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Connecterra and Datamars join forces to accelerate Artificial intelligence for sustainable dairy farming 

 

Datamars, the global RFID and livestock management solutions company and Connecterra, a leader in data and AI technology have announced a strategic partnership. Through its investment, Datamars has acquired the sensor business of Connecterra known as ‘Ida for Farmers’ and will also hold a majority share in the Connecterra company.  

Connecterra will remain independent and focused on further development of its Enterprise platform.  The investment leverages each company’s strengths to further accelerate the industry’s transition into more sustainable dairy farming by supporting producers globally who are facing increasing pressures to produce more, with less impact.  

Connecterra was co-founded by CEO Yasir Khokhar and Saad Ansari in 2015. The company’s data platform powers two applications that empower customers across the value chain to make decisions that facilitate more efficient, productive and ultimately sustainable dairy operations. Today its farmer-facing solution, Ida for Farmers, is sold in 18 countries. The farm advisor or consultant app, Enterprise, is in use with farmers and advisors globally.

Datamars CEO, Daniele Della Libera, says he is excited about the new partnership and bringing Connecterra’s Ida for Farmers technology into the Datamars Livestock ecosystem.

 

“Yasir and the team at Connecterra have done a fantastic job of creating and establishing the Ida platform, which has some very exciting and unique user features that showcase their world leading AI capability and user experience.”

Datamars CEO Daniele Della Libera  

 

“The unique aspects of Ida, when brought together as part of Datamars Livestock’s own Tru-Test livestock monitoring, performance and farm management offering will give us the potential to deliver a collectively superior offering to dairy farmers, while ensuring Ida customers retain the features they use and appreciate today. An offering that brings the best of what we have together in a way that genuinely arms farmers with insights to help them make better informed decisions to improve productivity in a sustainable way.”  

Connecterra CEO Yasir Khokhar says he is equally excited for the Ida for Farmers product, its customers and supporting team to be joining the global Datamars community. 

The investment also gives Khokhar and his team the opportunity to accelerate development of Connecterra’s Enterprise platform and enable a wider industry footprint by bringing together data across the value chain and unlocking insights and data driven new innovations.  

 

“Our focus is advancing the capabilities of our data platform. The market is telling us clearly that there is the need for a digital platform that provides high quality data and insights to enable farmers and enterprises to collaborate digitally.

Strengthening these capabilities translates into more accurate, actionable insights, which empowers better decision making and collaboration for farmers and their advisors. The more robust data set can also support industry leaders in their digital transformation and sustainability efforts. Together with our partnership with Datamars, we will be able to scale up rapidly. It’s truly an exciting time for the company and the industry.”

Connecterra CEO Yasir Khokhar  

 

While the partnership brings new opportunities for accelerated development, Della Libera says there is no immediate change to Ida for existing farmer customers in this market who will continue to be supported by the Ida for Farmers team who are joining Datamars.  

“Datamars is committed to investing in maintaining and improving the overall value these solutions bring for farmers. Alongside the value that will come from utilising our global scale and operational footprint to optimise customer delivery, there are a number of future opportunities for farmers that will come from us leveraging our combined technologies, skills and knowledge” he explains.  

“Datamars Livestock’s unique value proposition is in bringing data from a number of different sensors, such as weigh scales, into the same platform. The ability to capture animal weight right alongside heat and health monitoring markers creates a completely unique offering that can deliver better, or new, insights for farmers that they can take action around.”  

Datamars has a number of different sensors already operating across the farm operation Della Libera adds which, combined and now with the inclusion of Ida technology, can deliver another level of insight. “This is the aspiration for Datamars Livestock and where the value of our partnership can make a real and positive difference to dairy farmers.” 

Connecterra’s investment round was facilitated by Rabobank’s Equity Private Placements team and closed in late January 2023. Pymwymic, the Dutch impact investment cooperative, continues to hold its stake in the company along with other shareholders such as Cibus Capital, Breed Reply and Hypred Group. 

 

About Connecterra

Connecterra is on a mission to empower the dairy industry to increase productivity while reducing the impact on the planet. Founded in 2015, we believe making data accessible and actionable for stakeholders across the value chain is key to making a transition to more sustainable farming.  

Our solution is the Enterprise platform. The platform is powered by real-time farm data and currently features a set of core capabilities and high value insights. Each capability and insight can be combined or used independently to create solutions for farmers, their advisors and industry partners. Platform insights and collaborative tools are delivered through the easy-to-use Enterprise app, which is available in your language on mobile, tablet or desktop.   

Connecterra is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands with local teams in Europe, the United States and New Zealand. The Enterprise platform is powering solutions in 16 countries, and we have partnerships with dairy industry leaders around the globe.   

Learn more about Connecterra at https://www.connecterra.io.  

 

About Datamars

Founded over 30 years ago and headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, Datamars’ growth has been built on research and development-based innovation. Datamars’ vision is to be world leaders in the harnessing of data to measurably improve productivity and quality of life. The company delivers integrated product solutions in livestock management and animal health delivery with a core focus on accelerating the sustainability of livestock production globally.  

 The Datamars Livestock ecosystem covers the breadth of farm infrastructure, animal identification, weight and activity based individual animal performance systems, animal health delivery systems, and easy-to-understand intelligence with the Datamars Livestock cloud solution. The company also has successful global presence in pet identification and reunification and textile identification.  

Datamars currently employs around 2000 people globally.  

The company has R&D hubs in three locations, production facilities in six locations and sales and marketing hubs in over 24 locations worldwide.  They have a network of 4000 distributors and end customers in more than 100 countries. 

Datamars’ legacy is in RFID and hardware technology and the company has a growing software-based solutions footprint, enabling connected, end to end offerings. Other successfully acquired companies now within the Datamars portfolio include Temple Tag, Zee Tag, Felixcan, Simcro, Tru-Test, Serket and HerdInsights. 

Learn more about Datamars Livestock and their ecosystem for smarter farming at https://livestock.datamars.com/ 

Learn more about the Datamars company at https://datamars.com/ 

 

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Introducing Farm Emissions Optimization model – Ida helps a farmer reduce CO2 emissions by 42t per year

At Connecterra, we believe farmer empowerment is essential in reducing the dairy industry’s impact on the planet. The Ida platform was developed using artificial intelligence models to deliver on our ambitious mission. To date, Ida has helped farmers achieve quantifiable improvements in efficiency and productivity.  

Today we’re excited to introduce our newest and Impact Forecast-validated model, Ida’s Farm Emissions Optimization model. The model is our first step in quantifying Ida’s ability to help farmers make decisions that reduce their CO2 emissions.  

Ida’s Farm Emissions Optimization model predicts an optimized set of interventions that a farmer can implement to improve emissions intensity while balancing other key metrics. To test version 0.1, we chose a use case with a Dutch farmer with 175 dairy cows. We then worked with the EIT Climate KIC and Impact Forecast to independently assess and validate potential CO2 reductions.  

The results showed that Ida could help a typical Dutch farmer reduce the equivalent of 42t CO2eq for 2 million KG of milk produced per year. The reduction was validated and certified through a two-step process with Impact Forecast’s tools and independent validator.

How did we do this?  

Ida’s artificial intelligence uses a combination of machine learning models to process billions of datapoints. She translates them into easy-to-interpret, actionable insights which are used by farmers, advisors and industry stakeholders to make better decisions. And better decision-making means more efficient, productive and, ultimately, sustainable farms.  

For the Farm Emissions Optimization model, we took a slightly different approach:  

Future Enhancements:  

The Farm Optimization Model can work in tandem with methane reducing and eliminating innovations. One of our avenues of investigation will be to model the impact of new feed additives as well as on-farm machinery that can help eliminate methane emissions.  

Ultimately, our goal is to help farmers quantify and estimate the best course of action using its predictive capabilities. Version 0.1 of Ida’s Farm Emissions Optimization model is just the first step in our bigger journey. We’re excited for the road ahead and invite you to join us on our mission.  

You can download our Climate Impact Forecast report here.

Connecterra and ABS Global Announce Partnership

We are thrilled to announce a new agreement with U.S.-based ABS Global, a world leader in bovine genetics and reproduction services.  

Beginning in early 2022, ABS will introduce Ida as a digital solution that enables improvements in fertility, health and animal welfare to its customers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa, and South Dakota. ABS Trusted Advisors will also gain access to the Ida Enterprise platform, which provides cutting-edge digital collaboration and analytics capabilities to dairy farm partners and suppliers.  

“This partnership with ABS will arm farmers and their advisors with Ida’s powerful technology that’s been proven to deliver greater operational efficiencies on U.S. dairies and around the world,” said Yasir Khokhar, CEO of Connecterra. “As the rapid digital transformation of global agricultural continues, our work with ABS is an indication of how technology can empower the industry in nearly every aspect of farming.” 

Since 2015, Connecterra has set the gold standard for dairy cattle monitoring and on-farm data analytics with Ida. The platform combines behavior data collected via proprietary collar-mounted sensors with data from herd management systems like BoviSync, Lely Horizon and others, internet-connected farm equipment and third-party sources.

Ida then uses artificial intelligence to translate the data into real-time, easy-to-understand insights in the app. Unlike other systems, Ida asks for user in-app feedback to improve the insights. Those 1-2 taps provide additional data that Ida processes with machine-learning algorithms. Ida then becomes smarter, more personalized and more effective for each customer’s herd and operations.  

“We see the value in Ida’s artificial intelligence. We are excited to see our customers and ABS Trusted Advisors benefit from it,” shared Darren Peterson, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at ABS. “And we look forward to working with Connecterra to deploy this technology.” 

For more information regarding Ida sales, visit ida.io. 

 

About ABS  

Headquartered in DeForest, Wisconsin, U.S.A., ABS Global is the world‐leading provider of bovine genetics, reproduction services, artificial insemination technologies, and udder care products. Marketed in more than 70 countries around the globe, ABS has been at the forefront of animal genetics and technology since it was founded in 1941. ABS Global is a division of Genus plc. 

How livestock farmers can reduce their methane emissions

COP26, the largest gathering of world leaders in the history of our planet to discuss the future of our planet, concluded with much said and unsaid. Big commitments were made in the areas of fossil fuels, deforestation and finance, with specifics laid out about how these commitments can be achieved.

Agriculture also received its day, with nations agreeing to change farming policies and protect nature. The “how” component of these commitments is less certain.

What is clear is: Much will be expected of livestock farmers. More than 100 countries agreed to the Global Methane Pledge and its commitment to reduce methane emissions 30% by 2030. A smaller number of countries signed on to the Policy Action Agenda for a Just Transition to Sustainable Food. It provides a high-level roadmap for how a range of policy changes can support desired outcomes.

Even with these more aggressive targets and established commitments, though, some big questions remain: What on-farm changes will have the biggest impact? And what help will farmers be given in making those changes?

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) provides a comprehensive list of 72 tactical recommendations to livestock farmers for how they can mitigate emissions. The recommendations span across land use change, herd management, manure management and regenerative practices. Farmers must then decide which strategic combination of the tactics is right for their farm.

Many of the tactics require measurement of various activities, soil lab samples, water and energy use. Data collection is manual and time-consuming. Outsourced consultants typically visit a farm, measure the activities and input measurements into complex models. Farms are then scored on their sustainability criteria. A year later, the consultant delivers a full report. This yearly cycle simply cannot scale to a higher frequency of data capture and analysis. If we continued with this approach, we would only have nine measurements before 2030. Eight cycles to transition to the new aggressive operating targets.

Technology can and must be part of the measurement solution. Whether this is through IoT-based solutions that capture and transmit data to a central hub for analysis, or satellite and drone-based systems, or more likely a combination of all three, technology can theoretically fulfil the need to measure what is happening on farms with much greater degrees of frequency and accuracy. It can, in theory, help us fix the problems we find and accelerate progress toward shared goals. This approach has worked for the technology sector. Transferring it to agriculture makes logical sense.

If only it were that simple.

The average U.S. dairy farm generates several thousand data points per week related to operations and animal behavior. Business metrics like milk price, labor availability and fuel costs are also constantly monitored and evaluated. Add the thousands of possible tactical combinations for a net-zero transition plan, and the decision-making matrix quickly becomes overwhelming.

Naturally, farmers look for assistance. A typical dairy works with several suppliers that provide recommendations on feed, cow health and genetics. And each farm typically sells raw milk to one major buyer. The power dynamics of this ecosystem are complex, but these suppliers are usually who farmers trust most. Much like a “leadership team” in a corporate environment, this advisory group is fully vested in strategic and operational decisions, and these relationships can go back decades.

As the animal agriculture sectors aim to achieve more aggressive emissions reduction targets, suppliers and advisers are ramping up to provide much-needed, more data-driven advice. C-suite leaders are scrambling to empower their field teams with tools that facilitate technology-based recommendations and collaboration.

But each member of the farm leadership team tends to have their own proprietary data, a different perspective on what will work and what won’t. For farmers, this compounds decision-making complexity. As any effective manager of complex systems knows, a disconnect in data, perspectives and interests will result in subpar outcomes at best or, worse, a failure to act.

In short – no matter how much data we can generate from a farm, if we cannot align stakeholders on a common data vocabulary and verifiable outcomes, any stepwise change in emissions reduction is unlikely.

But there is hope.

Initiatives like Danone’s Farming for Generations are bringing together industry leaders to test, measure and provide data-driven evidence that regenerative agriculture practices create positive outcomes. Coupled with advanced predictive analytics, these practices can be modeled to simulate outcomes and provide daily recommendations to a larger volume of farms.

Another example is Arla Foods’ Future 26 strategy, which provides guidance to farmers that combines financial impact with sustainability impact. And New Zealand’s Fonterra is incentivizing farmers to adopt specific, sustainable initiatives through its milk price.

All of these initiatives are leveraging data and collaboration and building trust with farmers to enable a transition toward lower-emission animal agriculture. We will need to lean on technology to scale up, ideally with a neutral technology platform that brings farmers and advisers together with high-quality insights with predictive capabilities.

This pathway is possible. By using technology to standardize data and give stakeholders a common vocabulary, we can accelerate progress. We can achieve our ambitions. The time to choose this path is now. Eight years will go quickly.

 

This piece by Connecterra CEO Yasir Khokhar first appeared in Progressive Dairy.

Connecterra and Lely Announce Strategic Partnership

Following the completion of a successful pilot, the two companies will deepen their collaboration and commercial relationship 

(Amsterdam, The Netherlands) – Today Dutch-based startup,  Connecterra, a world leader in using artificial intelligence to deliver insights to farmers, and Lely, the global leading supplier of robotics and management systems for dairy farming, announced the start of a robust co-development and commercial partnership. The announcement follows a pilot with Lely’s Digital Farming Group. The pilot program was designed to test an integration between Lely Horizon and Connecterra’s artificial intelligence platform, Ida.

The successful effort has resulted in commitments to several strategic initiatives. As a first step in the agreement, Lely will now license Ida Enterprise for use in their farm management system Lely Horizon.

“We believe that digitization of dairy farming is key and needs to be handled with care. Integrating with partners like Connecterra to develop a strong platform helps farmers to bring out the value in their data. The experience in the pilot with Connecterra’s people and technology left a strong impression on the team and involved customers. We are excited to expand our efforts with Connecterra,” said Freddie Ruijs, Head of Digital Farming at Lely.

In addition to the internal rollout, Lely and Connecterra will begin a multi-year, co-development initiative. Teams from both companies will expand from the pilot learnings, with a shared goal of further enhancing the farmer and advisor experience.

“Connecterra’s mission is to empower farmers and advisors to improve productivity using Ida’s artificial intelligence. Our continued collaboration with partners like Lely will accelerate our mission and most importantly, deliver real results to real people,” said Nynke Slegten, Director of Product at Connecterra.

Successful co-development efforts could lead to a joint launch of new features, as well as opportunities for more Lely customers to give permission to incorporate their data and access Ida’s platform.

“The industry is poised to rapidly evolve, and we are trailblazing across multiple dimensions with this partnership. Together we have incredible potential to bring cutting-edge, transformative insights to thousands of farmers around the world,” said Yasir Khokhar, CEO of Connecterra.

 

About Connecterra

Connecterra is on a mission to empower farmers to increase their productivity while reducing the impact of farming on the planet. The solution is Ida, the intelligent dairy assistant. Ida’s platform uses artificial intelligence to enable farmers, their advisors and other stakeholders to make better decisions that lead to a more efficient, productive and ultimately, sustainable dairy industry. The Amsterdam-based company has teams in New Zealand and the United States, a product presence in 18 countries and partnerships with industry leaders around the globe.

About the Lely Group

Lely, founded in 1948, directs all its efforts towards creating a sustainable, profitable and enjoyable future in farming. Circling the cow, the company develops premium robotics and data systems that increase animal welfare, flexibility and the production on the dairy farm.

For more than 25 years, Lely has been leading in the sale and service of automated milking systems to successive generations of dairy farmers across the globe. Every day, Lely inspires her employees to offer customers innovative solutions and be a reliable partner for long-term advice and support. With her Head office in The Netherlands and a worldwide network of dedicated Lely Center locations for tailor-made sales and support, the Lely Group is active in more than 45 countries and employs around 1.600 people. More information: www.lely.com.

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