Co-innovation and design support for robotic and AI solutions in circular dairy farming

We help companies test, improve, and co-develop sensors, robots, and digital tools for dairy farming in a real farm environment, assessing their impact on the entire circular system - from cow health and feed use to manure, soil fertility, and nutrient cycling - supported by Wageningen University & Research.

Interested in this service? Contact us at Data.demarke@wur.nl 

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Co-innovation and design support for robotic and AI solutions in circular dairy farming

Overview

Agro-Innovation Centre De Marke, part of Wageningen University & Research, offers companies the opportunity to test and develop their innovations in a professional and scientifically monitored dairy farm environment. Our experimental farms combine daily dairy operations with high-quality research facilities, providing a unique setting to evaluate technologies in a complete circular system.

Technologies are assessed on reliability, ease of use, animal behaviour, feed efficiency, manure quality, soil fertility, and nutrient cycling, as well as their contribution to circular and nature-inclusive farming systems. This means companies gain insights into how their innovation affects not just the cow, but the full farm ecosystem, from feed intake to soil health. Our researchers and farm managers bridge practical farm experience with scientific knowledge, ensuring fast access to relevant end-users, long-term datasets, and actionable feedback. Through testing, demonstration, and iterative feedback, we help developers improve prototypes faster, while aligning innovations with sustainability and circular farming principles.

More about the service

How can the service help you?

Many technology developers lack insight into how their systems perform within the full farm cycle. This service provides a clear view of technology performance in real conditions, including its impact on animal health, nutrient flows, manure quality, and soil fertility.

How the service will be delivered

• Locations: Agro-Innovation Centre De Marke (Hengelo, Gelderland) • Delivered by: applied and, when needed, scientific researchers from Wageningen Livestock Research • Service steps: 1. Intake meeting and definition of goals 2. Development of test protocol and planning 3. Execution of measurements, observations, and interactions with farm staff 4. Interim evaluation and feedback rounds 5. Final report with results, recommendations, and datasets • Duration: varies from several weeks to full-season or multi-season trials, depending on objectives • Customer deliverables: test plan, measurement results, observations, feedback, final report, and optional data files • Customer provides: prototype or system, technical documentation, software access (if relevant), and support for installation All tests are designed to capture the effects of your innovation on the complete circular system, ensuring meaningful insights for sustainable dairy farming.

Service customisation

The service can be tailored to different stages of development, from early prototype evaluation to extensive end-user testing. Testing can be short-term or multi-season, depending on the data needed and seasonal conditions. The only constraints are that the research questions must fit within the expertise of our team and the available facilities and datasets.
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Sector
Livestock farming
Test type
Design / Documentation
Physical system
Data
Software or AI model
Type of service
Test design
Collection of test data
Desk assessment
Performance evaluation
Provision of datasets
Test execution
Test setup
Country of delivery
Country of delivery: Netherlands
Service provider(s):
  • Wageningen University WR
    Netherlands
    | Website
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