Virtual Stable of the Future

The joint project "Virtual Stable of the Future" was funded by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture from 2017 to 2019. Its aim was to promote the development of innovative and socially acceptable housing concepts for pig farming on the basis of a scientifically accompanied discourse between agriculture, civil society and science.

Scientists, farmers, agronomists and consumers worked together to find a solution how modern animal welfare housing can be implemented. These modern stables should provide more space, exercise and employment for the pigs. At the same time, the barn also had to be financially feasible in reality. The developed concepts were tested only virtually, which brings time and financial advantages. The simultaneous and IT-supported implementation of the barn construction concepts makes it possible to quickly respond to social and structural developments.

The project team of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (Prof. Dr. Peter Kenning, Mrs. Nadine Gier and Mr. Caspar Krampe) was mainly responsible for the fifth project step, in which the virtual barn construction concepts were evaluated by consumers and farmers within the scope of a neuroscientific study using the innovative functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS).

More informations can be found under the following  Link.