In 2019, FFAR and McDonald’s launched the SMART Broiler program, a public-private partnership investing $4 million in two phases of research grants to develop technology to objectively monitor chicken welfare on commercial farms. In Phase I, six projects received a total of $2,092,439 to test and refine potential solutions. The second phase of the program is advancing compelling research from Phase I for large-scale adoption by providing additional funding to bring these innovations to market.
Two SMART Broiler Phase II awardees receiving additional investment include:
- Marian Dawkins with the University of Oxford is receiving $271,865 to extend testing of a novel camera and computer system called OPTICFLOCK. The system automatically monitors the behaviors of broiler chicken flocks around the clock to deliver real-time information on key welfare indicators such as mortality, walking ability, leg health and infection. The tool uses inexpensive and commercially available closed-circuit television cameras linked to small on-farm computers.
- Niamh O’Connell with Queen’s University Belfast is receiving $399,616 to transfer intelligent surveillance techniques for tracking humans to provide real time monitoring of individual birds within a flock. This camera-based technology, called FlockFocus, can automatically monitor and track activity patterns and the weight of individual birds within large flocks on commercial farms. It can also monitor feeding behavior and the distribution of birds in key areas of the chicken house. This technology can potentially improve animal welfare in other sectors, as well.
SMART Broiler solutions benefit a wide variety of U.S. and international broiler industry stakeholders, with the primary beneficiaries being the chickens. Farmers also benefit because healthy flocks have better feed conversion and require fewer health interventions, like targeted antibiotic use, thus increasing profitability. Additionally, SMART Broiler technology could increase farmers’ peace of mind by allowing them to remotely monitor their flocks when away from their farms.