Feedstuffs in Focus

Breeding pigs for increased natural robustness to disease has become an important tool in the effort to raise healthier pigs in the modern swine production system. With a variety of disease pressures facing producers, using every tool in the toolbox is necessary to maintain profitability and strong animal welfare. One swine genetics company is focusing their research on ways to further enhance the...

Commodities are often referred to as a “hedge against inflation” in the financial markets. With inflation at generational highs, what is the outlook for agricultural commodities – particularly feed grains – as harvest gets underway? Prices are always a hot topic in agricultural circles, and they were certainly on the minds of many farmers attending the Farm Progress Show in late August. Feedstuffs...

Food insecurity is often a topic of discussion in agriculture, but often within the frame of how will the industry feed a growing population. But the sad reality is that food insecurity is a challenge right here at home, and a large percentage of the funding promulgated in the Farm Bill is dedicated to solving the complex challenge of helping farmers feed their fellow Americans. Lisa Hamler-Fugitt...

Protein prices have increased rapidly in the past 24 months, amid the broader press of inflation. With inflation at its highest rate in more than 40 years, the question becomes how long beef, pork and poultry prices can remain at such elevated levels before demand erodes significantly. David Williams is senior vice president of procurement and management at CTI Foods, based in Texas. In this episo...

Livestock producers could play a role in helping crop producers manage one of their costliest inputs. A simple, sustainable, and effective - yet not well-known - solution for rising fertilizer prices, is digestate, the byproduct of anaerobic digestion of organic waste material like animal manure. In this episode we talk with Patrick Serfass, Executive Director of the American Biogas Council , who...

Inflation will continue to be the top challenge to retail meat demand for the foreseeable future. Retail meat and poultry prices were as much as 18% higher, year over year, in May according to the Consumer Price Index, and inventories remain below pre-pandemic levels. That combination of tight supplies and solid demand kept meat prices 20% higher than the five-year average for the March-May period...

Of the $5 billion of U.S. beef exported around the world through May of this year, only $8 million has been to Africa. But Africa is a very promising destination for beef variety meats, a low-cost protein that helps meet Africa’s nutritional needs. There is also growing interest in higher-end beef cuts that draw interest from Africa’s growing middle class. Matt Copeland, U.S. Meat Export Federatio...

Farm Bill discussions often center on crop-centric programs in the commodity title, tweaks to food and nutrition programs, or ways to enhance USDA’s conservation mission. But what do livestock producers need from the next Farm Bill? This week in Reno, Nevada, cattlemen and beef industry participants gathered for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association Summer Business Meeting. As part of the meet...

Economic headwinds and ongoing weather concerns are the major storylines heading into the back half of 2022. With ongoing uncertainty about inflation, interest rates, global conflict and drought across large swaths of cattle country all on the table, beef producers have plenty to think about when looking at the big picture. Lance Zimmerman was recently named Senior Beef Analyst at Rabobank’s Food...

Innovation is a given in the food industry as companies look for new ways to meet the always changing demands of consumers. Our Sarah Muirhead was on the trade show floor in Chicago this past week at IFT First to learn about some of the products that are under development and to talk with the experts involved in moving new products from concept to the dinner table.  One of the experts she caught u...

In response to data from the Swine Disease Reporting System , leaders of the Swine Health Information Center recently shifted $1 million of its 2022 budget to focus specifically on biosecurity in the finishing phase of hog production. The data showed a number of disease pressures on finishers, from APP to PRRS, prompting the additional focus on that segment of the production chain. Megan Niederwer...

With high corn prices very much on the minds of livestock feeders, what does available data tell us about corn usage trends? While it might be true to say that usage is only down 2% off all-time records, it would also be fair to say that trendline usage off by a billion bushels, the worst in nearly a decade. Let’s peel back the figures and take a deeper look at corn prices, usage, and the future f...

Animal agriculture is lagging when it comes to investment dollars. Why is that?  In this episode we talk with Aidan Connolly of AgriTech Capital to get his thoughts on what the industry can do to catch up with other sectors in attracting investment.

Inflation is running rampant, with the cost of energy driving everything higher, including prices of meat and protein products at retail. And yet, inflation may also be removing some tariff barriers to U.S. meat exports. In this episode we focus on the broader agricultural implications of nearly double-digit inflation, and then focus more specifically on its effects at the meat case. This episode...

Keeping the U.S. pork supply safe and secure from the threat of Foreign Animal Disease – and preparing to maintain continuity of business should such an outbreak occur – is one of the key concerns of industry leaders. Stakeholders from across the pork value chain have been working diligently on plans and processes, redoubling efforts with regard to biosecurity and traceability in recent years. Cre...

In 2022 it seems that the only certain thing in business is uncertainty. Supply chain issues, never experienced to this degree before, have created uncertainties in product availability, technology deployment, exports, processing, equipment repairs, and more, and Russia’s war in Ukraine has thrown in a multitude of additional uncertainties for food and ag that have not been seen in decades.  Along...

To say that we live in interesting times, from an agricultural policy standpoint, might border on understatement. The regulatory, political, and trade environment in the animal agriculture space has rarely been more fraught. What does that mean for the feed and livestock industries? We’ll find out in this edition of Feedstuffs In Focus.   Earlier this week as part of The Virtual BEEF Experience, a...

One of the top leaders of the global feed industry previews an upcoming feed and livestock industry conference, in this edition of Feedstuffs In Focus . Dr. Mark Lyons is president and CEO of Alltech, one of the largest players in the global feed industry, and the driving force behind the Alltech ONE Conference. In this episode Dr. Lyons previews the event, held in-person for the first time since...

On the backside of a global pandemic that wreaked havoc on the global supply chain, the Russian invasion of Ukraine added further strain and chaos to the global marketplace. In the short run, the unprovoked war drove commodity prices higher, but what will the long-term consequences be for the global meat and animal feed markets? In this episode we’ll dig into the broader implications of Russia’s w...

Rail service failures in recent months have led to widespread delays of train delivery at major grain export destinations. Failures and delays that have cost the grain industry more than $100 million through the first quarter of 2022, according to the National Grain and Feed Association. NGFA testified this week before the Surface Transportation Board about those failures and costs to the industry...

Researchers at Kansas State and Ohio State universities recently calculated that performance gaps between barrows and gilts cost integrated swine operations as much as $5.12 per gilt, a significant cost you might think of as “The Gilt Gap.” Dr. Jason Woodworth, a nutritionist at Kansas State University, and Dr. Ben Bohrer, a meat scientist at The Ohio State University, conducted a statistical anal...

Next month the Animal Agriculture Alliance will be under the leadership of a new president and CEO.  The Alliance, a decades-old consortium of trade associations, companies and other stakeholder groups in the food animal sector, recently announced the promotion of Hannah Thompson-Weeman, the organization’s current vice president of strategic engagement, following the departure of its longtime pres...

Environmental compliance, right-to-farm laws, contracting issues and more. Agriculture is not without its legal risk management challenges, particularly in the livestock sector. What strategies can producers adopt to protect themselves from potential liability and litigation? At the Midwest Poultry Federation Convention in Minneapolis, Minn., last month, attorney Paul Goeringer presented a worksho...

After nearly two months of waiting, the U.S. Supreme Court this week announced they would be hearing the case brought by the National Pork Producers Council and the American Farm Bureau Federation challenging California’s Proposition 12 requiring additional space requirements for gestating sows. The state law seeks to ban the sale of pork from hogs that don’t meet what agriculture groups describe...

Animal disease challenges are simply a part of life in livestock production, but some disease challenges are more problematic than others. One major problem facing the poultry industry this spring is highly-pathogenic avian influenza, a viral disease currently popping up in flocks and in wild birds across the country. How well-prepared is the poultry industry for this challenge, what is the curren...