Researchers at the University of Chester are working on two projects involving poultry production after they were granted millions of pounds in government funding.
Experts from the Centre for Research into Environmental Science and Technology (CREST) at the University are part of the FeedFlow initiative, led by insect farming firm Flybox, which has been granted more than £3 million by Innovate UK from Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme.
Partners also include UK poultry-tech start-up FLOX, Nottingham Trent University, Courteenhall Farms, Menchine Farm, and Clarke Group Construction.
The FeedFlow project uses an artificial intelligence platform developed by FLOX which is designed to unify data streams from farms and processing factories. It uses real-time data on flock welfare and early warnings of potential issues.
CREST has also been awarded a £1.5 million grant from the government’s Transforming Food Production Challenge Fund, through Innovate UK, for the NetFLOX360 partnership project. Led by FLOX, and the UK’s largest poultry producer, 2 Sisters Food Group, NetFLOX360 will further develop the innovative, FLOX AI-based platform for large-scale poultry entities.
Prof Julieanna Powell-Turner, Associate Dean of research and innovation at the University of Chester, explained more about the importance of the projects. She said that despite advancements in production efficiency, the poultry industry faced persistent issues, including poor leg health, high mortality rates, and variable feed efficiency, while poultry production contributed notably to ammonia emissions in the UK. She outlined how it was recognised that UK production systems must evolve and the two projects and their forward-thinking approaches aimed to set new standards for welfare and efficiency in the industry.