Have you ever been off-roading? My first experience engaging in this sport was when my brother and his family invited me to join them off-roading some of the more difficult trails in the Uwharrie National Forest in North Carolina. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be easy, but at the end of the day, I learned the advantages of knowing when to “slam on the brakes” and push down hard on the “skinny pedal.” It was worth the effort.

This week, I sat down with Lara Moody, the Institute for Feed Education and Research’s new executive director, to see what path led her to this role and what experiences she brings with her.  

After a bit of a setback with COVID-19, Leah Wilkinson and I are back (virtually) to participating in the Codex Committee on Veterinary Drugs in Food (CCRVDF) meetings. Recently, we zeroed in on agenda item 3.2, an update from the Food and Agriculture Organization on “carry-over in feed and transfer from feed to food of unavoidable and unintended residues of approved veterinary drugs.” Leah participated as the feed industry representative for the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) and I participated as the feed industry representative on the U.S. delegation.  

At the Institute for Feed Education and Research, we’re actively working to launch the Sustainability Road Map project. Sustainability is something so embedded in agriculture, it almost seems unimportant to spend so much time and energy addressing the issue. I’ve been in agriculture all my life and have witnessed the huge strides made in all facets to produce more with less, while preserving our land and resources for the next generation. In the feed business, we all agree with the concept, but how do we show others we can back-up our sustainability claims?

It’s been an interesting first few months with the Biden administration. When President Joe Biden came into office in January, the major issue he faced was our country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of his priorities were temporarily put on the back burner to allow the administration to focus most of its efforts on the pandemic, which has been ruling the lives of most Americans.

Last fall, we had the opportunity to hear from some of our members about how they adjusted their corporate policies to not only protect the health and safety of their teams throughout the coronavirus pandemic, but also to care for the well-being of their employees. Many industry leaders recognized the exhaustion their employees were experiencing was real, especially as they struggled to deal with many unprecedented challenges simultaneously – from, at times, working overtime to cover for a reduction in staff, to learning how to work remotely, to juggling childcare.

As July 9 suddenly sneaks up on me, my summer with the American Feed Industry Association as their 2021 summer communications intern is coming to an end. I have much to reflect and look back on. I feel like my summer had just begun, but then I blinked, and now I am saying (virtually) goodbye to the staff members here.

Did you know that aquaculture is an industry that makes up 613,000 tons of the total 283.8 million tons of feed consumed in the United States? The American Feed Industry Association is proud to represent this important segment of the feed industry.