Calling All Partners, The Time to Engage Is Now
Written by: Lara Moody | December 8, 2022
The Institute for Feed Education and Research is making progress on several of its sustainability initiatives. We are wrapping up phase one of the Sustainability Road Map project and will be releasing a sustainability toolkit for feed industry members in January during the International Production and Processing Expo. Another project, the Feed Systems Sustainability Summit, held in September, was a great success and the takeaways are informing actions for the industry and its stakeholders. During the November Sustainable Agriculture Summit (SAS), over 800 representatives from the food value chain gathered, networked and made plans to advance sustainability efforts up and down the supply chain. All of these initiatives are informing IFEEDER’s actions to support feed systems sustainability, and our next steps are taking shape as we prepare to shift to phase two of our efforts.
With so many events and networking opportunities around the SAS, I was joined by the American Feed Industry Association’s Sarah Novak, vice president of membership and public relations. Together, we covered the Field to Market plenary, the Dairy Sustainability Alliance annual meeting, the SAS, the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef feed task force, and myriad planned and impromptu meetings with animal food industry members and stakeholders. It was an opportunity to raise awareness of IFEEDER’s efforts to advance feed systems sustainability during two panel sessions, “Activating Solutions to Meet the Need for Feed,” and, “Scaling Up Conservation Practices for Dairy.” And, it was a chance to engage many potential collaborators on projects we’re seeking to pursue during phase two of the Sustainability Road Map project.
The SAS and the events surrounding it, along with the attendees, created a space to catch up with friends, meet and make new ones; listen, learn and ruminate on new knowledge; and generate, build on and gather input on new ideas to advance. In the last year, IFEEDER has been slowly gaining ground on our ability to support the industry, but we are rapidly picking up speed and drawing attention for our efforts. One year from now, when we’re together again with the full food value chain at the 2023 SAS, my goal is for the animal food industry to be even more prominent as a valued member supporting our animal agriculture sustainability.
Ideas are being advanced, projects are being developed and collaborators are lining up. IFEEDER is ready to make the next big leap in our sustainability efforts, and we’re calling all partners. Now is the time to engage! If you’re interested in learning about projects being developed and considering how your organization can provide support, let me know. I would love to connect.