UBC Dairy Centre receives funding for a new integrated data hub
Aug. 06, 2025 – The UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre is partnering with Farm Credit Canada (FCC) to embark on a new era of research that includes the broad use of data intelligence. FCC is investing $1 million to create an integrated data hub that consolidates multiple data streams from various sensors and monitoring devices – to facilitate data driven innovations through machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) – and to fund a new postdoctoral fellow position in support of this research.
This investment will transform dairy research by making it easier to collect and analyze large data sets that contribute to the Dairy Centre’s research mission of improving animal welfare, health, reproduction, and mitigating the effects of dairy on climate change.
Marina von Keyserlingk, Director of the UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre, says this initiative will benefit researchers and industry.
“Once the data hub is running, it will open new avenues of research, and allow us to better support the dairy industry in addressing current and future questions. It will allow researchers to collect, analyze, and utilize data streams in real-time, and archive these data streams at the individual animal level to allow for powerful longitudinal studies that go forwards and backwards in time.”
As a research facility, students and researchers at the Dairy Centre are already collecting data but a central, integrated data hub is needed to harness greater insights from the streams of information.
In the past, students spent countless hours watching videos to monitor cow behaviours and activities. Much of this time-consuming approach has now been replaced with wearable sensors attached to the cows (like our own fitbits that track our steps). For example, one sensor tracks individual cows at the feedbunk, how long they feed and how much they ate. The Dairy Centre also recently installed six automatic milking systems that collectively generate streams of data on when a cow entered the milking unit and how much milk they produced, amongst other things.
“Collaborations of this kind allow FCC to continue to deliver on its commitment to support the next generation of farmers and to continue to get high-quality food onto the tables of Canadians and consumers around the world,” says Todd Klink, executive vice-president, marketing and public affairs at FCC. “Innovation investments like this will allow the agriculture and food sector to thrive.”
UBC researchers are renowned in their fields of animal welfare and reproduction. They regularly collaborate with dairy industry groups, and have helped establish guidelines, both domestically and internationally, on the care and use of farm animals. Some examples include the scientific evidence used to develop the Canadian Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Dairy Cattle published in 2023, under the National Farm Animal Care Council. Also, in 2023, two reviews, one on the Welfare of Dairy Cattle and the other on the Welfare of Dairy Calves, were published in the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Journal; each cited over 25 publications summarizing work done by scientists working at the Dairy Centre.
The UBC Dairy Centre is dedicated to advancing dairy science through innovative research and real-world application. Located in the heart of British Columbia’s farm country in Agassiz, B.C., the Centre operates with a lactating herd of 250 milking cows and associated young stock, enabling cutting-edge studies that are applicable to the dairy industry.
As part of UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems, the Centre contributes significantly to global agricultural research. UBC itself is among the top institutions worldwide in agricultural sciences, ranking in the Top 100 globally in the categories of Agricultural Sciences and Food Science and Technology (2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities).
“The university is at a critical juncture as data and machine learning are transforming the way we teach and conduct research,” said David Kitts, Dean pro tem, UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems. “This investment in the Dairy Centre is central to supporting our researchers and training the next generation of students in applying technology to improve agricultural science and the global food system.”
The Farm Credit Canada gift is a pivotal investment in data innovation at UBC’s Dairy Centre and is part of FORWARD, the campaign for UBC to advance healthy lives, a healthy planet and healthy societies.
For more information:
Karen Lee
Director of Communications
UBC Faculty of Land and Food Systems
604-312-6343-cell. | karen.lee98@ubc.ca
Tagged with: 2025, Animal Welfare Program, Applied Animal Biology, Applied Biology, Dairy Centre