DIGICAO
Support system to management of dairy sheep and goat farms
Scheda del progetto
Cooperativa allevatori ovini - C.A.O. Formaggi
Università degli Studi di Sassari
Hi Tekno srl
The DIGICAO project aims to develop an information system for the digitalization of sheep farms associated with the Cooperativa Allevatori Ovini (CAO) in Oristano, one of the most important players in the national sheep dairy sector, which includes around 1,000 farms. The project's objectives are to provide the associated farms with an IT platform accessible from smartphones, tablets, and PCs that allows for monitoring the performance of the business from a technical, economic, environmental, and animal welfare perspective, in order to facilitate decision-making and collaboration among technicians, farmers, and the cooperative.
Contacts:
Gavino Nieddu
gavino.nieddu@caoformaggi.it
The digital transition in the agricultural sector in Sardinia represents a challenging task, as the entire industry (and particularly individual farmers) remains quite resistant to new technologies and information sharing. There is a lack of horizontal (between individual businesses) and vertical (e.g., from and to producer cooperatives) communication and information channels, which hinders healthy discussion, the establishment of common goals, and the adoption of best practices.
Building on the CAO Soci app, a digital tool already developed and used by around 500 users, which automatically integrates essential data for each member (such as invoices, milk deliveries, and communications from the cooperative), this project will further expand functionalities to cover innovative aspects of great value for members, for which dedicated IT support currently does not exist. These aspects include: animal nutrition and welfare (with suggested feeding plans), economic management of sheep farming businesses (budgeting, correlation between costs and revenues), and environmental sustainability (an increasingly distinguishing factor and a requirement of regulations).
With this project, users will have an important consultation tool that is always updated, containing data related to the feeding plan tailored to their qualitative and quantitative needs, an overview of their expenses and revenues correlated with productions and comparable to previous periods, and the assessment of the environmental impacts of their farm. The availability of objective data and the results of calculation and correlation algorithms can support the decisions made by each company, with clear benefits for both short-term and long-term planning.