as they should be. Watching the cows entering the robot “milking parlour” it was obvious that the management systems create a stress free environment for the livestock. Importantly, they also create more milk from less inputs and that is something that anyone concerned about food security will welcome. One feature of robot milking that some observers miss is the way that it can help keep people on the land. In the Netherlands some of the biggest users of robot milking are the smaller dairy farms – who cannot afford (or find) relief labour to do the milking. Without the robots these smaller units would have to cease production.

Another aspect food security is the waste question i.e. how to reduce it or get value from it? When I asked about this Dr Ramsden took me to look at The University Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department’s prototype microbial fuel cell, which works off the dairy cow slurry and can produce bio-gas, electricity while removing nitrates. If this prototype is successful, we will have a system that produces more milk from less inputs in a system that is kind to livestock and humans – and that makes a substantial contribution to reducing carbon emissions and fossil energy use. Who could argue with that?

John Strak is Special Professor of Food Economics in the School of Economics at The University of Nottingham, Editor of Whole Hog Brief, Managing Director of FoodEast Ltd and (previously) Managing Director of North Highland Products.

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