Thursday, February 22, 2018

Chinese use cameras to track pigs

China’s leading technology company, Alibaba, is working with Chinese pig producer Dekon Group and feed manufacturer Tequ Group to develop artificial intelligence systems to track pigs.

The deal announced earlier this month is worth tens of millions of dollars and will rely on video monitoring to replace radio-frequency ID (RFID) tags.

The cameras will identify and track numbers tattooed on the animals’ bodies.

It will not only count pigs, but also in Alibaba’s plans is monitoring temperature readings from infrared sensors, daily movement and sound sensors to detect coughing to alert staff to the potential outbreak of diseases.

The aim is to lower production costs, and ensure production of “safe, tasty pork,” said Zhang Sheng with Alibaba.

The advancement of technology in agriculture is leap frogging.

Cargill recently started testing facial recognition for dairy and beef cows.


Blue River Technology’s See and Spray can detect and identify weeds in the field, spraying one and avoiding another.