By Precision farming - it's a phrase that excites some and leaves others bemoaning change.
Already well developed and widely adopted in the arable sector, it's now time for livestock businesses to look to the future, according to the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE).
A string of events held across England in the past two months have shown what's possible in the sector, what's coming down the track and how much it's all going to cost.
"With increasing pressure on agricultural production through a growing population, labour constraints and rising input costs, there has never been a more important time to improve efficiency," said Charlotte Johnston who organised the events.
"There are greater gains to be made in using this technology on livestock farms, both on large units or small family-run enterprises - anything that makes life easier while improving outputs and welfare can only be of benefit."
Beef, sheep, poultry, pigs and dairy have gone under the spotlight with speakers highlighting what precision techniques are already being employed and where research is being focused.
Efficiency and dataThere have been two watchwords throughout the series of events - efficiency and data.
"If we're going to complete globally, efficiency and cost of production is key," Ms Johnston said.
In the future data is most likely to be one of the most important management tools on farm, and being able to interpret and make effective decisions from this data will be key to a successful business.
"Regardless of technology, a good stockperson is still the most important tool on a livestock farm. This technology only allows them to make more timely and informed decisions, resulting in better productivity and profitability."
The cost of precision
While precision farming is not designed to replace staff, one of its key advantages is freeing farmers to farm.
This should save money, but what about the initial investment? Barclays' national agricultural specialist says that his bank is very much open for business.
Oliver McEntyre said that farming is a 'favoured son' of UK banking and that despite depressed farm business incomes after a weather-hit 2012, total lending to UK agriculture was still up 10 per cent at the end of September 2013, and Barclays' agriculture arm was ahead of that trend.
"The weather has not stopped us and it's a question of supporting those businesses that are viable in the long term through short-term difficulties," he said.
The bank sponsored the precision livestock farming (PLF) events. "PLF is something that should go hand in hand with welfare and profitability," he said.
"If it's good for the livestock, it improves the efficiency of the farm and therefore should have a knock-on effect on the profitability of the farm so overall we view it as a positive step forward for the industry."
Business plansHe advises any enterprise that wants to borrow to fund an investment in PLF to spend time creating a proper business plan to attach to the finance application.
"For the bigger advances and the larger investments you would expect to see a realistic business plan which should include a cashflow budget, estimated profit and loss and balance sheet that all link together. It is always good to see some sensitivity analysis too - for example if the milk price drops or increases by two pence, what happens to the cashflow?
"When you have figures on paper the important thing is to have notes to go with it detailing what goes into the business to generate the figures that we're seeing."
While detail and accuracy are important, Mr McEntyre said that a two-year business plan shouldn't need to exceed 10 pages.
"Two pages each for the cashflow, profit and loss, balance sheet and sensitivity analysis and also a couple of pages of note on where those figures have come from," he said.
After last year's difficulties, Mr McEntyre said that he had seen a steady growth in confidence from farmers who were now looking to invest and expand again.
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