Artificial intelligence (AI) has arrived on the farm.
A Dutch company has developed technology to follow the movements and activities of cows. The high-tech system, powered by AI and motion sensors, is called “The Intelligent Dairy Farmer’s Assistant.”
The company, Connecterra, launched the system in the United States in December 2017 after several years of testing and operations in Europe.
A device is put around the neck of the cow to record its movements. This information is then processed by a computer that uses AI to learn about the animal’s behavior over time.
The system can tell farmers what the cow is doing in real time.
This information can help predict when cattle get sick, become less productive or are ready for mating.
Richard Watson owns the Seven Oaks Dairy in Waynesboro, Georgia. He was one of the first American farmers to use the high-tech system.
“It can pick up whether the cow is eating, whether it is ruminating, whether it is walking, whether it is drinking, whether it is laying down, standing up.”
Watson said the system is a big help because it is impossible for farmers to keep up with the activities of each cow individually.
He added that having a computer identify which of his 2,000 cattle need attention could help improve farm productivity by up to 10 percent. He estimates this difference could greatly increase his profits.
“Just a 10 percent or five percent increase, or improvement in productivity, means hundreds of thousands of dollars to us, aside from the fact that we just want happier and healthier and more welfare in our animals, anyway.”
Watson says he sees the technology being used in many large farming systems if it continues to be successful over time.
The founder and head of Connecterra is Yasir Khokhar. He says the idea for the system came while he was living on a dairy farm south of Amsterdam.
“It turns out the technology farmers use is really outdated in many respects,” Khokhar told the Associated Press. He added that most of the technology that does exist is difficult to use. He says modern agriculture greatly needs new technology like this.
The company says information about the cows can be collected and seen on a cellphone or other mobile device. A text message can also inform farmers of concerns involving the animals.
Some American farmers are using other sensor equipment to receive messages about their cows.
Moocall, a business based in Ireland, says its products can send farmers a text message when their cows are ready to give birth. A device put on the cow’s tail measures the number of contractions to predict the most likely time of birth.
The company also sells a product called Moocall HEAT. It says this device uses temperature sensors to predict the exact time a female is in heat, the time that she is ready for mating.
Mary Mackinson Faber is a fifth-generation farmer who lives near Pontiac, Illinois. She said such devices could be great tools to inform farmers about the condition of their cows before problems happen.
“That if a cow is calving it will shoot us a text, and we can – you know – come out here and check on it.”
Faber added that while the technology is a very useful tool, she believes it will always take more than machines to do what is right for the animals.
“There are certain tasks that it can help with, and it can assist us, but I don’t think it will ever replace the human.”
I’m Bryan Lynn.
Ryan Nakashima reported this story for the Associated Press. Bryan Lynn adapted it for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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QUIZ
 
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Words in This Story
 
artificial intelligence – n. the ability of a machine to reproduce human behavior
ruminate – v. to bring up and chew again what was already chewed and swallowed
welfare – n. the state of being happy and healthy
outdated – adj. no longer useful or acceptable: not modern or current
contraction – n. a strong, painful movement of muscles experienced during the birthing process
task – n. a piece of work given to someone
 (2018/04/19 07:03)

Cuba’s National Assembly chose First Vice President Miguel Mario Diaz-Canel Bermudez as the only candidate for president of Cuba. Current President, 86-year-old Raul Castro, is set to resign Thursday.
Diaz-Canel would become the first person outside the Castro family to hold the highest government office in almost 60 years. The politician turns 58 on Friday.
Raul Castro, however, will remain first secretary of the Communist Party, a position that could be more powerful than president. How much influence Diaz-Canel will have is also an open question.
A Cuban President not named Castro?
As president, Raul Castro rides in a big, shiny, imported automobile. When he arrives at official events, people rise up from their seats to cheer.
However, that behavior was not seen recently as a crowd waited for the arrival of the man who will be Cuba’s next president.
Recently, voters and provincial officials waited near a voting station in the central city of Santa Clara for Diaz-Canel.
An hour passed, then another. Suddenly, people in the crowd began to move. Down the street, a tall man wearing a loose white shirt walked with his wife and a few bodyguards toward the voting station. Shaking hands and showing ease with voters, Diaz-Canel took his place in line.
“We’re building a relationship between the government and the people here,” he said after voting for members of Cuba’s next National Assembly. He added that elected officials must work at listening to the people, investigating their problems and supporting debate.
The new Cuban president will face an economy with little or no growth, public services in disrepair and a hostile administration in the United States. There is also widespread unhappiness with parts of Cuba’s centrally planned system of government.
The Associated Press says most Cubans think of the current first vice president as an average speaker who, at first, rarely appeared in public.
Diaz-Canel was raised and educated in the city of Santa Clara. He attended a local university, and completed his studies in 1982. He then performed three years of required military service. In 1987, he joined the Young Communists’ Union. Later, he became a professor of engineering at the University of Santa Clara. During that time, he went to Nicaragua as part of a government-led program to support that country’s revolution.
Serving the public by bicycle…
People in Santa Clara remember Diaz-Canel as a long-haired young man who liked the Beatles. Many Cuban officials considered the group representative of the corrupt culture of Cuba’s capitalist enemies.
Still, the young professor was named first party secretary in Villa Clara province in 1994. There he gained recognition as a hard-working public servant. He did not move into a new government provided home when he became first secretary. People in Santa Clara told the AP they could not remember another party official making such a choice.
Diaz-Canel traveled on a bicycle during the economic crisis that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. He accepted visitors to his home and office at all times of the day and night to hear their criticisms or suggestions. He also worked with the local Committee for the Defense of the Revolution, a mix of a neighborhood watch committee and local militia.
…And on the radio
In 1996, he began appearing on a local radio program during which he would take two hours of telephone calls from listeners. People would tell him about problems, everything from bad state-financed restaurants to damaged streets.
Radio reporter Xiomara Rodriguez said, “He undertook an intense effort to communicate with the people.”
Diaz-Canel also became known for pushing back against some of the ideas of the Communist Party.
As first secretary of Villa Clara, he actively supported a cultural center called El Menjunje. It held rock and roll shows and activities for homosexual Cubans. Diaz-Canel was known for bringing his children with him to the center.
A rising Cuban politician
In 2003, Diaz-Canel was named first secretary of the eastern province of Holguin, where he faced opposition.
Some said he spent too much of his six years in office working to make the city center more beautiful. They argued the efforts kept him from answering the needs of poor and working people in the province.
In 2003, Diaz-Canel was also named to the Communist Party’s Politburo, a high-level policy making organization. Six years later, he was named minister of higher education and was praised for making educational programs more modern.
From administering to leading
He was also known as one of the first top party officials to bring a laptop computer to government meetings.
In 2012, Communist Party officials closed “Young Cuba,” a website operated by young professors at the University of Matanzas. Its bloggers supported Cuba’s socialist system, but criticized government corruption, inefficiency and resistance to change.
Diaz-Canel called a meeting between the bloggers and the university.
As first vice president, he has mostly stayed out of public view. He has made few enemies as a result. But he also is left without a deep pool of goodwill to support him in difficult times.
Jose Raul Viera Linares is a former first deputy minister of foreign affairs.
“It will no longer be enough to read from the documents written and approved by the party. He’ll need to express ideas,” he said.
The former official said Diaz-Canel can no longer be just an administrator, but must “evolve to become a leader.”
I'm Mario Ritter.
And I’m Ashley Thompson.
 
Andrea Rodriguez and Michael Weissenstein reported this story for the Associated Press. Caty Weaver adapted their report for VOA Learning English. George Grow was the editor.
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Words in This Story
 
capitalist - adj. of or relating to capitalism​, a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products (such as land, oil, factories, ships, etc.) are owned by individual people and companies rather than by the government 
uncle - ​n. the brother of your father or mother or the husband of your aunt​
view - ​n. an opinion or way of thinking about something​
pool - ​n. a small area of water, sometimes used figuratively to mean amount
 (2018/04/19 06:58)

This is What’s Trending Today…
An American pilot who made an emergency landing Tuesday after the plane lost an engine is being praised for her “nerves of steel.”  
The pilot, Tammie Jo Schults, was flying a Southwest Airlines plane from New York City to Dallas, Texas, when the engine blew and broke apart. She landed the plane safely in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Sharp pieces of the engine struck and broke one of the plane’s windows. One passenger died after being partly sucked out of the plane. That passenger, Jennifer Riordan, was sitting next to the window that broke.  
Seven other people were hurt.
Schults, who is 56 years old, took the plane into a fast descent. Passengers used oxygen masks and prepared for the force of landing.
Schults’ clear thinking during a high-pressure situation helped save many lives.
Schults is familiar with high-pressure situations. She got her first flying experience in the United States Navy, touching down fighter planes at speeds of 240 kilometers per hour.
She was one of the first female fighter pilots in the Navy.
As the Reuters news agency reports, Schults wanted to become a pilot from a young age. In a story on the fighter plane blog F-16.net, she said she tried to attend an aviation career day at her high school. But she was told they did not accept girls.
After serving in the Navy, Schuts joined Southwest Airlines as a pilot. She started working there in 1993.
On Tuesday, Schults calmly told air traffic control that part of her plane was missing, and that she would need emergency workers on the ground after she landed.
Passengers praised Schults for being calm and caring in an extremely difficult situation.
One passenger, Diana McBride Self, wrote on Facebook, “Tammie Jo Schults, the pilot came back to speak to each of us personally. This is a true American Hero...A huge thank you for her knowledge, guidance and bravery...”
Another passenger, Alfred Tumlinson, thanked Shults and her crew. He told the Associated Press, “She has nerves of steel. That lady, I applaud her. I’m going to send her a Christmas card...for getting me on the ground. She was awesome.”
And that’s What’s Trending Today….
I’m Ashley Thompson.
 
Ashley Thompson adapted this story for Learning English based on reports by the Associated Press and Reuters. Hai Do was the editor.
Write to us in the Comments Section or on our Facebook page.
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Words in This Story
 
suck  - v. to pull (something) with the force of moving water, air, etc.
descent ​- n. ​the act or process of going from a higher to a lower place or level​
aviation - n. the business or practice of flying airplanes, helicopters, etc.​
applaud ​- v. ​ to express approval of or support for (something or someone)​
awesome - adj. extremely good
 (2018/04/19 04:00)

After a gorilla was born at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., workers are permitting the new mother to connect with and care for her baby in private.(2018/04/19 03:38)

Former US First Lady Barbara Bush died April 17 at the age of 92.  A family statement says she died in the evening with her family beside her.  These photos are a few of the highlights of her life.(2018/04/19 01:40)