FAYETTEVILLE, ARK. – The University of Arkansas recently announced that its new Poultry Science Smart Farming Research Facility is set to open soon, with construction nearly complete.

The $1 million project will help conduct broiler research for the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science and the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. It will be located at the Milo J. Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville. 

“This facility will be equipped with the most technologically advanced, commercially relevant environmental control and rearing equipment available in the commercial industry today,” said David Caldwell, head of the Department of Poultry Science in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

Caldwell added that one side of the facility would be equipped with large floor pens for commercial relevant rearing equipment that will use cutting-edge sensor and data acquisition technology for research projects.

The other side will use broiler nutrition research that will include a more standard ‘mini-pen’ research facility that will be used for management research applications.  

Some of the smart technologies incorporated in the new facility will include computer vision and machine learning which are becoming more utilized in the poultry industry.

The department stated that the facility was put together with a generous donation from Aviagen, equipment gifts from Reliable Poultry, Diversified Ag, MTech Systems and D&F Equipment, and matching funding from Tyson Foods, along with infrastructure funds from the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. 

“I am very thankful for the amazing private support we have received for the construction of this facility and have no doubt that it will propel our research forward and make our scientists more competitive for extramural funding,” Jean-François Meullenet, senior associate vice president for agriculture-research and director of the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station.

More details on the smart farm research facility can be found here.