A biosecurity and animal disease prevention company based at Guelph, Ontario has announced it’s merging with a U.S.-based company that has developed a facial recognition entry system for barns.
Farm Health Guardian Ltd. and NoveTechnologies, LLC (NoveTech) say they have combined forces as of June 5, 2023, and will operate under the Farm Health Guardian name.
The merger will see the launch of a biosecurity management product that utilizes facial recognition, known as Protocol, explains Rob Hannam, Farm Health Guardian CEO.
“Together our companies are stronger, and the merger means we are able to offer a more complete product line of digital biosecurity technologies to help farmers and food companies improve biosecurity and protect animal health,” says Hannam, in a news release.
The new “Protocol” facial recognition system can help farm managers lower the risk of diseases entering barns by proactively controlling the people entry points, explains Kent Andersen, U.S. Swine Specialist with Farm Health Guardian.
The combined company will have offices in Guelph, Ont. and Omaha, Neb.
Farm Health Guardian, which was launched in October 2020, offers three other software products aimed at reducing risk and costs of animal diseases. Farm Health FastMaps is an animal disease mapping tool for organizations and governments to quickly identify and communicate control zones. Farm Health Protect is a biosecurity management system that records the movement of trucks and people on and off farm properties for rapid contact tracing in the event of a disease outbreak, and Farm Health Monitor is an animal health reporting system that improves communication between producers, vets and technical staff to enable early disease detection.
Related: Farm Health Guardian system tracks and minimizes disease spread for pork and poultry
