Source: Meat + Poultry
McDonald’s Corporation and the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) have invested an additional $671,481 into the SMART Broiler program, advancing the use of precision technologies to improve broiler chicken welfare. Launched in 2019 with $4 million in initial funding, SMART Broiler uses automated tools to monitor indicators like gait, vocalizations, and flock behavior, supplementing human observation on commercial poultry farms. The latest funding supports Phase II, which adapts earlier research for practical farm use.
Two major projects include OPTICFLOCK, a video-based system from the University of Oxford, and FlockFocus, a camera tracking tool from the University of Belfast. These technologies aim to reduce health issues, improve welfare, lower antibiotic use, and enhance feed efficiency. Testing is ongoing in the U.S., Northern Ireland, Hungary, and Poland. Supported by Amazon Web Services, Accenture, and USPOULTRY, this initiative underscores the growing importance of animal welfare and data-driven agriculture in modern broiler production.