Last week (8 – 10 January) we attended the Oxford Real Farming Conference. The annual event attracts farmers, growers, activists, policymakers and researchers from around the world who are interested in transforming our food system.

At this year’s conference we hosted a panel discussion – Sentient Beings: What Science and AI Reveal About Farmed Animals – which explored the pros and cons of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies in farming.

A powerful tool?

Chaired by our head of UK, Anthony Field, the panel included Françoise Wemelsfelder, Professor of Animal Behaviour at Scotland’s Rural College, Natasha Boyland, Research Officer at the London School of Economics, Sean Wensley an animal welfare researcher and former President of the British Veterinary Association, and Clare Hill, a regenerative farmer at Planton Hill Farm.
During the session, Clare Hill explained she uses AI primary as a business tool but warned that it must not be used to prop up factory farms. Clare’s regenerative farming model integrates animal welfare, soil health, and human wellbeing - a holistic approach AI cannot replace:

As a regenerative farmer I don’t see AI adding much to my system, except when I use it for administration, which gives me more time on the farm. At the moment I feel my animals’ needs are met through observation, empathy and relationship. But I am curious what else it may be able to do.

I do worry about AI being used as a sticking plaster, in intensive systems. It is not a regenerative solution. For me the real future is one where animals are integrated into agroecological systems, in balance with the environment, living as sentient beings and being allowed to thrive.

Sean Wensley agreed, stating:

…for all that AI and similar technological tools may help us detect disease on farms early…preventing future suffering that arises if these things aren't detected early, there is the risk that they're purely or primarily used to increase productivity, increase efficiency…and an increase in the sense of animals being machines.

Françoise Wemelsfelder commented:

AI is becoming a powerful tool to help us uncover how animals communicate together in layers and layers of complex, subtle information. It’s helping us - at scale - to uncover those layers.

She also emphasised the importance of giving animals choice and control in their environments.

Natasha Boyland added:

AI can offer a lot of exciting opportunities for learning more about animals, more about behaviour, welfare needs, and make research easier, so we can collect more data and get computers to analyse it. But it also brings challenges and risks, there are potential ways that information could be biased.

Not a silver bullet

Our speakers agreed AI offers opportunities in further understanding farmed animal behaviour and improve disease detection. And can also aid research and lighten administrative tasks, so farmers can spend more time with their animals – but it is not a silver bullet.

Technology should complement, not replace, human observation and care. The panellists warned, if deployed without ethical safeguards, AI could reinforce intensive farming systems and further disconnect humans from animals. The challenge is to ensure AI becomes a tool for compassion, not a driver of exploitation

As Clare concluded:

The future lies in agroecological systems where animals thrive in balance with nature. AI can support that vision, but it cannot replace the human empathy and connection that transformation demands.

The future of food

Over 150 dynamic talks, workshops and performances took place at the conference, covering topics from building climate resilient futures, rethinking farming systems, nature friendly land use and funding smaller farms.

Dr Lyla June, an Indigenous musician scholar, spoke in several sessions. She stressed that modern food systems must integrate Indigenous knowledge, aligning agriculture with natural processes. And called for restorative action, including land rights, ecological healing, and the return of stewardship, to enable Indigenous communities to continue these regenerative traditions.

Professor Jennifer Clapp, a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food),[CM1] also spoke at the conference. She covered topics including use of digital technologies in farming, global action needed on food and climate justice following COP30 and tackling the use of plastics in our food system.

Both these extraordinary speakers have chapters in our book – Regenerative Farming & Sustainable Diets – which makes the case for an urgent move away from industrial agriculture towards regenerative farming and the promotion of plant-based diets.

Co-edited by our Ambassador Emeritus Joyce D’Silva and Special Advisor Carol McKenna and published in 2024, it is available as an Open Access e-book.

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