Aug. 18, 2025
Living the digital future of dairy farming with gea
Farmer Tom* is like any modern person. He wakes up and checks his smartphone for alerts about upcoming tasks on his dairy farm before he even gets out of bed. On one screen, he scrolls through his emails, while on another he skims the latest headlines. Out in the barn, a quick tap of his finger shows him which cows need special attention that day. Between tasks, a few minutes of TikTok give him a little boost.
When he visited the European Dairy Farmers Congress in Porto this year, something new caught his eye at the GEA booth. Instead of another product demo, the GEA team showcased a SMART Farm with modern equipment presented in a digital way. It included an augmented reality (AR) app – similar to the ones children use to hunt cartoon characters. Only this time, it was serious business.
With a simple scan, Tom could now visualize how a feeding robot would pass by in front of his eyes and make its way around the corner. Upon the next visit of his GEA dealer, they had the app run directly on his farm. Now Tom could imagine how a feeding robot could take over the feeding job completely independently – all visible on a tablet, in real time.
What he recently experienced with GEA captured his full attention: the customer journey as an interactive digital experience through a suite of advanced tools to even better imagine the future of resource-efficient, productive and smart farming.
The smart farm offers information and delivers insight and inspiration, showcasing a future-ready, GEA-equipped dairy farm. It transforms complex portfolios into digestible experiences, making it easier for dealers to tell the GEA story and for farmers to see themselves stepping into a more efficient, animal-friendly future.
Getting started with the smart farm: Tom's digital journey of discovery
After his first surprising encounter with GEA's smart farm experience, Tom’s interest was piqued. Back on his farm, he sat down with a cup of coffee and his tablet, still thinking about what he had seen. The smart farm experience had been more than just a visualization of machines. The exhibit had not only entertained him but also opened his eyes to new possibilities.
Tom hadn’t just scrolled through the technical data. He had clicked on the different areas in the barn, selected milking robots to learn how the 3D camera attaches to the milking cluster in seconds and he had seen how the feeding robot did its job in providing freshly mixed feed at regular intervals to different groups of cows. The smooth flow of automation gave him ideas. What could that look like on his farm?
From vision to reality: Seeing is believing
During the next visit of Tom’s GEA dealer, the AR experience came into play again – only this time on his own farm. Tom stood in his barn, lifted the tablet, pointed it at the center aisle, and a full-size GEA digital feeding system appeared on the screen. It picked up ingredients from the bunkers, moving across the uneven farm surface and providing the feed smoothly to the cows. He could turn the system around, look inside where the feed is mixed and even see how the robot would move over the uneven ground. Tom could clearly see where the robot would pass and how much time he could save. Instead of leafing through brochures or puzzling over technical drawings, he experienced the idea in real time.
See how the GEA AR experience works on the farm.
Through augmented reality, farmers can visualize GEA equipment like the feeding robot in any space. This gives a great sense of its size and how it moves.
A leap into the virtual barn: The power of immersion
Tom wanted to dive even deeper and accepted an invitation to the next GEA event. There, he put on a pair of virtual reality (VR) glasses – and was immediately transported to another world. One moment he was standing at the farm show, and the next he was standing in the middle of a GEA rotary parlor with 80 cows circling around him while being milked. It felt as if he were there. The virtual farm was full of movement and insights.
“We showcased the VR glasses at our latest tradeshow and were enthusiastic. Even without a reference farm nearby a specific region, we can now show the innovative milking system in action and provide real insights into how the system works,” says Simon Harper, GEA Director of Sales for Farm Technologies in the U.K.
Visit the GEA Farm Interactive Presentation and see how various GEA technologies work.
Exploring from home: The virtual farm tour
Tom's interest did not fade at home; it deepened. One quiet evening, he visited the GEA Virtual Farm Tour on the GEA website. It was exactly the kind of discovery he liked: self-paced, image-rich and just a click away. He navigated through the milking, feeding, manure and hygiene sections – each full of videos, animations and practical tips.
The tour gave Tom both an overview of the farm systems and a deep dive into the specific solutions that mattered most to him. He could pause, replay or click deeper, depending on what caught his eye. It wasn't just about product lines, but how everything fits together to achieve better milk, healthier cows and smoother operations.
Learning through movement: Animations appeal to farmers
To better understand specific technologies, Tom turned to GEA's animations on the website. The teat cup animation, for example, gave him insight into how teat cups work – not only in terms of efficiency but also cow comfort and hygiene. He had always known that teat cups were important, but now he could see why.
Digital tools help outline sustainable dairy farming ideas
The variety of digital tools brought an inspiring new layer to Tom’s information search, apart from exchange with other farmers, dealers or attending farm shows. Through AR, VR, virtual tours and animations, he learned, imagined, evaluated and came one step closer to his own idea of sustainable, efficient and animal-friendly dairy farming. And everything started with one trip to a dairy event.
*Farmer Tom is an anonymized amalgamation of many customers GEA has hosted at booths and interacted with on their farms.
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