Evolving to Meet the Animal Food Industry's Future Needs Requires Your Support
Written by: Guest | July 25, 2024
By: Carlos González, Ph.D., vice president of global regulatory affairs, Hill's Pet Nutrition
IFEEDER Board of Trustees Chair 2024-25
We all seek to be good stewards and know firsthand that agriculture is inextricably tied to stewardship. We live that on a daily basis. However, considering the high stakes we face on sustainability, including evolving consumer demands and government regulation, all American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) members should lean on the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER) as a partner and resource, regardless of where we are at on our sustainability journeys.
Sustainability is an often used and misunderstood term. Certainly, it can include measuring our carbon footprint or decreasing our packaging waste, but it also encompasses the adoption of new technologies to increase efficiency and reexamining our environmental footprint to ensure that our stewardship efforts are recognized.
In the past, IFEEDER has completed projects examining the environmental indicators associated with using genetically modified (GM) crops versus GM-free crops, studying animal food consumption and examining the positive economic and environmental impact of the pet food industry. Currently, IFEEDER is supporting research focused on evaluating feed additives and ingredients for mitigating the carbon footprint of dairy herds, updating feed ingredient life cycle assessment data and revising the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s (NASEM) Nutrient Requirements of Swine for its upcoming 12th edition.
The work that IFEEDER has initiated is not only critical for AFIA members to generate valuable insights but also has the potential to multiply our impact, by using these materials to educate our consumers, regulators, press and other key stakeholders.
But none of this is possible without industry and donor support. We have multiple means of support at our disposal:
- Consider a personal tax-deductible contribution to IFEEDER or explore your company’s willingness to support a project.
- Volunteer to work on a committee or share your expertise.(Confidentially) share relevant data with IFEEDER in support of one of their projects.
- Promote IFEEDER and its research via social media, conferences or other fora.
- Embrace and apply IFEEDER’s research, including the sustainability toolkit, in your organizations
IFEEDER depends on its donors to be successful. I want to recognize the outstanding leadership from IFEEDER’s staff and board and the AFIA members who donate their time and resources. It is because of you that IFEEDER has achieved great success thus far.
As the new chair of IFEEDER’s Board of Trustees, I thank you not only for your past support of IFEEDER, but more importantly, for your continued support! In a constantly evolving industry, we need to be willing and able to evolve with it in order to survive, and we will need research and education on behalf of the animal food industry to be successful. Together, with your support, we should look to lead that change and thrive as an industry.