AP quotes Kersbergen in report on robot use on small dairy farms
The Associated Press spoke with Richard Kersbergen, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension educator on sustainable dairy and forage systems, for an article about how robots are being used at some small- and medium-sized dairy farms across the country. The machines provide reliable and more efficient labor and help the businesses remain viable, according to the article. Farmers also say the robotic milkers that have been used for more than a decade make for happier, more productive cows, the article states. Robots might make sense for many small- and medium-sized farms in the Northeast because of the challenge of finding reliable workers and outdated infrastructure that makes the operations inefficient, Kersbergen said. “There’s a lot of farmers that are interested but are concerned about the financial costs with it,” said Kersbergen, who recently returned from studying farms in the Netherlands, where he said more than half used robotic milkers because of high labor costs. ABC News and Poughkeepsie Journal carried the AP report.