Hormel Foods subsidiary Mountain Prairie LLC to build new mill

A subsidiary of Hormel Foods, Mountain Prairie LLC has obtained a building permit from Bent County to build a new feed mill for its sow operations. The company has hired Mill Tech Services (Sterling, Colorado, USA) for the construction. The mill will have the capability of an annual production of 40,000 tons with a computerised batching system and a state-of-the art air handling system. All the ingredients will be received by truck in bulk. The facility will need approximately 20 semi loads of grain per week for their operations at that location. Read more ...  

New feed premix plant to be built by ADM Alliance Nutrition

ADM Alliance Nutrition announced it will build a feed premix plant in Effingham, Illinois (USA), they have said that the new facility will be built to the highest standards in safety and will have enhanced controls and processes. "As animal feed safety regulations evolve, this new facility will position Alliance Nutrition at the forefront of the industry, with one of the most advanced premixing facilities in the world," said Chuck Loefer, general manager, Pet Food Premixes and Specialty Blending. Read more ...

North Sioux City plant expanded by Nutraferma

Nutraferma the American animal feed producers has just completed a multimillion dollar expansion to its North Sioux City facility. Nutraferma finished a 19,000-square-foot (1,765m2) addition to its plant in the Flynn Business Park. Five new employees were hired at the complex, raising total employment to 17. Additional capacity will be added this summer.

The North Sioux City facility before expansion

Company officials said more production capacity was needed to supply increased global demand for Nutraferma's flagship product, Pepsoygen, a soy-based protein fed to pigs, poultry, and aquaculture.
 The plant also manufactures a unique direct-fed microbial, called Natufermen, and will be introducing other new products this year. "We're excited to have this additional capacity online to service our expanding market. We're pleased that we were able to complete this phase on time and under budget," said Doug Douthitt, vice president of operations. Read more ...

China to put more money in to grain production

The Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said that if oil prices raise further, that the government will offer farmers more in the way of subsidies for grain production. He went on to say that the agricultural subsidies would be increased gradually.

His comments were made during an inspection tour of central China's Henan province, China's largest wheat producing area. Wen said earlier this month that China aims to spend CNY1.23 trillion (US$195 billion) on its agricultural sector this year, which is an increase of  CNY186.8 billion  (US$29.5 billion) compared with 2011. Read more ...

Ukraine to create large corn-soybean belt based on US corn belt

The Ukraine Minister of Agricultural policy and food (Minagroprod) has started a program that will create a large corn-soybean belt, that will increase land used to five million hectares for corn and 2-2.5 million hectares for soybean. This will almost double the production of these crops.

“Minagroprod initiated a fundamental change in the structure of main crop production in the Ukraine, aiming to grow crops more in line with the climatic conditions of our country,” said Nikolay Bezugly, deputy minister of Agricultural Policy and Food, at the recent Forum "Agribusiness in Ukraine", organised by the Adam Smith Institute.

"Ukrainian science has developed the concept of a corn-soybean belt in the forest-steppe part of Ukraine based on the  Corn Belt in the USA", said  Bezugly. Read more ...

Ukraine's KZM industries acquires Brice Baker Group

KMZ Industries in the Ukraine has acquired the key assets of UK-based Brice Baker Group’s grain storage and processing business, namely the automated Bradbury production lines and all intellectual property rights for Brice Baker silos and dryers, including the renowned Law-Denis grain dryers.

This acquisition is in line with KMZ Industries strategic development plan to significantly enhance its product offering and expand production capacities in order to accommodate increasing market demand for storage and processing equipment, maintain its leadership status in Ukraine and strengthen its positions in CIS region. Read more ...

GMO policy in the Ukraine has been tightened

Over the last few years in the Ukraine the policy concerning GMOs has been tightened, back in 2007 about 50 percent of products in the Ukraine market contained a GMO, while in 2008 this number had reduced to eight percent. Now in the Ukraine only five percent of all products contain GMOs, said Vladimir Semenovich, director of Ukrainian experimental food research center at a recent press conference.

Ukraine, however, continues to struggle against the GM-production, and in accordance with new rules regulating product labeling, it is planning to abandon the current definition of products containing GMO as products where the proportion of GMO exceeds 0.9 percent. The US and Canada strongly oppose the new definition one reason for this is the effect that the new rules will have on export of products. Read more ...

Research into alternatives proteins in aquafeed

rainbow trout

Aquaculture research is studying the effects of replacing fishmeal with blends of alternative proteins in the United States on growth performance of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and early or late stage juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). The purpose of the research was to evaluate alternative proteins as replacements. Nine experimental diets in which protein blends replaced 63 percent, 82  percent  or 100 percent of fishmeal in the formulation (20, 10, and 0 percent fishmeal) were fed to rainbow trout (initial weight 19.5 g) for 12 weeks.

 Weight gains of trout fed diets containing the soy protein concentrate-based blend and the fishmeal control diet were similar, except at the 100 percent fishmeal replacement level, and significantly higher than that of trout fed diets containing the other blends. The soy protein blend and another based on wheat gluten meal were modified slightly and evaluated in early stage Atlantic salmon juveniles (initial weight 5.5 g). Read more ...

Animal feed will overtake ethanol as biggest use for corn

Animal feed is projected to overtake fuel as the biggest use for corn because ethanol demand is slowing while farmers produce a record crop. The BGOV Barometer shows the proportion of the harvest going to ethanol in the year ending August 31, 2013, is forecast to fall to 35 percent of the corn crop from 40 percent this year, according to US Department of Agriculture data.

Animal feed will again be the largest use of the grain, after being overtaken by ethanol in 2011 and 2012, potentially quelling lawmaker demands to repeal federal biofuel subsidies that they blame for squeezing corn supplies and pushing up food costs. Read more ...

AFIA and Kansas State Distance Education Program – deadline extended

AFIA along with the department of grain science and industry at Kansas State University has again partnered to offer another distance learning education program. “AFIA 501-Fundamentals of Feed Manufacturing” was developed by the feed technology group in Kansas State’s department of grain science and industry. The program will provide participants with an in-depth understanding of feed manufacturing. The benefits of e-learning, a new method of delivery, and mobile learning technologies have proven beneficial in many industries.

The five-week course, offered completely online from March 12 - April 13, 2012 (please note the new dates), is US$499 (€377.3) for AFIA members and US$685 (€517.9) for non-members. Course size is limited to 50 participants. There are still a few spaces available, please register right away. Registration will close Thursday, March 8.

Registration is available at www.afia.org under “Upcoming Events.” For more information on the Distance Education Program, contact Brandi Miller at bmmiller@ksu.edu 

MRSA strain found in food animals is linked to the Human MRSA

A strain of the antibiotic-resistant bacterium known as MRSA has jumped from food animals to humans, according to a new study led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Phoenix, AZ, USA. The study published last week in the online journal mBio focuses on MRSA CC398, a strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The study suggests that MRSA CC398 probably started as a non-resistant (antibiotic-susceptible) strain in humans before it spread to food animals where it subsequently became resistant to several antibiotics. Dr Lance Price, the study’s lead author and director of the TGen’s Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health, said “Retracing the evolutionary history of MRSA CC398 is like watching the birth of a superbug -  it’s simultaneously fascinating and disconcerting,” added Dr Price. “MRSA CC398 was discovered less than a decade ago and it appears to be spreading very quickly.” Read more ...

Worlds top corn buyer Japan, buys more US corn

Japan has stepped up its corn purchasing, buying from the US for April-June, following a delay in Ukraine shipments. Japan has purchased 1.8 million tons of US feed-grade corn for April-June shipment stepping up purchases from the world's top exporter after a delay in this quarter's shipments from Ukraine, trading executives said. The country is the world's top importer, buying around 3.3 million tons of feed grade corn alone every quarter. Read more ...

Conference to focus on healthy, sustainable food

Farmers are being encouraged to produce more food to feeding a growing global population. But what role can livestock production play in offering healthy, nutritious and sustainable food? That is this year's theme of the annual BSAS conference.

Held at the University of Nottingham on  April 24-25, 2012, the conference will also consider how to ensure animal health remains at the forefront of any developments in food production. With much debate about the healthiness of food from livestock particularly red meat and dairy it is crucial public health policy is based on factual, up-to-date information. Read more ...

Cargill announces Manitoba grain elevator and crop input facility to close

Cargill Limited announced Tuesday that it is ceasing production at its Winnipeg East facility.
The Winnipeg East facility is an 8,000-ton elevator with crop inputs and a dry fertiliser plant and shed. According to Cargill, the facility no longer meets the company’s stringent standards for operating safe, cost effective and efficient farm service networks across Canada.

“The facility is outdated and would have required significant and costly upgrades to maintain Cargill’s rigorous standards, said Jody Magotiaux, Cargill Farm Service Group Manager. "While the Winnipeg facility no longer meets our current needs, we remain committed to offering our valued customers with the same level of dedicated service they have come to expect from Cargill,” he said. Read more ...

The COA claims No evidence that ractopamine in feed kills more pigs

Helena Bottemiller of Food Safety News wrote a report which claimed that ractopamine had "sickened or killed more than 218,000 pigs as of March 2011, more than any other animal drug on the market" since its approval for pigs in 1999 in the US. This led to the Council of Agriculture (COA), stating that it had not found evidence in the US to back up the claim. Ractopamine, is a drug used as a feed additive to promote lean meat in pigs and cattle, and the drug is permitted in about 20 countries globally, including the US. According to statistics from the US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), since ractopamine was first used in the US in 2000, there has been no increase in the death rate of pigs, the COA said.

These figures show pig mortality rate in the US, according to the COA:

•  0.3 percent in 1998
• 0.28 percent in 1999
• 0.29 percent in both 2000 and 2001
• 2002-2008 the rate was between 0.22 and 0.2 percent
• 2010 it was 0.17 percent

Read more ...

Cargill closes crop input facility in Saskatchewan

Cargill has announced that it is closing its Saskatchewan crop input facility, effective February 15, 2012. The reason behind the closure is that the facility due to its age no long effectively meets the needs of the company and its customers. Sheldon Spearman, Cargill Farm Service Group Manager said “Cargill is committed to operating safe, efficient and cost-effective networks of farm service centers across Canada”.

“While the Langbank facility no longer meets our current needs, we will continue to offer our valued customers the exceptional direct-to-farm service approach that they have come to expect from Cargill. Our customers will not be impacted by this change,” he said. Read more ...

Alltech prepares for 26th European Lecture Tour

Alltech's based in Dunboyne, Ireland is preparing to start its 26 European Lecture tour visiting 26 cities in three weeks with 16 speakers and one goal: Mapping the path to a profitable future. In addition, the company will consider the use of social media tools, such as Alltech’s Ag Network, to communicate the message to consumers.

 “Change is upon us and it is not slowing down. Global demand for fuel, food and other commodities will only continue to increase as the world's population and wealth rise. We must embrace revolutions in the industry if we want to stay competitive,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. Read more ...

Practical short course on feeds & pet food extrusion

A one week Practical Short Course on Feeds & Pet Food Extrusion will be presented Jan. 29- February 3, 2012 at Texas A&M University by staff, industry representatives, and consultants. The program will cover information on designing new feed mills and selecting conveying, drying, grinding, conditioning and feed mixing equipment.

Current practices for production of pet foods, preparing full-fat soy meal; recycling fisheries by-products, raw animal products, and secondary resources; extrusion of floating, sinking, and high fat feeds; spraying and coating fats, digests and preservatives; use of encapsulated ingredients and preparation of premixes, and least cost formulation are reviewed. Practical demonstration of pet food, vacuum coating, and several others are demonstrated on four major types of extruders - (dry, interrupted flights, single and twin screw), using various shaping dies.

Reservations are accepted on a first-come basis. For more information, programs and application forms, contact:

Dr. Mian N. Riaz                                                               
Food Protein R&D Center; 2476 TAMU
Texas A&M University; College Station, Texas 77843-2476
Phone: 979/845-2774; Fax: 979/845-2744
E-mail: mnriaz@tamu.edu; 
www.tamu.edu/extrusion

Iran facing trouble financing grain imports

European banks and traders told the Dow Jones Newswire that Major European banks, including Rabobank have halted trade finance for grain or any other agricultural products bound for Iran. Due to sanctions on Iran beginning to tighten, the European Union and US have both introduced trade restrictions on the Central Bank of Iran.

"Rabobank has pulled out of financing grain trades that are destined for Iran," a bank spokeswoman said. Rabobank is one of Europe's largest provider of agricultural commodity financing. "Our bank hasn't touched anything that is destined for Iran," a European grains trader said, adding that as far as he was aware all European banks had halted dealings with the country. Read more ...

Perfection Pet Foods plant meets all food safety standards

The new site of Perfection Pet Foods in Visalia, California, USA may be more advanced than a human food plant in terms of food safety, according to Ed Cooper, VP of operations for PPF. The standards required of pet food in the United States, and about 75 other countries, are rapidly moving toward the standards PPF will implement when it starts producing what it soon expects to be 140,000 tons of dry pet food by March.

Cooper said that even during the financial crisis the demand for quality pet food continues to grow at a rapid pace. “The importance of the family pet has grown so much, the phrase 'pet owners' is now evolving into 'pet parents’,”he said. Read more ...