Improved productivity and sustainability in high value dairy production through the deployment of low cost wireless methane sensors

奶牛场的集约化导致消费者对奶牛场的愿景与现实之间的差距越来越大。因此，当向消费者提供奶牛场做法的部分情况时，压倒一切的结论是，当前的农场做法不保护环境；三分之一的成年人认为，奶制品的耕作和生产对整体气候变化有重大贡献。农场和乳制品公司能够清楚地沟通并提供证据，证明其运营对当地和全球环境产生的积极影响，它们更有可能不仅在经济上可行，而且能够进入更高价值的市场。确保乳制品供应链可持续性的要求是建立一个经过验证的标准框架，使奖励生产实践的最佳实践认证将对气候的有害影响降至最低。在英国，目前估计？10%的温室气体排放来自农业，(46.3公吨二氧化碳当量帕)。农业产生的温室气体主要是来自反刍动物的甲烷(56%)，其次是来自化肥的一氧化二氮(31%)。农业中最重要的温室气体是主要来自反刍动物的甲烷，其温室气体影响是二氧化碳的34倍。在全球范围内，牛贡献了13%的甲烷排放。奶制品部门已经开始解决通过遗传和使用饲料添加剂减少甲烷排放的迫切需要。然而，目前还没有甲烷测量的行业标准，可以独立量化运营农场产生的甲烷质量，这推动了对可靠的、经济有效的测量方法的近期需求。研究农场已经部署了带有吸气甲烷测量设备的自动喂料系统，例如Green-Feed，然而这些设备昂贵得令人望而却步(每单位约70K)，这是广泛采用的一个重大障碍。该项目旨在提供一种低成本、坚固的甲烷传感器，该传感器可以快速改装到现有的农场设备上，例如以最低的安装成本安装机器人挤奶，以增加温室气体测量设备的采用率。该方法与创建用于内场部署的传感器网络相兼容，以提供比现有遥感调查方法更精确的实时测量。电力收集解决方案消除了硬接线(这不实用或不划算)和电池电源的需要，由于需要定期更换，因此无法接受，而且在环境上也不可接受。

The intensification of dairy farming has resulted in an increasing disconnect between the vision that consumers have of a dairy farm and the reality. As a consequence, when consumers are provided with a partial picture of the practices employed on dairy farms, the over-riding conclusion is that current farm practices do not protect the environment; 1 in 3 adults believe that the farming and production of dairy foods significantly contributes to overall climate change. The farms and dairy companies able to clearly communicate and provide evidence of the positive impact that their operations have on both the local and global environment are more likely to remain not only economically viable but are able to gain access to higher value markets. The requirement to ensure the sustainability of the dairy supply chain is to establish a validated standard framework enabling the certification of best practices for rewarding production practices minimise the detrimental impact on climate.In the UK, it is currently estimated that?10% of the?country's total GHG emissions come from agriculture, (46.3 Mt CO2e pa). The main GHG from agriculture is methane from ruminants (56%), followed by nitrous oxide from fertilisers (31%).?The most important greenhouse gas in farming is methane predominantly from ruminants which has a GHG impact 34 times that of CO2\. Globally cattle contributes to 13% of methane emissions. The dairy sector has begun to address the pressing need to reduce methane emissions through genetics and with the use of feed additives. However, presently, there is no industry standard for methane measurement that can independently quantify the mass of methane produced on an operational farm, driving a near-term need for reliable cost-effective measurement methods. Research farms have deployed automated feeder systems with aspirated methane measurement devices e.g. Green-feed, however these are prohibitively expensive (~£70k per unit), a significant barrier to widespread adoption.The project aims to deliver a low-cost, robust methane sensor which can be rapidly retrofitted to existing farm equipment e.g. milking robots with minimal installation cost to increase the adoption of GHG measurement equipment. The approach is compatible with creating sensor networks for infield deployment to provide real-time measurement with higher granularity over current remote sensing survey approaches. The power harvesting solution eliminates the need for both hard wiring (which is not practical or cost effective) and battery power, unacceptable due to the need for regular changes and also environmentally unacceptable.