Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) and precision livestock farming (PLF) company, SoundTalks, have announced the conclusion of their distribution partnership, effective at the end of October 2025.
The two companies began their collaboration in February 2019, with BI actively promoting and distributing SoundTalks’ innovative respiratory monitoring devices for pigs. The decision to end the distribution agreement was described as mutual, with both parties emphasizing a continued commitment to supporting customers during the transition.
Despite the change, SoundTalks confirmed that its products and services will remain fully available to pig producers. The Belgium-based company is known for its AI-powered cough detection technology, which uses smart microphones, environmental sensors, and machine learning algorithms to identify early signs of respiratory disease in pigs, up to five days earlier than traditional methods.
Each SoundTalks device monitors a 10-meter radius and transmits audio data to a cloud-based platform for analysis. The system is designed to provide farmers with real-time insights via a mobile app, enabling early intervention, reducing antibiotic use, and potentially lowering mortality rates.
Lena Wendling, spokesperson for Boehringer, stated:
“In close alignment with SoundTalks, we have decided to transition to a distribution model that is further optimized for regional efficiency.”
While the animal health company will discontinue commercialization and distribution of SoundTalks products, it recognizes their value in supporting producers, she added.
“We remain committed to ensuring a smooth transition and will continue to provide services and support through October 2025.”
Dries Berckmans, CEO of SoundTalks, clarified that the shift should not be seen as a break in relations:
“I wouldn’t say that the collaboration has ended altogether or will end altogether, but the distribution will end, which is not exactly the same,” Berckmans said. “We will still collaborate with BI in many countries.”
The change marks a significant evolution in a partnership that, until 2024, operated under an exclusive distribution framework. SoundTalks had previously relied on BI’s channels to deliver its monitoring products worldwide. But the reality of pushing a single-product portfolio through a global organisation built around multi-product pipelines had become increasingly challenging.
“It was a logical next step,” Berckmans told AgTechNavigator. “BI’s model works best with a broader product offering. For us, having only one product in that structure made it difficult for them to allocate resources and manage separate channels.”
Transition phase
The transition comes with both opportunity and operational pressure. Over the next 12 to 18 months, SoundTalks plans to overhaul its distribution networks across four continents, a demanding process Berckmans described as “very challenging” but ultimately positive for growth.
“For a few years, it wasn’t clear what the future would look like, and that’s not good for any business. Now it’s decided, it’s clear, and we can move forward,” he said.
China focus
SoundTalks sees this move not as a severance but as a strategic reorientation, giving it greater flexibility to pursue opportunities in China, South America, and beyond, while maintaining key partnerships in Europe.
China is among the brightest prospects for the company. SoundTalks has already established its own legal entity in Suzhou, near Shanghai, and is close to finalising agreements with four local distributors. The company expects to resume shipments to China within two months.
Europe also remains a focus, with Spain identified as the most important market on the continent. In other European countries, SoundTalks is prioritising continuity for existing customers while exploring new sales approaches, particularly in regions with smaller farms where the hardware’s cost-benefit ratio is less favourable.
“It’s very good that there is more clarity, on both sides,” Berckmans said. “We saw the advantages of the old distribution system, but we also saw what was holding us back. Now we can focus on what’s next.”
Growth strategy
In terms of operations, the company currently employs 25 people. Berckmans said hiring more staff is not necessarily the answer in many markets. “Initially, in a lot of countries, having more people would not help us. Having distributors would,” he said.
The strategy then is to develop its own direct presence in some regions while building partnerships with distributors in others. “That’s what we’re doing now,” he added.
SoundTalks continues to manufacture its livestock-monitoring hardware in Leuven, Belgium.
“We have everything up and running in Belgium and we can easily produce 20,000 units a year here, which is sufficient for now.”
Asked whether it would establish assembly operations in China eventually, Berckmans said that was being considered, when the new version of its hardware is released. “That will probably be at the end of 2027 or the beginning of 2028.” He added that a decision on whether China would serve only the domestic market or also export to the rest of the world has not been made, noting that geopolitical factors could influence the outcome.
He was candid about the difficulties SoundTalks faced during the pandemic, which struck just as the company had been preparing to launch in 20 countries under its BI partnership:
“The timing was for us as a company absolutely the worst,” he said. “We had channels we couldn’t start at that time, and in China there was also African swine fever, which made it very difficult to travel to farms.”
Travel restrictions and biosecurity fears in major markets limited SoundTalks’ ability to deploy systems and support customers, even though interest in its products remained high.
Challenges and opportunities in scaling PLF technology
A panel at the Animal AgTech Innovation Summit in Amsterdam led by James Caffyn, partner, Lever VC, will explore what the main challenges and opportunities are in scaling PLF tools from pilot projects to widespread commercial adoption in animal agriculture.
The future of PLF
Asked whether BI’s withdrawal from exclusive distribution might be perceived as a sign that PLF is losing momentum, Berckmans pushed back:
“I think people who were already not believing will see this as proof it’s not working. But my reading is different. In a lot of big companies, you still see a lot of uptake,” he said.
“What all companies in PLF struggle with is finding the right business model and the right way to collaborate with users. The average user on a livestock farm is not a tech-savvy IT person. It’s about adapting to them and learning how best to serve each market.”
One of the biggest hurdles for PLF technology is not in relation to attracting investors but in demonstrating a return on that investment. “It’s difficult to prove ROI year after year because there are so many parameters and unknowns,” said Berckmans.
He confirmed that his company has the ongoing backing of its existing investors despite recent changes in distribution arrangements.
“I still have access to additional investment from them,” he said. He described that continued support, even after BI ended its distribution agreement, as “a very important signal” about confidence in the product and the future of PLF.
However, he stressed that securing new funding is not the company’s main hurdle. “I don’t see seeking new investment as the biggest challenge for us now. The biggest challenge is to drive commercial revenue and to show that the product can accelerate a lot,” he explained.
Berckmans also highlighted one of the key structural issues underpinning demand for PLF systems: labour shortages in farming. While some poultry and swine producers consider simply hiring more staff rather than investing in monitoring technology, the reality is that reliable labour is increasingly hard to find.
“It’s easy to say, ‘We will hire a few more people,’ but in reality, it’s extremely difficult,” he said.
Tangible value for farmers
He also noted that in many intensive farming systems, veterinarians and producers are working with very limited operational data, making evidence‑based decisions extremely challenging.
Berckmans believes the priority for companies in this space should not just be developing new tools, but ensuring users can clearly experience the value and overcome operational hurdles. “That’s where the real challenge lies,” he said.
