• The project aims to facilitate access to young people and women in the livestock sector to combat depopulation.
• The technological systems are designed to be simple to install and use, and require conventional maintenance.

Today, farm work has been modernized in many ways, but the constant attention it requires causes many people to throw in the towel. The ENCINA-SMS Operational Group ( GO ENCINA-SMS ) was founded in 2022 to make life easier for people who want to work on extensive livestock farms and to empower young people to take on the management of family-run farms. They are also committed to a new model where these activities can be combined with other professions and interests, as well as offering women convenient options for managing their farms, all thanks to digital and automated technological tools.

Thus, the main objectives of the project at the social level are:

1. Promoting generational change .
2. New spaces for the incorporation of women .
3. New opportunities for digitalization .
4. Creation of high-value jobs .
5. Enabling auxiliary services for local development .
6. Attracting talented profiles to rural areas.
7. “Repopulation” of the territory to alleviate the problem of depopulation.

In this way, the aim is to address barriers to entry, such as physical effort and the purely in-person nature of livestock work.

Project actions

The project's ideas are appealing, but what kind of actions are involved when it comes to saving effort and managing extensive livestock farming remotely?

"What we're proposing is a way to make fieldwork easier and without the need for technological knowledge ," Pilar Fernández Coronado, technical coordinator of the GO, explained to the PAC Network.

How? Thanks to the use of the Telegram instant messaging app and a web browser . Thus, throughout the project, GO has been conducting technical tests on two pilot farms in El Real de la Jara (Seville), whose information is available to the hypothetical user.

Through these platforms, data generated through innovative technological systems is accessed, economical and easy to install with real-time data.

Some of these uses are:

• Monitoring the entry of potential intruders.
• Analysis of the amount of food for animals.
• Notice of entry of persons to the property.
• Checking the rain level.
• Monitoring the level of water available for animals.

Thus, the idea is to be able to perform these types of tasks automatically and simply, avoiding in-person visits: opening and closing gates, feeding livestock, identifying vehicles, and so on.

Furthermore, the problem with these systems is that they often break down over time and require high additional costs. However, "maintenance is designed to be handled by a local electrician or plumber," the technical coordinator assures.

Currently, the GO has completed its period of activity, during which it has successfully tested its water management systems , "which has most attracted the attention of livestock farmers." In an Andalusian region where drought problems are increasing, agricultural professionals have been able to test and endorse these techniques, which, for example, allow them to determine not only whether there is too little or too much water, but also whether there have been leaks.

Despite the GO's cessation of activity, Fernández Coronado asserts that the organizations involved continue working to determine the viability of all possible uses, especially with regard to the automatic livestock feeding system. The organization encourages anyone in Spain interested in testing the systems to contact them, as they are not yet commercially available.

Partners and financing

The GO ENCINA-SMS has been coordinated by the livestock entity Hermanos Fernández Ronquillo, SC , based in El Real de la Jara.

In addition, the El Real de la Jara City Council , the GAL GDR Sierra Morena Sevillana , and the Andalusian Industrial Cooperation and Research Association ( AICIA ) took part in the project .

The project has had a budget of 193,149.71 euros, 90% co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development ( EAFRD ) of the European Union and 10% by the Regional Government of Andalusia , through the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development.