---
title: "[EN] 20 innovations that changed poultry farming forever and were seen for the first time at VIV Europe."
description: "Federico CastellóThere is a question that can be asked of any technical director, production manager or purchasing officer in the poultry industry: where did you first see the technology that you..."
url: https://nexusavicultura.com/20-innovations-that-changed-poultry-farming-forever-viv-europe-en/
date: 2025-04-27
modified: 2026-05-04
author: "Federico Castello"
image: https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-1988-entrada-principal-al-recinto-ferial.jpg
categories: ["Destacados", "EVENTOS", "NOTICIAS DE EMPRESAS"]
tags: ["#PAS-REFORM", "#VIV", "avicultura en EUROPA", "avicultura en Países Bajos", "english"]
type: post
lang: es
---

# [EN] 20 innovations that changed poultry farming forever and were seen for the first time at VIV Europe.

(https://www.linkedin.com/in/federicocastello/)

There is a question that can be asked of any technical director, production manager or purchasing officer in the poultry industry: **where did you first see the technology that you now consider essential in your company?** The answer, with surprising frequency, includes a trade fair in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

It is no coincidence. Since 1974, (https://register.visitcloud.com/survey/2hszs6azm87v7?utm_source=nexusavicultura) has functioned as the largest laboratory of commercially applied innovation in world poultry farming. What appears there in beta version or as a first preview ends up on farms, in hatcheries and in poultry slaughterhouses across half the world in the years that follow. Let us review twenty of those technologies that, edition after edition, changed the rules of the game.

**1. The computerised egg grader (1982-1986)**

In the 1980s, one of the novelties that most surprised at VIV was an egg grader that incorporated a «mini-computer» to control the entire process. It looked like science fiction. In 1986, Moba was already presenting its 6,000 grader with an integral electronic control system. In 1994, the Omnia 330, capable of processing 150,000 eggs per hour, won the gold innovation medal. **The journey from manual grading to today’s systems** that identify cracks by ultrasound, control weight with precision of less than a gram and label every egg with full traceability passed entirely through the halls of Utrecht.

**2. Multi-tier laying batteries and pre-drying of droppings (1986-1990)**

In 1986, the trend in Utrecht was the increase in the number of tiers in laying-hen batteries to compensate for the greater surface area per hen required by European Union legislation. In 1990, the next step was to exhibit the **first systems for drying droppings using** conveyor belts with an air current, reducing humidity to 40-50% before their weekly extraction. Hygiene, manure management, animal welfare: everything converged in that design. Today, no large industrial-scale laying installation in Europe does without this system.

**3. Nipple drinkers for broilers (1988)**

At VIV 1988, we observed for the first time the growing trend towards cup and nipple drinkers replacing, in litter-floor houses, the classic suspended round drinkers. The advantage was clear: less water waste, lower litter humidity, fewer respiratory problems. Adoption was gradual but irreversible. **Today the nipple drinker is standard** in practically all industrial broiler poultry farming worldwide.

![](https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-1988-visitantes-prensa-internacional-1-1024x727.jpg)*Poultry and livestock press from all over the world visiting VIV EUROPE 1988; in the centre of the photo, the President of the WPSA, Dr. Yukio Yamada.*

**4. The first farm management computers (1990)**

VIV’90 was the first edition in which **computers visibly invaded every field of poultry farming**: parameters control in incubators, monitoring of chicken weights and feed conversions, environmental management of poultry houses with electronic regulation of temperature, humidity and ventilation. What was then a novelty for attendees would become, over the following two decades, the basis of precision poultry farming.

**5. Mechanised chicken catching (1988-1994)**

At VIV 1988, a Dutch chicken loader was exhibited for the first time, picking the birds off the floor by direct suction and introducing them into transport cages on pallets. By 1994, several companies were already competing with mechanised chicken-catching systems based on rubber fingers or belts, reducing animal stress and the **need for labour** in one of the most labour-intensive operations of the production process. The robotisation of broiler catching, which today reaches processing speeds unimaginable in the 1980s, had its first chapter in Utrecht.

!(https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-1988-recogedora-automatica-de-pollos.jpg)*One of the constants throughout the successive editions of this fair has been the presentation of new automation for the poultry sector.

At the 1988 edition of VIV EUROPE, an automatic suction system for catching chickens was presented.*

**6. Remote control of incubators (1994)**

At VIV’94, Petersime presented the Vision and Visionlink systems, which enabled computerised remote control of incubators: remote monitoring, parameter logging and automatic alarms. It was the beginning of what we today call connectivity in the hatchery. At that same edition, the incubation firm PAS Reform was already explaining its objectives of maximum hygiene, energy savings and minimum labour in the incubation process. A programme that, decades later, continues to be the industry’s guiding light.

![](https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-1989-Nov-triciclo-para-revisar-pisos-superiores-jaulas-baterias-1.jpg)*In addition to the more «technological» or advanced innovations, there are very simple, low-cost and universal innovations that can be seen at every edition of VIV. As an example of the «trends» of the 80s in laying equipment, see this tricycle for attending to the upper tiers of the batteries that could be seen at the 1988 edition of VIV Europe.*

**7. In ovo vaccination (2001)**

VIV 2001 witnessed the presentation of two competing machines for vaccinating the embryo through the egg during incubation: the Inovoject by Embrex and the North American Intelliject. In ovo vaccination —which applies the vaccine directly to the embryo without handling the newborn chick— is today a standard practice in broiler integrations of any medium-large scale. Its first appearance at a European trade fair was in Utrecht.

![](https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-2001-maquina-vacunacion-in-ovo.jpg)*Machine for in ovo chick vaccination presented at VIV EUROPE 2001*

**8. Aviaries for laying hens (2001-2010)**

When at VIV 2001 the first alternative housing systems for laying hens based on the «aviary» concept began to appear, most Spanish operators looked at them as a curiosity typical of Nordic countries. European animal welfare regulations forced this view to be reconsidered. At VIV 2010, with the ban on conventional batteries two years away, the halls with aviaries were the busiest sector of the fair. Vencomatic, Big Dutchman, Farmer Automatic: all of them competed there with their solutions. **What Utrecht announced in 2001 ended up being mandatory in Europe in 2012.**

![
Vencomatic’s aviary, one of the winners of the VIV EUROPE 2001 awards.](https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-2001-aviario-vencomatic.jpg)*
Vencomatic’s aviary, one of the winners of the VIV EUROPE 2001 awards.*

**9. Single-stage incubators and circadian control (2010)**

VIV 2010 marked the start of the era of circadian incubation, with PAS Reform presenting for the first time at the fair its concept of «biorhythmic incubation» to improve not only machine results, but also the behaviour and vitality of the chick during subsequent rearing. Hatchtech simultaneously exhibited its single-stage incubators with a water micronisation system, CO₂ control and climate-controlled chick transport. The competition between these technical models in the halls of Utrecht has shaped the technological direction of hatcheries around the world over the past decade and a half.

**10. The chick born on the farm (2014-2018)**

One of the most exciting debates of recent years in poultry farming is the so-called «on-farm hatching»: moving the embryonated eggs to the rearing house on day 18 of incubation, so that the chicks hatch directly on the litter, immediately access feed and water and eliminate the stress of post-hatch transport. At VIV 2014, Vencomatic presented the X-Treck system as a competing concept to HatchTech. In 2014 we were also able to see the practical application of the concept of feeding the chick at minute 1 after hatching, with HatchTech’s hatching trays incorporating feed and water. In 2018, the Belgian company NestBorn was exhibiting its own system of «sowing» eggs onto the litter with an automated vehicle after 18 days of incubation. Today, several commercial European installations operate on this principle. Utrecht was the stage for its world debut.

!(https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-2014-sistema-alimentacion-en-propia-nacedora-by-HatchTech-BN-1024x729.jpg)*In 2014 we were also able to see the practical application of the concept of feeding the chick at minute 1 after hatching with HatchTech’s hatching trays that incorporated feed and water.*

**11. LED lighting for poultry farms (2014)**

Before LED became the universal standard, VIV 2014 was the first major poultry trade fair to bring together a significant number of companies competing exclusively with LED lighting systems for poultry houses, with arguments of energy savings, spectral regulation and production control. Agrilamp, Agrilight, Hato: the names were already known in our sector, but Utrecht was the showcase that legitimised them before the world.

**12. Autonomous robots on farms (2018)**

At VIV 2018, the first autonomous robots for poultry farming with real productive functions were exhibited, not as a laboratory concept but as products on sale: Tibot’s «Spoutnic» robot to reduce floor egg laying among breeders, or Faromatics’ «Chicken Boy» for automatic broiler monitoring in the poultry house. The robotisation of the poultry farm, which today is advancing at cruising speed, had its first massive public appearance at Utrecht 2018.

**13. Computerised environmental control with video camera (2010)**

At VIV 2010, Fancom presented the eYeNamic system: a video camera connected to management software (FarmManager FOR) that made it possible to know remotely, in real time, what is happening in broiler houses. It was the embryo of continuous monitoring based on artificial vision that today combines cameras, animal-behaviour algorithms and cloud data platforms.

**14. Automatic chick sexing by the wing (2006)**

At VIV 2006, the French company Breuil presented the first automatic machine on the market for chick sexing by the wing, capable of determining sex by means of software that measured the length and arrangement of the feathers with an error of 3-5%. Automatic chick sexing —today the subject of a technological race that includes in ovo methods based on spectroscopy and analysis of the embryo’s voice— had its first documented commercial appearance on that Utrecht stand.

![](https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-2006-sexado-por-el-ala-Breuil.jpg)*Breuil, the French manufacturer of automation equipment for hatcheries, took advantage of VIV Europe 2006 to present the first automatic wing-sexing machine. The company stated that its error rate was between 3% and 5%.*

**15. Cloud farm management programmes (2018)**

In 2018, several stands that were difficult to classify drew attention in Utrecht: Farmcloud, FarmResult, PoultryPlan, Ovo Sision with Qwinsoft. They all offered the same thing with different nuances: analysis of productive, environmental and economic variables stored in the cloud, accessible from a mobile or tablet by the producer, the veterinarian or the integrator, at any time and from any device. Data-driven poultry farming —which is today discussed in every forum of the sector— did not begin at a scientific congress. It began at a trade fair in Utrecht.

**16. Floor feeders for birds with sex separation (1994-2010)**

The adaptation of feeding systems for heavy breeders with physical separation of males and females —one of the workhorses of management on breeder farms— found its first commercial-scale solutions in Utrecht. The successive advances in hoppers, distribution chains, height-adjustable systems and sex-specific intake control that have transformed breeder management over the last thirty years invariably passed through the VIV halls before reaching the farms.

**17. Modified-atmosphere stunning in slaughterhouses (2001-2018)**

The CAS (Controlled Atmosphere Stunning) system from Stork PMT for stunning chickens by means of an atmosphere with nitrogen and CO₂ was exhibited in Utrecht at successive editions as the animal-welfare standard for poultry slaughter. Gas stunning is today the preferred method of the main European integrations and the one required by welfare regulations in the most modern slaughterhouses on the continent.

![](https://nexusavicultura.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/VIV-Europe-2001-empresas-galardonadas-1024x663.jpg)*Representatives of the companies awarded for the novelty or interest of the products exhibited at VIV EUROPE in November 2001.*

**18. On-farm feed manufacturing (1988)**

At the early editions of VIV, programmable mini feed mills were already on display, capable of suctioning, mixing and distributing components in exact proportions in an automated way. The concept of on-farm feed manufacturing —which in Spain found its first commercial traction in those years— had its main showcase in Utrecht.

**19. Evaporative cooling systems for poultry houses (1994-2018)**

Munters, the Swedish company, has been a constant presence in the halls of VIV Europe for decades. Its evaporative cooling pads for cross-ventilated or tunnel-ventilated houses, which are today basic infrastructure on any poultry farm located in a hot climate, found in Utrecht their global dissemination platform.

**20. Biosensors and data platforms for continuous monitoring (2018-2026)**

The latest frontier visible at Utrecht 2018 —and which in 2026 will arrive in mature format— is the integration of biosensors, artificial-vision cameras, data-intelligence platforms and prediction algorithms for the continuous management of the farm. What in 2018 were attractive prototypes on the stands of young companies is, in 2026, technology in commercial deployment. And what we will see in Utrecht in 2026 for the first time in the Jaarbeurs halls, no one can yet know. But one thing is certain: if anything is going to change poultry farming in the coming years, it will probably already be there, in Utrecht, from 2 to 4 June.

There is no reason to miss it.

**(https://www.linkedin.com/in/federicocastello/)**
Founder of NeXusAvicultura.com

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