Sept 17-21, 2016: ATB presented innovative technologies for dairy production in the context of BMEL's special exhibition at Bayerisches Zentral-Landwirtschaftsfest 2016 (ZLF) in Munich. 

ATB topics were of great interest to the visiting expert. A barn model with visibly 'thick air' in the interior clearly illustrated the complex flow conditions in the interior of open ventilated dairy barns. What are the potentials for improving the climate inside barns? How can the objectives of animal welfare and environmental protection be reconciled in the best possible way?

Animal welfare and optimization of the barn climate are subject of the transnational project "OptiBarn" (optimized animal-specific barn climate control with increasing temperatures and increased climatic variability) coordinated by ATB since December 2014. OptiBarn is funded under the FACCE ERA-NET Plus Initiative "Climate Smart Agriculture" of the European Commission's 7th Research Framework (FP7). 

Another attraction for farmers was the technical advancement of animal-specific milking systems, especially an innovative milking cup presented by ATB. The new milking cup has decoupled milking, holding and massage function and enables an autoadaptive control of the milking process. With its research in this field, ATB aims to contribute to the health and thus longevity of dairy cows. The project MeMa is funded by the BMEL. 

The German Fedeeral Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) participated at this year's 126th ZLF with a special exhibition "Fit for the future" which was officially opened by Min Christian Schmidt on Sept 17 (see picture below). 

Located right next to the Oktoberfest grounds, the 126th Bayerisches Zentral-Landwirtschaftsfest (Bavarian Central Agricultural Festival or ZLF) took place from September 17-25, 2016. Enjoyed by local experts and visitors alike, this “agricultural extravaganza” provides ample opportunity to discover current trends in agriculture.