AFIA's Feed 101 Program Hosts USDA on Feed Mill Tour

Written by: Guest   |   June 21, 2023

Federal agencies, Trade

By: Emma Bower, AFIA's summer communications intern

The American Feed Industry Association’s Mallory Gaines and Gary Huddleston recently brought staff from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service on a tour of the Kent Nutrition feed mill in Hagerstown, Md., as part of the AFIA’s Feed 101 Program.

This program was created by the AFIA to help government personnel better understand the animal feed and pet food industries. The more educated these government staff are, the better they can work with and on behalf of industry to address global trade issues. This program is also important because it debunks the idea that the U.S. animal food industry is just crop commodities -- corn, soybeans, and hay. AFIA’s members represent way more than that, from micronutrients to enzymes and more.

The topics discussed during this tour included the varieties of feed ingredients that the plant utilizes to produce complete feed, how the feed comes into the plant and is mixed into specific diets, how antibiotics are safely handled, and the hundreds of different ingredients the plant manages to create balanced diets.