07/08/2013: Cargill's new global technology director; GM food debate; nutrition for niche market swine

Cargill has announced the appointment of Dr Brooke Humphrey as global technology director for pork at its innovation campus in Elk River, Minnesota, USA. Currently Humphrey is the monogastric research and development director at the campus.

“Brooke will excel in this new role,” said Dr. Jason Shelton, global technology application director. “The experience he brings from working with a mulititude of businesses and species will help Cargill better serve our animal nutrition customers and partners.”
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In a video debate published online by British national newspaper the Guardian, Natalie Bennett, Green party leader and Johnjoe McFadden, professor of molecular genetics at the University of Surrey, debate the future of GM food production.

Watch the debate here.

A new study by Iowa State University and the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) may allow niche market swine producers to match the nutrients in feed to the needs of their pigs.

In the past few years, the market has seen a consumer demand despite being a new development in agriculture. “In these value-added markets, the primary cost of producing a pig is the same as in the regular, commodity market; it’s the cost of the feed. Feed costs have gone up so much that it compromises about 65 percent of the cost of the production of any animal,” said John Mabry, animal science professor at Iowa State University.

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Pig farm, Iowa, 1994 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

19/06/2013: Harper Adams University wins prize for pie; Nutraferma launches peptide protein; EFFPA sweets to feed

Harper Adams University team scoops the gold prize at the inaugural Ecotrophelia UK student innovation awards with their Hearty Meal.
 

The More than Meat Pies team from Harper Adams University has been awarded gold prize at the Ecotrophelia UK 2013 for their product, Hearty Meal, a ready meal offal pie. Along with a £2,000 cash prize, the team will receive a one-year IFST membership and a number of Elsevier food science publications.

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Nutraferma has launched UltraPro+, a high- quality functional protein ingredient for piglet diets. Rich in balanced peptides from animal proteins and fermented soy.

In two separate university trials, piglets fed diets containing UltraPro+ had significantly improved average daily gain and feed efficiency compared to piglets fed the other test ingredients. 

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The European Former Foodstuff Processors Association (EFFPA) has been set up with the aim of promoting the use of food left over from the manufacturing process to make feed for animals.

Many former foodstuffs, including biscuits, crisps and confectionery can be converted into high quality ingredients for use in animal feed, avoiding waste from food that is not destined for human consumption.

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Sow with piglet 1 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

24/05/2013: China to become major grain importer; Farmers plant rice near Fukushima site; New feed handling brochure

China, the world's largest food consumer, is expected to become a major grain importer by 2015, head of a global grain trader said in a recent industry forum.  

Sunny Verghese, CEO of Olam International Ltd, a Singapore-based grain trader, said because of diminishing resources of land and water, China is on the way to become a major importer of corm, wheat and rice by 2015.

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Farmers have resumed planting rice for market only 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station.

It was the first time since the March 2011 earthquake-tsunami-nuclear disaster that farmers have gone inside the former 20-kilometre "no-go" zone around the doomed plant to sow rice intended for sale.

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Suffolk-based pig equipment specialists, Quality Equipment, has produced a new brochure on feed handling systems. It provides pig farmers with a wealth of information on all types of kit needed to transport feed around the farm and to the pigs.

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Drawing of a Poland China (breed) pig (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

23/05/2013: Grain baiting to cull feral pigs; IAOM raises $50,000 from auction; exports of rye and triticale

Grain growers in Australia are encouraged to take part in the Central Highlands Regional Council's free feral animal 1080 baiting campaign.

Michelle Janes, Biosecurity Queensland senior crop protection officer said summer crop growers would benefit from using grain bait as a control method.

"Feral pigs can travel over large distances and cause significant damage to crops at grainfill," Janes warned.

"Recent seasons have seen feral pig populations on the rise and valuable summer crops will soon start attracting feral pig activity."

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The International Milling Education Foundation (IMEF) raised $50,000 from silent and centerpiece auctions during the International Association of Operative Millers (IAOM) Conference & Expo in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada.

“We are impressed by the great results, especially considering we had decided not to hold a live auction this year,” said Joel Hoffa, IMEF president. 

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On July 1, 2013, new roughage tolerances for exports of Canadian triticale take effect in eastern Canada. On August 1, 2013, new roughage tolerances for exports of Canadian rye and triticale take effect in western Canada. 

Currently, commercial cleanliness requirements in Rye, Canada Western (CW) and Triticale, Canada (CAN) do not include tolerances for roughage.

At their April meetings, the Eastern and Western standards committees recommended the following tolerance:

Triticale, Canada (CAN) - 0.1% Total small seeds, attrition and roughage

Rye, Canada Western (CW) - 0.1% Total small seeds, attrition and roughage

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The Distribution of the Ferel Pig in Australia According to the Department of Conservation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

17/05/2013: Syrian grain imports pick up despite war; marijuana fed pigs; new feed mill planned for Lhokseumawe

Syria has managed to increase its grain imports in recent months after a period when it was less active on international markets, traders say, a development that suggests president Bashar al-Assad has found a way to feed his people despite war.

Traders say Syria appeared to have had difficulty securing international supplies of grain last year, but the trouble has abated this year as middle men have been able to set up deals, reports Reuters.

Foodstuffs are not covered by international sanctions, but banking sanctions and war had created a climate that had made it difficult for some trading houses to do business with Damascus.

Now, with foreign brokers setting up deals, Damascus is able to buy wheat while paying a small premium of about 3 percent to 5 percent of the global price.

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William von Schneidau’s BB Ranch butcher shop, located in Seattle’s pike place market, is selling meat from marijuana-fed pigs. 

Von Schneidau has teamed with nearby Bucking Boar Farms for the pigs, who are given marijuana as part of their regular diet. The stems and leaves from marijuana plants add fiber to the pigs’ diets. 

Not all mammals can process THC, but most have cannabinoid receptors. Cannabinoids are the other chemicals in marijuana, often linked to the medicinal properties, which help with pain and discomfort. Pigs have these receptors, and the four that ate this enhanced feed gained more weight and likely felt way more mellow than their non-marijuana feeding friends.

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Pemko Lhokseumawe will build a poultry feed mill in 2014 with an investment of more than Rp7 billion (USD$720,000).

The feed mill will be built in the village of Jeulikat, located near Lhokseumawe, in the north of Sumatra, Indonesia.

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Location of city of Lhokseumawe in Aceh Province, Indonesia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

05/04/13: Food safety in South East Asia; damaged feed and digestibility; CME grain trading hours cut

Food safety and traceability are becoming as important as quality and price in South East Asia, according to one of the region's biggest flour milling organisations. In an interview with ABC Rural, Alex Lee Kim Teck, CEO, Interflour, Malaysia describes the growing focus on a transparent supply chain.

Listen to the interview...

Storing and protecting feed properly is essential for any successful farm. If not stored properly, the quality can deteriorate rapidly. This article looks at the effects of heat damaged sunflower meal and cotton seed meal on amino acid digestibility in pigs.

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CME, the owner of world's largest grain trading market, will cut its grain trading hours next week in response to customer demands. From next week, electronic trading will be reduced from 21 to 17 hours a day from 5 p.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday to Friday on the Chicago Board of Trade. Buyers had complained that long trading hours reduced liquidity and weakened enthusiasm.

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Grain (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Anpario increases its profits

Formerly Kiotech International, Anpario Plc has increasedits profits for 2011. This is the international supplier of natural high-performance feed additives that enhance growth, health and sustainability in agriculture and aquaculture.

Underlying profit, before tax, increased to UK£2.1 million from UK£1.9 million in 2010 from revenues of UK£19.2 million (2010: UK£21.6 million).

“This has been another successful and encouraging year for the group. The performance is driven by two key factors: firstly the success of our strategy to reposition the UK business to focus on higher margin products; and secondly achieving the synergy benefits from the Optivite acquisition,” says Anpario's chief executive David Bullen.

Its broad geographic spread enabled the company to offset local issues in Middle Eastern and Southern European markets with strong performances in other territories.

Operations – UK Agriculture
Strategic alliances have been formed with some significant UK agribusinesses providing the group with the opportunity to accelerate market penetration of its specialty feed additive range.

Vitrition, the company's organic feed brand, delivered growth in profits. 

"This performance is particularly commendable as the challenges of the economic climate increased during the year as consumers switched to purchasing lower priced meat and traditional meat protein products," says Mr Bullen.
 

Operations – International Agriculture
The division continues to trade through its two complementary brands, Kiotechagil and Optivite, covering in excess of 60 countries. This linked approach helps smooth out some of the trading peaks and troughs which are inevitable in a global business. 2011 was particularly volatile and our reaction to these challenges has been to take a cautious view when offering credit and we have worked closely with our distributors, to ensure neither party is exposed to vulnerable companies along the supply chain.

Whilst we are cautious in relation to Europe and the Middle East owing to the continuing turmoil, the division is confident and focused on capturing opportunities in the higher growth regions, especially China and Brazil where the agricultural markets are vast.  We are also endeavouring to launch a number of new products to our distributors, which we believe have strong differentiation compared to the competition. By pooling the resources of Optivite and Kiotechagil we have strengthened and centralised the technical team which has accelerated our R&D efforts.

Significant progress was achieved in China with our wholly owned subsidiary beginning to generate profit within eighteen months of being established, enabling future growth initiatives to be self-financing.  The subsidiary continued to successfully gain national registration approvals for key products such as Neutox, a high performance, broad spectrum toxin binder for animal feed and Prefect, a gut conditioner and microbial optimiser for young pigs, particularly in high stress environments.  These have received a positive reception in the market and will be key drivers of future growth for the subsidiary.

Acquisition

On 29 March 2012 the Company acquired 100% of the share capital of Meriden Animal Health Limited for a total consideration of up to UK£4.1 million before costs. Meriden's sales for the 12 months to December 2011 were UK£5.3 million and adjusted profit before interest and tax was UK£0.7 million.

Meriden’s Orego-Stim range of products, using essential oils, is the leading brand in its field and is marketed across 60 countries worldwide, with the majority of sales being outside the United Kingdom.

Meriden has a close and important partnership in China with sales accounting for 26% of Meriden’s total sales during 2011. Anpario intends to give further support to this relationship to capitalise on the vast potential of China’s agriculture market. 

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