Feedstuffs in Focus – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In this episode, we explore strategies to bolster the pork industry's resilience.

Christine McCracken, Senior Animal Protein Analyst at Rabobank, graces Feedstuffs Pork Nation with her expertise on the state of the pork industry. Curious about the path to recovery and what lies ahead in 2025 for pork producers? We're unpacking the improving financial health and potential for more robust margins, despite looming challenges like political uncertainties, tariffs, and changing immigration policies.

Discover why maintaining solid trade relationships with key partners such as Mexico and Canada is more crucial than ever. We also tackle how the industry is innovatively addressing labor shortages through automation and improved workforce management.

We also delve into critical economic concerns, including the national debt's effect on the US credit rating and its potential ramifications for agriculture. While sovereign debt issues linger, we discuss the importance of staying informed and engaging with lenders to mitigate risks. With only minor interest rate adjustments anticipated, some stability is expected.

As we close the year, Christine emphasizes the critical need for biosecurity and community support within the industry. Risk management takes center stage as pork producers are encouraged to partner with advisors to navigate shifting market conditions and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Feedstuffs Pork Nation is brought to you by Alltech. Alltech delivers smarter, more sustainable solutions for agriculture through a diverse portfolio of products and services. Contact the Alltech Pork Team or visit go.alltech.com/swine-research to learn more.

The Center for Animal Health and Food Safety, in collaboration with the Swine Health Information Center, has developed a near-real-time event-based surveillance system to support informed decision making for U.S. pork producers. To further enhance disease monitoring, the team has expanded its focus to include production diseases, and develop a global swine disease dashboard. What might this mean for the hog industry?

From the 2024 International Conference of Swine Viral Diseases in Chicago, Feedstuffs Ann Hess talks with Dr. Rachael Schulte, University of Minnesota to find out about the new surveillance system

This episode of Feedstuffs in Focus is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting the website at UnitedANH.com

Swine respiratory disease (SRD) is a commonly encountered health challenge in today’s hog industry. SRD includes a wide range of bacterial pathogens that can impact pig respiratory systems as well as the overall health of a farm system. What might all this mean for your operation, and how can you fight back? 

This episode is brought to you by Pharmgate Animal Health, a growing business that puts livestock first. Pharmgate provides a proven portfolio of technically supported, high-quality products that are the foundation of custom herd health protocols. By offering multiple options for active ingredients, concentrations, and administration routes, Pharmgate provides you with choices to fit your needs backed by a team with technical expertise to get the results you want.

Joining us today on Feedstuffs in Focus is Dr. Nic Lauterbach, technical services veterinarian with Pharmgate Animal Health. Our topic is that of how swine respiratory disease can be stopped in its tracks through the implementation of practical strategies and recommendations for improving herd health outcomes when faced with the threat of swine respiratory disease.

To access more SRD resources and connect with an expert, visit Pharmgate.com.

In the US swine industry, the thinking has long been that the feeding of high zinc levels offers health and productivity benefits to pigs. In fact, research has confirmed the positive effect of elevated dietary zinc. However, zinc can have negative effects for the environment and public health.

Today, we talk with Dr. Jerry Shurson, professor of swine nutrition at the University of Minnesota, to find out more. Dr. Shurson, along with Dr. Yuan-Tai Hung, swine research manager with Devenish, have taken a deep dive into zinc levels in diets and believe the time is now to rethink zinc use.

This episode is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting their website UnitedANH.com.

What does the future of agriculture look like? It’s a question often pondered as one year draws to a close and another dawns, with prognosticators thinking about everything from market outlook and economic conditions to questions of technology, innovation, and the rate of change in the business.

Aidan Connolly, a long-time feed industry leader now working as an investor in the ag-tech space via his AgriTech Capital firm, recently published a book tackling the question of “The Future of Agriculture.” The book offers information that will help readers from a range of backgrounds to

• Find ways to protect, maintain and prudently deploy limited resources; and
• Map technological innovation to produce foods that meet the health and nutrition needs of a burgeoning population; and
• Ensure that food and farming evolve in ways that will also ensure the sustainability of the planet’s natural resources.

Connolly focuses on practical answers and specific examples, innovative ideas and new concepts, and thought leadership across a rich array of technologies. Sorted by both technologies and species, with local examples and a global perspective, it offers readers a unique snapshot of a food and farm industry in mid-evolution, providing insight, context, and framing for the coming changes.

Biosecurity is one of the most important aspects of a successful livestock enterprise, with a growing number of threats in the form of viral disease outbreaks or the potential for foreign animal disease incursion. Technologies to help producers in the fight are proliferating, including a new app to help producers, veterinarians, and public health officials share information as quickly as possible.

Gustavo Machado is an epidemiologist specializing in emerging and transboundary infectious diseases at North Carolina State University. At the North American PRRS Symposium held earlier this month in Chicago, Machado sat down with National Hog Farmer editor Ann Hess to discuss the Rapid Biosecurity App, a tool that standardizes Secure Pork Supply biosecurity plans and creates maps to visualize the biosecurity infrastructure of individual farms across multiple states. 

According to Dr. Macado, in each state, the RABapp provides the pork producer and Department of Agriculture with rapid access to approved biosecurity plans status to expedite outbreak responses.

Viral diseases are a top-of-mind concern for the U.S. livestock industry, and perhaps most especially in the swine business. Experts recently gathered in downtown Chicago at the North American PRRS Symposium to discuss topics ranging from virus transmission and biosecurity to specific concerns about senecavirus.

Scott Dee is director of research at Pipestone Applied Research. Dee is one of the leading voices on the topics of disease transmission, and has conducted considerable research in the areas of viral transport and transmission in feed, feed biosecurity, and on-farm antimicrobial resistance.

During the conference, he spoke with Feedstuffs editor Sarah Muirhead.

You can read more of our coverage of animal health issues and the latest research in the pages of Feedstuffs. You can find our latest issue and past editions by visiting Feedstuffs.com and clicking on “Digital Editions.”

Congress intervened this week in an effort to avert an economy-crippling rail strike. What does the labor conflict mean for agriculture, and the feed industry in general? And what does the situation tell us about vulnerabilities to the U.S. logistics infrastructure system?

Late Thursday, the Senate approved a resolution to implement a tentative agreement brokered by the Biden administration with rail labor unions and management. The House approved the measure on Nov. 30, and it now heads to President Biden’s desk for signature.

A few hours prior to the Senate’s vote, Feedstuffs spoke with Max Fisher, chief economist at the National Grain and Feed Association, about what the possibility of a strike meant for the feed industry and the broader agriculture industry. He explained the situation, how the parties arrived at a place requiring the federal government to get involved, and the long-term prospectus for labor relations in the rail space.

More broadly, Fisher discussed the current state of the commodity logistics chain, from challenges facing our inland waterways, a lingering lack of truck drivers, and now the vulnerabilities facing the rail system.

A few hours after our conversation with Fisher, the Senate approved a measure to implement a tentative agreement to avert the strike, which NFGA, the American Feed Industry Association, the Soy Transportation Coalition, and other relevant industry groups hailed as an important step in averting a national crisis. 

This episode is sponsored by United Animal Health, a leader in animal health and nutrition. You can learn more about United Animal Health and how they are working to advance animal science worldwide by visiting their website UnitedANH.com.

According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, the price of the average Thanksgiving dinner for 10 this year is up 20% as inflation continues to take a bite out of the U.S. consumer’s wallet. But are media reports of potential shortages of butter and turkey accurate, or are these key holiday meal ingredients readily available?

Throughout the month of October and into November, news stories suggested that a range of grocery items, most notably butter, eggs, and turkeys, might be harder to find this holiday season. To get to the bottom of the supply chain situation, we spoke with Michael Dykes, president of the International Dairy Foods Association, and Brian Earnest, senior protein analyst with CoBank.

This episode is sponsored by Novus International, a leader in swine, poultry and dairy nutrition solutions driven by science. Novus’ products and services look at the whole animal, focusing on productivity and well-being, in order to feed the world affordable and wholesome food. For more information, visit Novus’ website at www.novusint.com

The poultry industry plays a significant role in U.S. agriculture, from providing chicken, turkey and eggs to consumers to consuming a goodly quantity of feed ingredients and related services. But how big, overall, is the economic footprint of the combined industry? And what does the trend look like in terms of economic growth tied to U.S. poultry production?

The U.S. Poultry & Egg Association (USPOULTRY), National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and United Egg Producers recently released an updated economic impact study that highlights the positive impact the poultry industry has on jobs, wages, and federal and state revenue in the United States. Conducted every two years, the study provides an in-depth look at the broad impact poultry production has in terms of growing the U.S. economy, providing jobs to more than 1.5 million workers, and generating billions of dollars in tax revenue to the federal, state, and local governments.

In this episode we hear from Gwen Venable, Executive Vice President, Communications for the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association, to learn more about the study and its findings.

To learn more, you can dig into the data by visiting PoultryFeedsAmerica.org. You can also read our latest coverage of the business of poultry and egg production in the pages of Feedstuffs. Find our latest issue and past editions by visiting Feedstuffs.com and clicking on “Digital Editions.”