Aberdeen Angus Farm
Author: Jack Norris | Major: Computer Science | Semester: Summer 2023
Growing up as a military brat, I’ve had the opportunity to live all throughout the U.S. I’ve inhaled the salty breeze of the Pacific, buried my toes in the soft sand near the Gulf of Mexico, and gazed upon the brilliant sunsets of the Midwest. Although every place I lived was different, there was a constant staple in nearly every place I called home: farms. Although they were a little sparse out west, in the Midwest and the South, you could throw a rock in any direction and have it end up on some farmer’s land or crop field. Despite this apparent ubiquity, as much as I wanted to, I never got to set foot on a farm as a kid. For the longest time, I had to settle for petting zoos instead.
When I first read about this agricultural study tour through the UK, it was hot on the heels of my recent reading of the latest edition of Wired magazine. In it, journalists detailed a “technological revolution” of sorts in the agricultural sector of the UK. They raved about digital marketplaces that tracked seafood demand for merchants, the advent of autonomous vehicles for land cultivation, and the sophisticated contraptions employed for detecting and mitigating the methane emissions of cattle. As a computer scientist, I was chomping at the bit to see all this for myself. As someone who remembers the curiosity of their youth, I was eager to live out a childhood dream. All of this culminated in me hitting the “submit” button on my application to the program. Not too long after, I was on a transatlantic flight to the UK, giddy with excitement.
To put things simply, this study abroad program was life-changing. I don’t think I’ll ever make a run to the grocery store again without thinking of all the steps that it took to get that food at my fingertips. Additionally, my ignorant preconceived notion of farmers almost being Luddites has all but evaporated. Tech isn’t just finding farmers — farmers are taking the initiative to find whatever tech out there can give them an edge over their competition.
Diving into the specifics, one farm in particular wowed me with its utilization of an automatic milking machine for cows. The machine used LiDAR to form a 3-D map of the cow’s udders, subsequently using this data to align itself perfectly along the cow’s underside to milk it. Additionally, cows were fitted with NFC tags in their ears that allowed the milking machine to identify each cow and track their overall health and milking habits. I’m not embarrassed to say I totally “geeked out” when I saw this — the contrast between the simplicity of the farm’s outward appearance with the complex tech used within it blew my mind, to say the least!
As an added bonus, outside of agriculture, I had the opportunity to explore the rich culture and history of the UK. I walked the streets that Shakespeare strolled in Stratford-upon-Avon, savored (unsuccessfully) the taste of haggis that Robert Burns raved about, and even got to enjoy a brief meal in a pub where Sir Walter Conan Doyle often placed his famed literary creation in. I visited museums that were chock-full of the Van Goghs, Monets, and Rembrandts I thought I’d only have the opportunity to see and learn about in history textbooks. I gazed in awe at the mystique of Stonehenge. Growing up in a country that’s barely even 2 centuries old, it was fascinating to spend time in a place that had a history as rich and well-documented as the UK.
In my eyes, this study tour represents the pinnacle of what a UofA faculty-led program should be. In addition to being educational and entertaining, the experience was thought-provoking and humbling. The balance between structured and unstructured time to learn about the UK was fantastically orchestrated, and I highly recommend the program to anyone who even has the slightest inkling of curiosity about where their food comes from — they won’t be disappointed.