Digital innovations for smarter pasture management

Forage harvest levels in Latin American and Caribbean production systems are very low in relation to their potential. In tropical zones, such as Costa Rica, dry matter (DM) production of the main forage species ranges between 10 and 25 t DM/ha/year, but on average animals consume less than 45% of the available pasture. In temperate zones, as in Uruguay, forage production averages 4.5 t DM/ha/year, when the potential is at least 10 t DM/ha/year. In Argentina, it is estimated that between 2 and 4 t DM/ha/year are harvested, while the potential can reach up to 15 t DM/ha/year. Improving pasture production and consumption levels on the farm requires easily adopted grazing management technologies to optimize the use of pasture in quantity and quality throughout the year. The objective of this project was to improve the self-sufficiency and sustainability of livestock production by increasing by at least 30% the harvest of pasture produced on family farms in Uruguay, Argentina and Costa Rica through better decision making in pasture management. The development of the technology involved the implementation of a cloud-based service accessible via web or app that collected information from each farm (users), processed it, developed management indicators and visualized grazing and stocking decisions. The proposed solution aimed to: i) simplify and optimize decision making in real time regarding the sequence of paddocks to be grazed, the necessary subdivisions, the required grazing time, the area to be mechanically harvested for stocking and the optimal date to do so; and ii) automate biomass measurement through the use of remote measurement devices (drones or satellites) that are easy to adopt. The project is funded by the New Zealand Government as part of its contribution to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA).