The great writer and wit of the early 20th century, G.K. Chesterton, once said “anything worth doing, is worth doing badly.” This quote is a reminder that any undertaking that is important cannot wait for ideal circumstances before proceeding. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. This quote applies particularly well to our industry.
Every day countless people throughout the production chain ensure safe, healthy and affordable pork gets to consumers worldwide, and they aren’t letting perfection hold them back. While this effort and the “can do” mindset are crucial to our industry’s success, it’s important that periodically we take a step back from the daily concerns and consider what ideal pork production looks like.
The Whole is Greater Than the Parts
While there are many circumstances separating reality from the ideal, every definition of perfect production would include earning higher than average profits and doing so consistently. Our entire operation would be built around this goal, with each subcomponent of production providing seamless assistance in reaching this end. Like a finely tuned machine, the whole is much greater than the sum of all the parts.
One area of production that has helped move the industry closer to more ideal production is barn technology. Over the past couple of decades, great advancements have been made, and the developers of these technologies have worked hard to ensure their addition fits into existing production infrastructure as easily as possible.
However, there is a potential threat looming on the horizon. In January, I talked about the coming big data revolution and the tremendous value it will create. Like any other revolution, challenges are inevitable, but existing technology could become the biggest stumbling block.
Two Problems to Overcome
Among these challenges, there are two of special importance. First is the ability to easily access data generated by these technologies and repurpose it in a scalable way. For example, how easy will it be to get the data gathered by temperature, bin, water and other sensors and route it into a forecasting model? Will you be able to do that across your entire system and have it automated? Who will be responsible for managing this process?
The next problem will be one of data ownership. Reasonable arguments can be made that the data is owned by the farm. However, arguments can be made that the developer of the technology who bears the service management costs is the owner. This data will be the raw materials of future value creation, so it is important to have discussions around ownership, because the owner will likely be the greatest beneficiary.
If data and tech are outside your area of expertise, fear not. At this stage, the details are not crucial, but the awareness that barn technology and data will play a more important role in the future is critical. It is better to address these challenges now, even if we do so badly, than not at all and find ourselves incapable of taking full advantage of future advancements.
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