Feed Technology
Of passion, innovation and knowledge transfer An interview with Cargill Aqua Nutrition’s Einar Wathne, on how he intends to steer the new group into Asia’s aqua feed industry, riding on the innovation experience in Ewos. The 2015 Cargill acquisition of Ewos, a leading supplier of feed and nutrition, and strong in the major salmon farming regions, was an industry milestone. The new business unit, Cargill Aqua Nutrition (CQN) combines the feed operations of Ewos for cold water species in Norway, Chile, Canada and Scotland and a feed plant in Vietnam, with all the aqua feed activities for warm water fish and shrimp species under Cargill Animal Nutrition. During a recent visit to Singapore, AAP caught up with Dr Einar Wathne, President and group leader of CQN, to find out his plans and strategies for the new group. Einar who is based in Bergen, Norway also gave some of his insights on aquaculture in Asia. “The idea behind this acquisition and Cargill investment is because Cargill wants to grow in the seafood sector. This complements its decades-long existence in food production which has been largely land based; beef, pork and chicken. Clearly, this is a strategic choice on the part of Cargill to be in this sector,” said Einar. “Size-wise we are now made up of two thirds from Ewos and one third from Cargill. Out of the 20 countries where Cargill already has a history, there is only one overlap; Vietnam where Ewos produces feed for Vietnam’s pangasius and marine fish industry.” Einar has spent his entire 30 year career within the aqua feed industry and all of them with Ewos. With a PhD in aquaculture from the Agricultural University of Norway and an MBA from the Norwegian School of Management, Einar was an industrial nutrition scientist for more than 10 years. Fifteen years ago, he entered a range of management roles within Ewos, before he took over as CEO of the Ewos group in 2013. Now as CQN group leader, Einar brings with him the culture of driving feed innovations in cold water species and transferring the innovation capabilities into warm water species. “Clearly, we know that salmon nutrition has the leading technology. This acquisition was a necessity if Cargill wanted to execute its strategy. The alternative which would be to build up from ground zero, would have taken a long time.”
On the to-do list On the top of Einar’s list are three areas; building the team, transferring technology and extending the sustainability philosophy. “My first focus is to build an aqua team; one with a passion for aquaculture. This is our entrepreneurial spirit.” The next step of the journey will be transferring the knowledge across species identified as tilapia, shrimp and salmon. One global project already in process focuses on product quality, such as a super purified pellet that is uniform with the right floating properties. This is a unique demand from aqua farmers versus that from land based farmers. This is a competence being
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March/April 2017 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific Magazine
Einar Wathne. As CQN group leader, Einar brings with him the culture of driving feed innovations and transferring these into warm water species
transferred from the salmon industry where feed handling is very harsh with advance feeding systems and very high mechanical stress on the feeds. “The next focus revolves around our expertise in salmon nutrition - which is lower in fish meal and other properties compared to other aqua feeds - and transferring this to feed technology for the marine shrimp, tilapia or pangasius. For example, Ewos has a history of developing functional feeds and solutions that can be effective across a variety of species. “Thirdly, is our focus on sustainability, an area driven by consumers. The salmon industry is well ahead in this as compared to warm water fish species. Our role is to work to transfer the system on reporting and communication which we had in Ewos for several years to this new group. For several years, Ewos’ sustainability report was voted the best in the industry and we plan to maintain this as well as expand this for the whole aqua feed business of Cargill,” said Einar. “This has to do a lot about transparency. Our consumers are asking on not only the kind of fish, but where is it farmed, what it is fed on, what is the origin of components used and is it sustainable? We have learnt that this can give a good platform for dialogue and understanding and in some areas, improvements. We are focussing not only that the feeds are sustainably produced but on the ingredients, either land based or that the fisheries are sustainably managed.”
Building a competitive edge in Asia CQN has to its advantage Cargill’s presence in many countries and facilities co-located with animal production facilities. This provides a synergy in operations. However, Einar’s emphasis is on the need to invest in animal testing facilities.