Investigating precision farming administrative processes at a South African Swine farm

Abstract

Agriculture has evolved over the past 50 years, with the recent use of techniques like precision agriculture. For pig farms, precision agriculture assists farm caretakers to monitor the health and well-being status of all animals in a continuous manner throughout the day. Adopting precision agriculture has its difficulties but using precision technologies to monitor the health and well-being of pigs can improve managing a pig farm and, by extension, the pork supply chain. Part of managing a pig farm are Quality Management Systems (QMS) and certifications. QMS's specify production standards, where certifications indicate the degree to which these standards are complied. Recently, QMS solutions incorporated traceability which resulted in an abundance of animal ear tagging and paperwork. Although it may sound commendable, the abundance of paperwork is a frustration for farmers. Unfortunately, QMS related administration for pig farmers cannot be neglected. The consequence of not complying with quality standards can mean substantial fines, or imprisonment. The aim of this research is to develop a management system for quality compliance that reduces the time spent on administration processing.

A critical artefact methodology research design was followed including three critical artefacts that produces a final artefact. The first critical artefact makes use of a systematic literature review(SLR) to identify current uses of Internet of Things systems in pig farming. The second artefact involves time studies and value stream mapping for current state analysis. The third critical artefact involves a focus group to identify thematic patterns in discussions surrounding Pork360 quality standards. Results from the SLR, time studies, and focus group were used to formulate system design requirements for the final artefact. The SLR shows that there is a growing interest in pig precision agriculture but revealed a research gap pertaining to research of pig precision farming in Africa. Moreover, precision agriculture technologies assist farm operations to be conducted remotely, but data inaccuracies, impractical technology, and farmer scepticism causes adoption failure. This research found that Pork360 standards do add value to a pig farm's operations but requires several administrative processes to be up to date. Due to this, the farmmanagers struggle to tend to these administrative processes along with disruptive unforeseen operational events and, more simply, not having enough time for it. Moreover, having an effective administrative structure is heavily dependent on the farm manager. From the three critical artefacts, a list of system requirements is compiled. The research then set out to design and develop a prototype administrative system using the defined set of system requirements.

The novelty of this research can be found in its identified system requirements. The system design requirements encapsulate all critical artefact findings to be used in a practical setting specifically for the pig farming industry. The identified barriers of technology, the factors to consider for dministrative processes, and the human interface attributes are what the research contributes to the endeavour of finding a solution to integrating Quality Management Systems (QMS) with pig farm operations while using Information and Communication Technologies.

For further research, it is recommended to investigate IoT as a solution to integrating QMS with farm operations. Furthermore, it is recommended to include implementation and training material in this investigation. Knowledge management systems can also be considered for future research.