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Cameras: another option for pork producers’ technology tool kits

Cameras are all around us. Phones, iPads, computers, Ring doorbells, all have become a part of our everyday lives and it’s difficult to imagine life without them. One Iowa State University faculty member is looking at how cameras in hog barns can help producers recognize sickness and behavior changes.

Joshua Peschel, associate professor in agricultural and biosystems engineering, is conducting research on cyber-agricultural systems that could assist farmers. He said consistent, reliable, accurate, and cost-effective health and behavior understanding of pigs is one of the biggest challenges faced by the swine industry today.

“My research emerges from the critical need for new and innovative tools that expand precision livestock farming for production-scale swine operations,” he said. “My students and I create new technologies, data sets, and computational models for sensing and sensemaking. In other words, we come up with new data sets, using only video, to better manage pigs.”

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3 Years Into Prop 12: From Concern to Record Performance

Video: 3 Years Into Prop 12: From Concern to Record Performance

What actually happens when you operate under Prop 12 for three years?

Brent Hershey shares real-world results from his operation—moving beyond uncertainty to measurable performance gains.

•Record piglet production

•98.3% conception rates

•Mortality under 10%

•No additional labor required

•Heat stress effectively eliminated

This isn’t theory—it’s operational reality.

As the industry continues to adapt, this conversation challenges the narrative around Prop 12 and highlights what’s possible when systems, management, and execution align.