Are robots the farmers of the future?

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June 14, 2019

I had the privilege of visiting the Netherlands last weekend. Of course, I wanted to visit a farm.

I was in luck! I found a Dutch farm that sold raw milk AND welcomed visitors.

In the Netherlands, only pasteurized milk can be bottled and sold in stores. Raw milk is legal if you buy it on the farm. Either the farmer manually puts it in your container from the bulk tank, or some farms have special milk vending machines where you can fill your own bottle.

The farm that I visited was “biologique” (the equivalent of “organic” in the US) but followed more conventional farming practices. The farmer cared deeply about his work and did it to the best of his ability. His father, grandfather, etc were all dairy farmers, and it’s his choice to continue the tradition, but with his own twist.

This farm was mechanized. Robots were everywhere.

There was a robot that cleaned the manure from the barn floor.

There was a feeding robot that delivered individualized meals to groups of cows.

There was a robot milking machine that cleaned the udders, used a laser to find the teats, and fed the cow while it was being milked.

Each cow wore a collar with a tracking device, which logged their location, their diet, health stats, and how often they chose to get milked. The farmer said that the cows choose to get milked 2.8x in 24 hours.

Having a mechanized farm definitely has its advantages.

You don’t need to clean up poop.

You can keep meticulous records of everything without picking up a pencil.

You can minimize your labor. However, I’m conflicted on this one, as you do need to design and build and maintain and repair and update the robots.

However, there are downsides.

The hands down biggest downside is the cost. The farmer at the farm I visited said that he was millions of dollars in debt from buying the machines and maintaining his farm.

Because of this, his business model is not based on farming alone. He relies on running a store, a cafe, a daycare, a corn maze, a rehab center for disabled people, and more.

Other potential downsides I saw were being disconnected from the animals and nature, increased reliance on outside energy sources, and robot malfunctions resulting in mistreatment of animals.

So, are the farmers of the future robots?

I suppose it depends on the farm, its needs, its goals.

For me personally, I would prefer a human-run small family farm and would be comfortable with some robot helpers.

What do you think?

Opinion

Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

Not a fan of the confusing, greenwashed labels in store? Yea, me too! And it's especially real for me, because I'm responsible for getting our labels approved with the "powers that be". Here's a little story with a big inside scoop... I made new labels for our bone broth a little while ago. It didn't go as smoothly as planned. Why? I put the little icons about our farming practices on them. They look like this: Yup, despite being 100% accurate and true, they were denied!! We're not allowed to put those statements on our food labels. So, I asked the USDA guy, "What would it take to get those claims on the labels, anyway?" The answer was kinda shocking. First off, there's some guidance on wording. Silly technicalities in my opinion. For example, you can't use the term "No Spray" but you can say "Produced without the use of synthetic pesticides." Or another example is that you can't say "No Routine Antibiotics or Vaccines" but you can say "Raised without routine use of antibiotics or vaccines." Second, the processor needs to update their documents to provide traceability. In other words, they need to document how they make sure the bones for our bone broth don't get mixed up with bones from other farms. I mean, this is pretty simple, especially with small batch foods like ours. But the documentation needs to be meticulous. Drafting it in government-approved language can be time consuming and/or costly. And lastly, once you get the wording and process right, you need proof. This was the real shocker for me: Want to know what proof would suffice for all the claims above? A 2-3 sentence affidavit (AKA a super short letter) signed by all farmers that supply us. That's it!? This lead me to a bunch of questions: What if a company submits a letter from one farmer but actually has other farmers that supply them, too? What if a company changes farmers? Will they submit new letters?What if a company's farmers change their practices in the future? Will they immediately update their labels?Are the "powers that be" checking on this? Is anyone checking on this?Is this why most farms and food facilities don't allow outside people coming in? It seems to me that, if a business isn't doing what the label says, the only way to find out is via a whistleblower. And the only way to make them stop is to take them to court. You know, like what's happening with Vital Farms and their pasture raised egg claim right now. It seems to me that, all that good natural stuff on labels - grass fed, pasture raised, antibiotic free, etc - doesn't mean it's true. Certifications are a little better, but the same kinda thing can be said about those, too. This is why, at Miller's, we choose to NOT sell in stores. No wholesale for us. In fact, we don't even have an on farm store. We only sell directly to our customers via our website. And, we choose to only get certified for what's required. This way, we can make our own natural standards. And, we can provide you will all the info and proof you need. Descriptions, photos, blog posts, test results, and more. So, what do you think? Should we do the affidavit thing to get claims on our bone broth labels? What proof do you need to feel confident in your food choices? I'd love to hear from you. Comment below (no account required - just start typing) or contact us 😊

Should I choose animal rennet or vegetable rennet in my natural cheese?

Let’s take a look at what rennet is and why it’s used in cheesemaking, compare the different types of animal and vegetable rennets, check out the labeling requirements for rennet, and consider the potential health consequences. Keeping all this in mind, Miller’s Bio Farm aims to produce the most nutrient-dense, natural, A2/A2 cheese we can and gives you all the info you need to make the choice that’s best for your body!

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Are robots the farmers of the future?

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Ugh greenwashed labels. What does it take to get ___ on a label anyway?

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