Weekly feed business update

Kemin Industries creates division in Canada

Kemin Industries announced the creation of a Canadian division and will hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony on January 18, 2018, at its new location in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, Canada. Kemin has acquired the assets of its long-time distributor Agri-Marketing Corp. Agri-Marketing was founded in 1973 in Mont-Saint-Hilaire and has provided exclusive distribution and manufacturing services for Kemin products in Canada. The new Kemin location will focus on serving the animal nutrition and health market, as well as the pet food and rendering industries. Kemin will look to grow its business through offering an expanded portfolio.

6th edition of the International Fresenius Feed Conference

The upcoming (6^th) international Feed Conference to be staged by Akademie Fresenius is entirely focused on how animal nutrition can contribute to reducing antimicrobial resistance by concentrating on preventing animals from becoming ill and requiring antibiotic treatment. For their two-day conference on 20 and 21 March 2018, Akademie Fresenius has won the support of a panel of top-ranking representatives from the research sector, the industry, the European Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Representatives from Brussels will be providing the participants with an overview of the plans and efforts of the European Commission to contain antimicrobial resistance and will also be outlining feed additive measures and new approaches to new groups. In addition, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will be reporting on new developments in the risk assessment of feed additives and the revision of the guidance documents. This will be followed by a team of experts who will be talking about the opportunities and risks of integrating the guidance documents in Belgium, Denmark and Spain. For the full programme and registration, please visit the conference website.

Nutreco: finalist for an Edie Sustainability Leaders Award

After a record breaking number of entries, Nutreco has been selected as one of ten finalist in the Edie Sustainability Leaders Awards for their 2016 Sustainability Report. This selection was based on four key selection criteria; content, clarity and communication, commitment and creativity. Other companies nominated for the award include Heineken, PwC and Virgin Media. The winner of the award will be announced at a ceremony being held in London on January 24th, 2018. Edie has been the market-leading information resource driving sustainability in business for nearly 20 years. More information about the Edie, the awards and the list of finalists can be found on the Edie website.

De Heus partners with Porphyrio

Dutch feed company De Heus Animal Nutrition has signed a contract with Porphyrio. The agreement aims at further intensifying their collaboration using Porphyrio’s cloud based Smart Farm Assistant, a Poultry Business Intelligence tool for the broiler meat production chain. ”Thanks to the Smart Farm Assistant, our nutritionists will be able to have a continuous evaluation of field performances of the actual poultry feeding strategies and of the feed quality. Besides, our team of customer services will be able to fully utilise their expertise efficiently in advising our clients”, explained Ad Loos (General Manager, De Heus Voeders).

Cargill to invest in piglet feed production

Cargill is bolstering its young animal nutrition capability by investing more than 15 million US dollars in a piglet feed production line at its existing premix and nutrition facility in Tianjin, China. The nearly 7,000-square-meter young animal nutrition facility features cutting-edge technology and systems of operational excellence to produce their piglet feed brand Neopigg™. The new production line uses an advanced, traceable barcode management system during production, which ensures the sustainability and quality of the products delivered to customers, from raw material to finished product. The piglet feed production line is expected to create 20 new jobs at the Tianjin facility.

Renewed broiler facility for Schothorst Feed Research

Renewed experimental facilities for broilers were put into operation on 19 December at Schothorst Feed Research in The Netherlands. The facility has 192 floor pens divided over two rooms. Every pen can house 20 broilers. The facility is equipped with a new lighting system that simulates the natural transition from dark to light. Besides the standard measurements like body weight (gain) and feed intake, it is also possible to measure water intake per pen. The poultry team is enthusiastic about the possibilities in the new facilities. “We are able to study complex interactions between feed ingredients and we can study the effects on water intake. This is something that is requested regularly by clients”, according to Ellen van Eerden PhD, senior researcher poultry nutrition. Because of the worldwide increase in consumption of poultry meat, it is expected that the demand for nutritional research related to poultry will increase. The research themes and questions, that are dealt with by Schothorst Feed Research, are of worldwide relevance. Both in- and outside of Europe is a lot of attention for reduction of antibiotics, reduction of mineral excretion, alternative protein sources and the use of by-products. “Therefore, the research performed at Schothorst Feed Research has a global impact”, according to Loek de Lange MSc, senior consultant poultry nutrition.

Huvepharma acquires AgriLabs

Huvepharma has acquired AgriLabs. This acauiatiosn will expand the US presence of the global animal health and nutrition company Huvepharma and speed commercialization of their biologic solutions for animal health. The acquisition includes AgriLabs product lines including Colostrx® CS and Colostrx® CR; I-Site® XP, MpB Guard® and Pulmo-Guard® PH-M vaccines; the VetGunTM insecticide delivery system; and AgriLabs’ custom vaccines business. In addition, the acquisition also includes Antelope Valley Bios, a contract manufacturing business, and the VaxLiant® portfolio of novel adjuvants based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Both companies will continue operations under their current identities as integration opportunities are identified in 2018.

Announcement: Aquafeed extrusion and drying course

The annual three-day short course on “Aquafeed Extrusion Technology” will be held again at FôrTek (Centre for Feed Technology) in Norway from 23 to 25 April 2018. A programme on Food & Feed Drying Technology is also being presenting immediately following, on 26 and 27 April. The courses are organised and presented by Australians Dennis Forte and Gordon Young. The 2 have been presenting extrusion and related training programs in Australia and the surrounding region, including Thailand, for 20 years. Since 2015, courses on Aquafeed Extrusion, and later Petfood Extrusion and Drying Technology, have been offered in Europe (Norway). A major strength of the program is the practical experience of the presenters. Details of courses are available on the website.

Neovia acquires Epicore

Neovia announced the acquisition of 100% interest in Epicore, a North American company specialised in the manufacture of larval feed and probiotics on the global aquaculture market and, more specifically, shrimp. The company has storage space and a key technical centre within its Ecuadorian subsidiary which facilitates the distribution of its products and services in the largest shrimp producing country in the Americas and the fourth largest producer in the world with 400,000 tonnes of shrimp feed produced per year. Epicore has a leading expertise in manufacturing liquid feed for shrimp larvae and recognised global expertise in the production of probiotics. Hubert de Roquefeuil, CEO of Neovia added: “With the acquisition of Epicore, Neovia’s aquaculture business will achieve its critical size to accelerate its international development, especially in Asia where we can rely on the Group’s presence and our recognised aquaculture expertise in Latin America (Ecuador, Brazil, Mexico) and Vietnam. Epicore has a lot to offer to Neovia and I am pleased to welcome its teams of experts in probiotics to our company which will allow us to complement our portfolio of products and services and offer high-performance and sustainable solutions to farmers all over the world.”

Nutriad launches MycoGut Academy

Feed additives producer Nutriad, welcomed customers and distribution partners in Belgium for the inaugural sessions of the first session of MycoGut Academy. In close cooperation with the University of Ghent an interactive poultry focused programme was designed, that included practical and class rooms sessions. The practical session at the veterinary faculty of the University of Ghent was one of the highlights of MycoGut. It allowed attendees to learn more on identifying necrotic enteritis and different types of mycotoxins, but also to see the incremental effect of mycotoxicosis on bacterial challenges.

BASF to update customers on Citral plant repair work

BASF launched a website to inform its customers, industry stakeholders and the interested public about the progress of the repair work at its Citral production plant in Ludwigshafen. Following a fire at the plant on October 31, 2017, BASF was forced to declare Force Majeure on all its Citral and Isoprenol-based aroma ingredients and on Vitamin A and E, and several Carotenoid products. The website also provides up-to-date estimations of product availability after the start-up of the plant.

Diamond V to launch video series

Animal nutrition company Diamond V launched “Diamond V at 75: Immune Strength for Life”, a monthly video series that celebrates the company’s history in the animal and feed industries and highlights its vision for the future. The video series will include on-site interviews with Diamond V experts at major industry events throughout 2018. To view the videos, visit the website.