Good students at Swiss Institute of Feed Technology

Spirits are high at the Swiss Institute of Feed Technology (SFT): All 14 students of the 30th graduate course of the SFT have successfully completed their continuing education in the field of feed production technology. The road to success was not easy. According to Ernst Nef, Director of the SFT, “the road that this year’s graduates had to follow was steep and stony.” As early as in the preparatory course, the students were expected to tackle and digest a total of 22 subjects. The extensive subject matter was then tested in twelve intermediate examinations and an oral final exam in the subsequent main course.

High fliers
On June 25, the moment had at last come: After eight months of intensive training, the graduates of this year’s course received their diplomas from Ernst Nef in the Hotel Uzwil, which awards them as feed production engineers. In his address, Ernst Nef emphasized the significance of training and continuing education and applauded the students‘decision to return to school desk another time: “With this decision, you took up a future-oriented challenge, which you have successfully fulfilled today. Today, you are the high fliers. With your gained knowledge and your great commitment, you have the right tools to meet the stringent requirements for safe and economical animal feed production.” Nef says that these requirements are on the one hand related to satisfying consumers’ needs for hygienically impeccable feeds which are safe for humans and animals alike. On the other hand, he says that companies are increasingly forced – as a result of legal regulations and directives – to produce and market formulated feeds more efficiently and above all more responsibly.

Bosch Tiernahrung once again supplies the best in class
Ernst Nef personally handed each successful student his diploma, adding some amusing personal anecdote from the class to his congratulations. It has become a firm tradition at the SFT to also distinguish the best in class during the graduation ceremony. The distinction this year in the form of a commemorative plate went to Micha Weinert of the Bosch Tiernahrung company in Germany. This is thus the third time that Bosch Tiernahrung has supplied the best in class.

Focus on practice
The SFT is a non-profit association and is acknowledged by the Swiss Feed Manufacturers Association (VSF) as an institute of training and continuing education. The SFT teaches professionals from the feed manufacturing industry and related industries practice-oriented specialist knowledge of feed production processes. Successful completion of the specialist course enables students to understand all modern process technologies in a feed production plant and to apply this knowledge in a meaningful manner to practice. The international Buhler Technology Group is the partner of the SFT and has supported this institution since its foundation in 1979. In all, 472 graduates from 65 countries have to date successfully completed the specialist course in feed manufacturing technology.