Tornum acquires Silokonsult Göran Persson AB Leading the campaign for regular successful harvests by Chris Jackson, Export Manager UK TAG Here in the UK we are now well in to another harvest, but one thing that remains certain, despite all of the uncertain politics that surround our country and the world, there has always been a seedtime and a harvest. With some years better than others for crop yields. Looking back at our uncertain world, very recently the harvest of vegetables in Northern Australia was destroyed by tornados, meaning a year’s production was lost. We have seen such tragedies happen over the years and the in different continents demonstrating the need to have food reserves kept to fill such shortfalls. Todays’ world depends on being able to move food across the continents quickly and in a manner fit for consumption a costly exercise for the wealthy western world. Certainly here in the UK the assumption is that our population will continue to be able to import its food needs. This leads to a continued challenge to produce more from the decreasing land space. Fortunately research and development are continuing to aid our farmers in their quest. In addition, food is being produced in more innovative ways, for example, the continuing development of hydroponics for fruit and vegetables, more use of indoor production with plastic poly tunnels allowing longer growing times not to mention the development of the aquaculture industries for both fresh and sea water fish and crustaceans. Production continues to rely on adequate supplies of water, another challenge as we see floods and droughts; fresh water needs to be contained when it is in over supply and re-distributed to areas of need. This is a particular challenge in countries such as Australia where the Northern Territory and Queensland have an over supply but politics stops that being made available via a canal or pie system to areas of more need. For the production of protein from animal 38 | August 2017 - Milling and Grain

sources I was reminded at a conference last week, there is now serious competition between the species that are most able to quickly and efficiently convert vegetable into meat, such as poultry and fish vying for the most efficient convertors followed by pigs. The luxury market being left for sheep, goats and cattle which by their very nature, demand a lot of land space but nevertheless make very significant contributions to farming incomes. This is especially so in the case of cattle where meat can be produced as a by-product of the dairy industry. These intensive production systems that are necessary to produce food in sufficient quantities for our expanding population, are under constant threat from the challenge of disease and there is an overriding need in the world to make production possible without the need to use antibiotics continually in the production systems leading to anti microbial resistance in the human population. The UK has been leading in this campaign for many years with a total ban on routine usage and where necessary, prescription use of drugs, strictly controlled by government veterinarians along with meat withdrawal from the food chain. To help with this, efficient management and healthy production systems have been developed, at the same time as our geneticists have been looking for animal genes that control health. Let’s refer to this as genetic development, farmers worldwide have been achieving this since man started to farm but in a time consuming way but progress was made with both animals and plants suited to local conditions. Now we have science to speed the progress. So speaking from the UK with our enhanced cereal varieties, higher yields, and more efficient harvesting machinery, let’s hope that we have a bountiful harvest that will be good for our feed manufactures millers and ultimately to our population. @AgrictecExports

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ornum AB has completed the acquisition of all outstanding shares in Silokonsult Göran Persson AB – a Swedish supplier of machinery and planning for the grain and milling industries. The acquisition will strengthen the company’s position as a supplier of grain processing equipment for industrial customers in Sweden. Revenues for the fiscal year ending in April 2017 amounted to approximately EUR6.5 million. Per Larsson, CEO of Tornum commented, “The acquisition will provide us with products and skills that historically not have been core business for the company. A very limited number of companies in the Nordics have the same skill set when it comes to applications for the agricultural and milling industries. Further, we believe that our knowledge in the field of grain handling will have a positive impact on the performance of Silokonsult. All in all, we are certain that the merger will create growth opportunities for both the companies.” Silokonsult Göran Persson is a supplier and planning company, serving customers all over Sweden. The customer base is mainly in the grain, milling, feed, livestock and seed industries. The company is headquartered in Skara, but projects are carried out all over Sweden. The founder and former owner, Göran Persson, will continue his engagements with the company. He explained that, “When I realised that Tornum was interested in acquiring my company I immediately had a good feeling. They are one of the most well known companies in the industry and I believe this is a perfect match for Silokonsult. I am confident that they have great longterm plans for the business and that the ambition is to grow the business going forward. Further, I believe that there is a demand for our type of services outside of Sweden and I am confident that we can utilise this opportunity together.”