Every year, the American Feed Industry Association has the honor of thanking those who have greatly impacted our industry in a positive way. These outstanding individuals represent the ‘best of the best,’ exhibiting amazing expertise to help the AFIA achieve its goals and objectives, providing outstanding support to the entire feed industry throughout their careers and making significant contributions to animal feed. 

This week, the American Feed Industry Association held its Digital Dialogues webinar series, highlighting what we can expect for the weather, cattle and global markets.

Animal agriculture is taking sustainability seriously and is making great strides in reducing its footprint and taking care of animals. To commemorate National Pork Month, or Porktober, as it’s affectionately known as, I would like to share how this important sector of the agricultural industry is committing itself to taking care of both animals and our planet.

What the food supply chain experienced in March and how it responded to an almost overnight shift in consumer demand from foodservice to home kitchens in light of the coronavirus pandemic was “nothing short of remarkable.” That was the sentiment several of the country’s leading food companies told attendees at The Wall Street Journal’s Global Food Forum on Monday.

As I sit down to write this blog, my home office is shared with my second grader, while my sixth and ninth graders work from their bedrooms. The 2020-21 school year is not exactly how I planned it would be, but we are all adjusting. It’s been a while since I have shared an office with anyone and I’ve learned that noise cancelling headphones for both of us is very helpful! As teachers are pivoting to teach online (and parents who are supplementing during asynchronous time so they can do their jobs), I thought about all the agricultural groups that have pulled together great educational resources that can be used for school-aged children. 

Here’s an interesting new finding: out of all U.S. business sectors, Americans are currently feeling the most positive about the food and agriculture industries, says a recent Gallup survey. This is the first time in Gallup’s 20 years of tracking views of business and industry sectors that farming and agriculture have overtaken the former top ranking industries of restaurants and computers.

Earlier this year, the animal food industry released a really great research report chock-full of information about America’s pet food manufacturing industry. The Institute for Feed Education and Research and American Feed Industry Association have been sharing this information to interested stakeholders far and wide, telling the story of how the country’s 500+ pet food manufacturers not only provide balanced, safe meals for America’s dogs and cats, but also stimulate the overall agricultural economy through the purchase of ingredients, labor and services from related industries.

Even before the pandemic, the protracted trade war between the U.S. and China and widespread animal disease outbreaks in Asia left supply chains frayed and sales in question. Since the introduction of COVID-19, the economic slowdown and uncertainty around some of the basics, such as the availability of flights, containers and other logistics to export markets, has further put the pinch on sales. If it is not already in your export portfolio, animal food manufacturers should consider Vietnam and whether there is value and sales opportunities there.