Successful cooperation Smart Pig Chain

Vion Food Group, together with several partners, is looking for ways to manage differences in fat quality in pigs. The first results of the research were announced this month. The project 'The Smart Pig Chain' is one of the spearheads of AgriFoodInnovation; a network organization in which companies and knowledge institutions work on groundbreaking innovations. A new project in preparation is 'Robotization at the slaughter line'.

The food system of the future is smart, valuable, circular and connected. The Netherlands is a major player in the world's food supply and is at the forefront of innovation in this field. Especially in Brabant, big leaps are being made in the framework of the Smart Pig Chain: one of the spearheads of AgriFoodInnovation, supported by Regio Deal Noordoost Brabant.

With the start of two collaborations between on the one hand Hendrix Genetics and Vion Food Group and on the other Fransen Gerrits, Vion Food Group and Topigs Norsvin (both with support from Connecting Agri & Food) a big step forward was made this summer towards a smart pig chain. A chain in which data is handled smartly in order to focus on the health and growth of the individual animal. This month the research and results of the two pilot projects 'Improving the level of animal health' and 'Focusing on quality' were discussed and celebrated.

The 30 knowledge partners within the agro and high-tech sector present were welcomed in Vught, Brabant by Roel Schutten, director of Agrifood Capital. Ronald Klont, head of Research and Development at Vion Food Group, kicked off the afternoon with a presentation on the goals and findings of the research into improving the fat quality of pigs. In a demand-driven market, Vion Food Group, together with the project team 'Steering for Quality', is looking for a way to steer the fat quality of pork: "The requirements for the Dutch market are very different from those for the Spanish market, for example. Among other things, we are researching how, in addition to nutrition and genetics, you can steer on differences in fat quality where fat thickness, color and hardness play a major role."

In addition to these two projects, three new projects are in preparation. Gé Backus, director of Connecting Agri & Food on what we can expect from these projects including 'Robotization at the slaughter line': "The Netherlands is aging. In the future, there will be a problem in providing labour around the slaughter line. Therefore, we are already looking at how we can automate this."

agrifoodinnovation.nl