Tag: AI

AI Conversation Critical for Dairy’s Future

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

I was first introduced to the possibilities of computer-generated data during high school in the 1980s. I later thought it was cutting edge to turn in my grad school homework on a 3 ½”, 1.44mb disc in the early 1990s. That felt like dizzying technological progress then. That’s nothing compared to now.

From easy-to-fake videos to massive energy sucking data centers on rural land, AI is changing everything from web searches to queries of massive databases to predicting your next purchase. AI technology has quickly permeated all aspects of our lives and is now learning more quickly than we know how to adapt.

Dairy farmers, cooperatives, and the broader industry can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. AI’s economic effects are simply too great, and its consequences too profound. Dairy economics are unforgiving, consumer expectations are accelerating, and labor — well, every producer knows that story. If we want a resilient, profitable dairy sector for the next generation, mastery and incorporation of AI isn’t optional. It’s essential.

Let’s start with the most basic reality: Margins in dairy remain tight, and volatility isn’t going anywhere. Feed costs spike, milk prices swing, and global markets move on a tweet or a weather event. Dairy farmers have always been among the most data‑savvy business owners in agriculture, but the sheer volume of information available today — from ration formulation and heat stress to milk yields and cattle health — has far outpaced what a human can digest alone.

That’s where AI earns its keep. We’re talking about tools that don’t just record data but interpret it, learn from it, and predict outcomes before a problem shows up in the bulk tank. It isn’t about replacing the producer’s judgment; it’s about equipping the farmer with massive amounts of data that can be used to calibrate a level of precision that can predict, and allow you to correct, a problem before it occurs.

Cow‑level precision aided by AI may be the biggest potential productivity leap dairy has seen since the rotary parlor. Cows respond to predictable routines, clean stalls, and precisely formulated rations. Modern sensors can track rumination, movement, temperature, and feed intake, building a behavioral fingerprint for every cow. AI systems can pick up early signs of ketosis, mastitis, lameness, or feed disruption days sooner than traditional observation. Now imagine using AI to integrate the weather forecast with a feed ration, optimizing nutrition before the sun comes up. (Actually, we’re already doing this.) That means healthier cows, lower feed costs and vet bills, and higher milk production. In a business where each additional pound of milk matters, such innovations aren’t a luxury — they’re a lifeline, and a competitive advantage for farmers who use AI effectively.

But perhaps the biggest long‑term value of AI in dairy isn’t inside the barn. Without question, the efficiencies AI creates in the dairy supply chain and logistics will be revolutionary and will certainly bring changes. But imagine a world that’s able to seamlessly connect producers to consumers in the marketplace, domestically and overseas. For instance, consumers, major dairy buyers and foreign trading partners increasingly want transparency: how the cow was treated, what it was fed, how the milk was produced, what a dairy’s environmental footprint looks like, etc.

This is the sort of information that seal deals, both with foreign buyers in an export market and with parents shopping at a grocery store. Dairy farmers with AI‑driven monitoring and recordkeeping can document sustainability and animal‑care metrics with a level of detail that wasn’t possible before — a potential advantage when selling to transparency-minded customers.

We already know that impressive performance on carbon intensity, water use, and soil health are competitive advantages. We’ll also soon be able to use AI to predict which investments will garner the best farm-level returns, if we have the right data sets.

None of this means AI is a silver bullet. Major questions and concerns remain on how this technology can be harnessed for the broadest benefit, where the energy to power it will come from, how thriving farms and AI data centers can best coexist, and what safeguards on data privacy and security are needed, with this last point being a serious and complex problem that requires viable, legally enforceable solutions. It’s also important to remember that, like everything else, AI isn’t always right — without human guidance, significant errors can occur, and in the end, the dairy farmer needs to stay in the driver’s seat.

But for dairy, the potential benefits are too great to shy away from the challenges, and we need the industry’s best minds focused on solutions, to get a sense of where AI is going and how dairy can benefit from that path.

That’s why next week, at NMPF’s Board of Directors meeting in Arlington, VA, we’re adding an AI workshop and presentations to our agenda. As the leading U.S. dairy-farmer organization, we want to use our power to convene the industry on a precompetitive basis to wrestle with the questions and challenges we all have in common, to seek common solutions that help all of us thrive, and work through the challenges widespread AI adoption are rapidly placing before us. We’re excited to see what our members come up with, and we’re looking forward to being a repository of knowledge of this critical, fast-changing topic.

The dairies that thrive in the next decade will be the ones that blend human intuition with the predictive power of AI.  We can treat AI as an outsider’s gadget, or as a threat with risks that don’t justify the rewards, or we can embrace it as the next evolution of the same ingenuity that has always defined American agriculture. At NMPF, we are firmly in the camp of AI embrace, knowing that there will be bumps on the road, kinks to work out, and challenging questions to answer along the way, because along with policy leadership, we also help our members seek innovative solutions that benefit the entire industry. Dairy has never been afraid of hard work or new tools. AI is simply the next one we will use to succeed.

Gregg Doud

President & CEO, NMPF

 

AI’s Influence Requires Innovative Response

Posted on by Rachel Ravencraft

Just a couple years after its wide-scale introduction, Artificial Intelligence, aka AI, has already changed how people create, how they interact with the Internet, and how they interact with one another.

But it’s not without pitfalls: From “hallucinations” to hate speech, the quality of AI answers generated by Large Language Models can vary widely, often illustrating a principle that’s much older than the Internet: Garbage in, garbage out.

How does this affect dairy, where overwhelming mainstream support has been tempered by decades of negative misinformation, often peddled by plant-based imitators trying to make a quick buck by convincing people that their concoctions are superior to milk? Armed with an incognito browser window and an intern (thank you for your research, Presley Wirebaugh), we set out to find out what ChatGPT and other LLMs might say about milk. And what did we find?

In many ways, it wasn’t so bad. When it comes to dairy beverage labels, it turns out that ChatGPT’s “thoughts” aren’t that much different from recent heads of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration — it identifies the problem with nutritional confusion and calls for greater transparency. Answers note that milk is nutritionally superior to plant-based beverages, it understands that consumer confusion over the nutritional benefits of milk vs. plant-based is real, and it notes the value of improved, transparent consumer labeling.

Below is one question we asked. Note that we stooped to calling plant-based beverages a “milk,” as we were mimicking queries from less-informed consumers. Also note that the boldface type in the answers is from ChatGPT’s response:

Which is more nutritious: plant milk or cow milk?

Answer: Cow milk is generally more nutritious than most plant milks, particularly when it comes to natural protein content, calcium, and bioavailable vitamins and minerals.

Here’s another:

How should plant milks be labeled?

Answer: Plant milks should be labeled clearly and accurately so consumers understand what they are buying — especially because they are not nutritionally identical to cow’s milk.

One more:

What should I know about the nutrition of cow’s milk?

Answer: Here’s what you should know about the nutrition of cow’s milk — it’s a naturally nutrient-rich beverage, especially valuable for growth, bone health, and muscle maintenance.

Thank you, ChatGPT.

This good news comes with many caveats, often from what seems to be ChatGPT’s efforts to be even-handed to the point where “fair” actually takes a side. Along with the endorsement of milk’s nutritional value is discussion of how plant-based alternatives can also be healthy. The discussion of labeling stops far from fully endorsing the view that dairy terms should never be used on plant-based beverages. ChatGPT states that:

✅ Bottom Line: Plant-based products should be allowed to use dairy-like names if labels are transparent about their origin and nutrition. This ensures both clarity and choice for consumers.

That sounds a lot like the unworkable half-solution FDA suggested three years ago. Still, after decades of demonization, half-a-loaf is encouraging. And as we’ve always stated, once you’ve accepted the reality of nutritional confusion, the need for change becomes clear. It’s a matter of time, and persistence.

So dairy comes out OK on plant-based labeling. In other areas, the limitations of the models, and the power of anti-dairy propaganda, becomes clear. Here’s an example:

What do people like more — plant milk or dairy?

Answer: Among Gen Z and Millennials, plant milk is often preferred, especially oat and almond milk.

“Often preferred” is a pretty big stretch, given that overall market share of plant-based beverages is under 10% and has been falling for years. Are the AI models scooping up old data? Breathless press releases from struggling plant-based companies? More research required.

Even more challenging is what the answers say about dairy’s sustainability.

Which is better for the environment: plant milk or cow milk?

Answer: Plant milk is significantly better for the environment than cow’s milk — across the board in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use.

Ouch.

So — getting out the message of dairy farming’s value as part of regenerative agricultural systems, showing dairy’s progress toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions, optimizing water use, encouraging efficient land use … you know, all the things that go into the FARM Program — plays into winning the battle of a ChatGPT query.

It’s a good story to tell. After all:

  • The U.S. dairy industry was the first in the food agriculture sector to conduct a full Life Cycle Assessment at a national scale, in 2008.
  • According to an assessment released in May, from 2007 to 2020, the greenhouse gas footprint of farmgate milk production decreased by 13%. And …
  • U.S. dairy has set a goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 through developing well-targeted incentives that encourage climate-friendly investments among dairy farmers across all sizes and regions. This comes on top of dairy’s record of animal stewardship and top-level workforce management.

Each individual search, multiplied by thousands per day, every day, adds up to the realities we will increasingly inhabit. And that becomes the new frontier for defining dairy.

This isn’t the AI moment — it’s the AI reality. And just as when the industry has faced past challenges, and just as dairy farmers do every day, innovation will be a must.