Start-up company Omniolytics, which develops smart farming solutions, is using IBM technology to build a digital farming platform that helps emerging and commercial farmers unlock new insights through the power of AI, cloud and Internet of Things (IoT).
Tech giant IBM, has announced that start-up, Omniolytics, has turned to it to help transform poultry farming through digital platforms that use sensors and IBM Watson running in the IBM Cloud. Omniolytics develops smart farming solutions for emerging and commercial poultry farmers.
The South African poultry industry today has a number challenges ranging from the quality and origins of feeds, high feed prices and the recurrence of avian influenza and disease outbreaks such as listeriosis and salmonellosis.
Working with IBM, Omniolytics has developed a new approach that uses Internet of Things (IoT) technologies to collect data on the environmental conditions of production facilities and day-to-day management activities and processes of poultry to improve animal health, mitigate losses and assist producers in improving production efficiency, helping address food security concerns. The suite of solutions use IBM Watson and Machine Learning capabilities to identify and learn the typical behaviour of birds – and lead to improved management practices. Farmers are then able to receive a more complete picture of the wellbeing of their flocks delivered on IBM Cloud identifying processes and environmental deviations which could point to a potential problem.
The poultry industry was valued at over 46 billion rand (US$3.1 billion) in 2019 makes up over 16% of the total gross value of agricultural production in South Africa. In 2018, the avian flu outbreak alone cost the South African economy 954 million rand (US$66.3 million). Omniolytics is addressing the need for commercial and emerging poultry farmers in this valuable industry to make informed, real-time decisions on potential threats and forecast dangers within the broiler house facility and provides farmers with early warnings on potential issues – making their processes more efficient and improving production standards.
“Local farmers have to be enabled to be globally competitive and the best way to do that is through technology. IBM Cloud and AI ensures we have a platform to help farmers across South Africa use precision agriculture to enhance the efficiency of their production. We are introducing solutions to the market which help improve feed conversion ratios, mortality and growth rates and benchmarking practices across their production facilities. This will ensure accurate future predictions across the value chain and make poultry farming more sustainable,” said Michael Samson, Founder, Omniolytics.
Omniolytics’ flagship solution, OmnioFarm is built on IBM Cloud and collects, processes, analyses, and visualises comprehensive insights collected from integrated wireless sensors, coupled with production records and activities across the production cycle.
DataViz, Omniolytics’ foundation product, draws data from wireless sensors placed in the chicken broiler house to monitor the environmental conditions including air and water quality as well as lighting. These sensors will provide data via IoT platforms to the DataViz platform – digitally capturing facilities environmental conditions and production records while also scheduling activities, setting thresholds and notifications. The platform also captures live and historic trends in real-time and can also be accessed over a mobile device or computer.
Local Insights is , Omniolytics’ leading product. It embeds intelligence and helps manage end-to-end processes using data, analytics and Machine Learning, guiding farmers in adopting prescribed practices, understanding deviations, identifying potential threats and predicting performance against targets. Working with the IBM Cloud PaaS and Machine Learning APIs, the OmnioFarm platform will help this sector to ensure higher levels of animal health and efficiency, ensuring sustainable agricultural productivity. Omniolytics uses IBM Watson Studio for building and testing Machine Learning models.
The start-up is also a beneficiary of IBMs Equity Equivalence Investment Programme (EEIP), which provides emerging enterprises with access to resources like IBM technology, technical support and business mentorship. IBM supports Omniolytics with a blend of financial and non-financial support towards the development of the OmnioFarm platform – helping Omniolytics provide advanced technology services that are commercially ready.
Craig Holmes, Technology Leader, IBM Southern Africa, said: “Agriculture plays a crucial role in the success of our local economy and through the EEIP programme we’ve been able to support Omniolytics at a critical stage of their business growth. By improving access to IBM’s Cloud and AI technologies and increasing the adoption of a range of digital solutions as we incubate and supporting start-ups – we’ve set out to not only support local demand, but also ensure our entrepreneurs become globally competitive. This is crucial in a post-COVID-19 world and we’ll continue to provide innovative technology start-ups with advice, support and the best technologies available in the market.”
Working with IBM Services, Omniolytics has received support to refine its pitches, tweak its business model and perfect the backbone of its solution.
