Dairy Australia: Rapid Identification of on-farm bacterial contamination source

Opportunity for

• Technology enabled solutions that help dairy farmers rapidly narrow down the root cause of elevated bacterial counts in milk (either BactoScan™ or thermoduric counts) on farm. Issues in cleaning, hygiene, or equipment performance can be difficult and time consuming to diagnose.
• We invite engagement from companies, solution providers and researchers with tools that can identify or differentiate bacterial types and link them to likely contamination sources.

Opportunity description

Industry challenge

In Australia, thousands of dairy farms are routinely monitored for BactoScan™ and thermoduric counts as part of milk quality assurance programs.

Elevated counts are a common and recurring issue across the industry, particularly during seasonal changes, system upgrades, or staff turnover. When BactoScan™ (or total bacterial counts) or thermoduric are elevated, it indicates a breakdown in on farm hygiene, cleaning, or equipment performance.

However, pinpointing the exact cause is often difficult, slow, and largely based on trial and error. Multiple potential sources can be responsible such as incomplete cleaning, biofilms in equipment, hot water failures, worn liners, poor milk cooling, or environmental contamination, yet current monitoring typically provides only a high-level count, not the identity or origin of the bacteria.

Current opportunity

There is a clear opportunity to enable faster, more precise resolution of milk quality issues by introducing practical, on-farm tools that can detect, differentiate, or indicate specific bacterial types and link them to likely sources within farm systems. Such solutions would move farmers and advisors away from repeated laboratory testing, guesswork, and broad, often costly system changes, toward targeted, evidence-based corrective action. 

Technologies that provide timely insight into which bacteria are present and where they are likely coming from have the potential to significantly reduce investigation time, minimise production disruption, and prevent recurrence of high BactoScan™ or thermoduric results. 

By improving diagnostic clarity at the point of need, this opportunity supports better cleaning decisions, faster recovery of milk quality, and stronger alignment between farm practice, advisory support, and processor requirements. We are open to pursuing commercially aligned partnerships (where applicable) and contributing to trial/pilot costs to accelerate practical access and on-farm adoption.

Enquire now on growAG to submit your interest.

Opportunity background

Dairy Australia is the national Research and Development Corporation (RDC) for Australia’s dairy industry, funded primarily by the Dairy Services Levy and government co-investment. Its role is to invest in R&D, extension and industry capability to improve farm productivity, sustainability and competitiveness. More information on Dairy Australia and its research priorities can be found here. 

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