Big data comes to French dairy sector

The main objective of the technology is to help companies in the ruminant sector to create new services for breeders and farmers, said its CEO Xavier Wagner.

Still in the start-up phase, Applifarm is an independent company, enabling its partners to collect and use target data with no security issues, he said. It has eight recognized players in the French livestock farming business behind it including Neovia, Adisseo, Innoval, Eilyps, and Cogedis.

Wagner, who has a strong background in big data technology but in non-related industries, told us the platform would likely be online in January 2018; it will include data about management, feed, dairy operations, livestock advice, breeding, performance monitoring, sanitary advice, etc.

Long term goals

Open to all operators in the sector, not just the founding members, the platform is aiming to become the leading source of big data in the ruminant sector in France. The company expects to connect 10,000 French farmers by the end of 2018.

The founding partners are financially contributing to the launch of the Applifarm start-up and are providing complementary expertise. They have provided sufficient data to ensure the platform can provide value as soon as it goes live.

While the data sharing technology will, initially, be focused on the French ruminants market, particularly the dairy sector,  the expectation is that it would, eventually, encompass other livestock segments and that it would become international in its focus, he said.

The model is built on the idea of data collection, comparison and processing to be used to create a wide range of innovative services for farmers, he continued.

Access to data through the platform will allow feed manufacturers, genetics, feed additive suppliers and other farm service providers to gain deep insights into farm operations, which will feed into their new product development work, added Wagner.

Personalized advice to farmers 

Wagner said one of the founding members, French animal nutrition group, Neovia, intends to leverage Applifarm to “deliver new services, and to give more personalized advice on nutrition to their customers, the farmers.”​

The CEO said the platform is an effective and low-cost means of creating and developing new services that, without Applifarm, would have proved extremely expensive, or even impossible for one company to develop individually.