IFEEDER Newsletter: Volume 9, Issue 11

November 12, 2024

Connecting and Advancing: A Round-Up of Our Latest Efforts

With so much going on at the Institute for Feed Education and Research, I couldn’t decide on just one theme for the newsletter this month. So, I am excited to share updates on various projects we have underway here at IFEEDER.

Will you be attending the Sustainable Agriculture Summit next week (or sending someone from your team)? For the second year in a row, it’s sold out! I’ll be in attendance along with the American Feed Industry Association’s Sarah Novak and Paul Davis. If you’d like to connect, let me know, and plan to join us for the panel session IFEEDER is hosting, “LCA Harmonization for the U.S. Animal Feed Industry,” with representatives from the corn growers, cattlemen and renewable energy.

Last week, I joined the equipment manufacturers at their conference in Bonita Springs, Fla. In addition to the great content and networking, raising funds for the Equipment Manufacturers Committee (EMC) Scholarship Fund is always a focal point of the event. Between golf outing mulligans, chipping and putting contests, and an evening raffle, the attendees raised over $6,000 to support student scholarships. It’s always a fun event. You can read more about the history of the EMC scholarships in the IFEEDER Fodder blog below.

Also last week, IFEEDER released a request for proposals (RFP) aimed at better understanding the potential impacts of fluctuations in vitamin and amino acid availability on U.S. pets and livestock. The global supply chain for vitamins and amino acids is vulnerable to various disruptions, including geopolitical tensions, natural disasters, trade restrictions and logistical challenges. Disruptions in vitamin and amino acid supply, due to geopolitical, economic or logistical issues, could severely undermine U.S. production of meat, milk and eggs, and thereby, threaten food security. We could use your help:

Check out the RFP below.
Email the RFP to a research group (public or private) you work with who may be interested in submitting a proposal.
Make a donation to IFEEDER to support this effort.
Contact me if you have questions.

Project Updates

New LCA Resources Available Next Week

Next week, IFEEDER is rolling out a set of resources focused on life cycle assessments (LCA). Results from industry interviews indicate that it is increasingly prevalent for animal feed and pet food organizations to pursue product LCAs. To support this increased interest, IFEEDER’s new resources (developed by The Context Network with input from the Sustainability Road Map advisory committee), will include tools to help you navigate LCAs. The resource will include feed and pet food industry insights, LCA process overview, glossary of terms, an LCA decision tree and LCA model and practitioner profiles.

Webinar: Life Cycle Assessments Insights & Resources

Requests for LCAs are becoming more common as stakeholders seek to understand the environmental impact of ingredients and rations in their supply chains. This one-hour webinar will provide insights into the status of LCAs within the animal food industry and introduce you to IFEEDER’s new LCA resource materials being added to the Animal Food Industry Sustainability Toolkit. ?IFEEDER's Lara Moody will be joined by representatives from The Context Network. Register today and mark your calendar to join us on Thursday, Dec. 5, at 10 a.m. ET. Register now>>

In the Media

IFEEDER Seeks Proposals for Strategic Analysis of Vitamin, Amino Acid Supply Chain

IFEEDER is?seeking proposals?for a project that will analyze the potential impacts of fluctuations in vitamin and amino acid availability on U.S. livestock production and pet health. IFEEDER is accepting proposals for this project until Friday, Dec. 13.

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Vitamin, Amino Acid Market Volatility Concerns US Feed Industry

The availability and prices of amino acids and vitamins used in the animal feed industry have fluctuated in recent years for several reasons, including supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, rising demand and production issues. This has been a cause for concern for the U.S. animal feed industry.

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IFEEDER Fodder Blog

Click the links below to read the latest IFEEDER Fodder blog posts.

Ration Innovation: A Path to Reducing the Environmental Footprint of Animal Production and Pets

By: Lara Moody

The animal food industry has an opportunity to support our customers with their environmental goals.?Input from 11 U.S. and Canadian organizations representing those customers helped IFEEDER identify metrics of interest relative to greenhouse gas emissions, water quality, water quantity and land and marine resource use. Collectively, those metrics provide insights into an aim to reduce their environmental footprint.

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Partnering to Prepare the Next Generation of Industry Leaders

By: Gary Huddleston and Mike Schuster

The EMC Scholarship Fund began as an idea in the early 1950s at a Grain Equipment Machinery Manufacturers Association meeting. Recognizing the importance of giving back, the association started a scholarship fund and awarded one small, annual scholarship to a Kansas State University undergraduate student pursuing a career in the animal feed industry. This idea provided the spark for this program, igniting continued ideas for growing the fund over the years.

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