Integrated Decision Support Systems (IDSS) for Dairy Farming: A Discussion on How to Improve Their Sustained Adoption

Simple Summary This paper discusses mechanisms to promote the sustained adoption of integrated decision support systems (IDSS) in dairy farming. Integrated DSS are those that receive continuous data streams from on-farm and off-farm data collection systems and integrate them to produce insightful and effective outcomes. Multiple limiting factors are preventing the use and adoption of existing IDSS and could also prevent the adoption of upcoming IDSS. In summary, these factors include value proposition, practical application, ease of use, and data governance issues related to the IDSS. Therefore, awareness and further industry-wide discussion of these components could help in the development and sustained adoption of IDSS in order to facilitate the complex process of decision making. As a commentary paper, the emphasis is on the authors' extensive experience, expertise, and practical knowledge. Dairy farm decision support systems (DSS) are tools which help dairy farmers to solve complex problems by improving the decision-making processes. In this paper, we are interested in newer generation, integrated DSS (IDSS), which additionally and concurrently: (1) receive continuous data feed from on-farm and off-farm data collection systems and (2) integrate more than one data stream to produce insightful outcomes. The scientific community and the allied dairy community have not been successful in developing, disseminating, and promoting a sustained adoption of IDSS. Thus, this paper identifies barriers to adoption as well as factors that would promote the sustained adoption of IDSS. The main barriers to adoption discussed include perceived lack of a good value proposition, complexities of practical application, and ease of use; and IDSS challenges related to data collection, data standards, data integration, and data shareability. Success in the sustainable adoption of IDSS depends on solving these problems and also addressing intrinsic issues related to the development, maintenance, and functioning of IDSS. There is a need for coordinated action by all the main stakeholders in the dairy sector to realize the potential benefits of IDSS, including all important players in the dairy industry production and distribution chain.

Automated summary

This paper discusses the mechanisms and barriers to promoting the sustained adoption of integrated decision support systems (IDSS) in dairy farming. Integrated DSS can produce insightful and effective outcomes, but face issues such as value proposition, practical application, ease of use, and data governance. Industry-wide awareness and collaboration are needed to address these problems and realize the potential benefits of IDSS for decision-making in the dairy sector.