Feed Equipment Industry Dives Into Labor and Supply Chain Issues

November 14, 2023

Contact Victoria Broehm

Over 60 industry professionals and 28 spouses gathered in Tucson, Ariz., last week to participate in the American Feed Industry Association’s (AFIA) annual Equipment Manufacturers Conference (EMC). Hosted by AFIA’s Equipment Manufacturers Committee, this year’s conference focused on labor and supply chain issues in the feed industry.

“This year's conference was one of the best ever! It was held at a great location, fostered excellent networking and featured a tremendous agenda of excellent speakers and topics,” said Gary Huddleston, AFIA’s director of feed manufacturing and regulatory affairs.

The conference included sessions on how AFIA members can use lessons from the pandemic to help manage their businesses for the future and more. It also offered attendees an opportunity to hear about how they can use immigration laws to their advantage, a new university scholarship model, ways to market a company to recruit new and retain current employees, discussions....industry, and more.

The AFIA Equipment Manufacturers Committee raises additional funds for a scholarship fundraiser through a golf putting contest and a raffle at the group dinner. This year, donations via golf, raffle, donations from Hayes & Stolz in honor of Dale Presnell, and a donation from Johnny Wheat of 4B Components, Ltd., raised a total of $8,950 to support the scholarship fund.

The AFIA congratulated the first-place team of this year’s golf tournament: Paul Allen, of Agri-Industrial Division, Jason Hoekstra of EPL Feed LLC, Joe Natale of Premier Tech Systèmes Automatisés and Johnny Wheat of 4B Components, Ltd. The AFIA also congratulated the overall winner of the putting contest: Jonathen Cowles of WL Port-Land Systems, Inc.