Great success stories for our industry by Chris Jackson, Export Manager UK TAG Last month I wrote that here in the UK our harvest was well under way, I should not have tempted fate as Mother Nature has taken a hand and our country has seen almost daily rainfall in the southwest - torrential summer storms causing structural damage. For the rest of us, a delay to harvest is not all bad news, for the farmers with arable crops where harvest has been in part completed fieldwork has been undertaken ready for the next crops. Of course in this country where grass production is very important for our cattle and sheep industries that mostly rely on livestock grazing for high welfare production, there has been after a dry start to the growing season. With light early crops there is a boost in growth allowing for conservation for the coming winter. There is no other industry in the world that faces the daily challenges of framing and none so vital to survival. Of course our scientists and geneticists continue to play a vital role in our lives, developing new plant varieties able to produce high yields in lessening growing times. Take wheat production here in the UK, four tonne yields per acre is regularly achieved more than doubling the output in the last 40 years with the scourge of take all eliminated by genetics. For ruminant livestock farming, new highly productive grasses have been developed and are widely used in suitable areas making for more intensive farming methods to be developed. This is needed to maximise production from diminishing resources and to allow farmers to make profits to continue production. In the more intensive pig industry genetics have meant that in the last 50 years farming land needed for production has reduced by 70 percent. These challenges have also been met by the uptake of new technologies and mechanical developments allowing for production with less people involved a theme that I continually refer to. Today, farm workers are highly skilled machinery operators and livestock producers but sadly our industry is still 38 | September 2017 - Milling and Grain
not regarded highly by the younger generations that we need to encourage to become involved. Climate change has been much talked about with droughts in production areas, floods in others for example; Australia, wild fires with extreme heat in southern Europe. The USA farming methods have been an easy target to criticise for a negative impact on this. But the population needs primary production with safe food systems developed to satisfy the demands of a growing world population. In most of the developed world consumers expect their food to be supplied both cheaply and in a safe format. Whilst in other areas we see much hunger, starvation and poverty. An affordable better distribution system needs to be developed to counter this. As we have to intensify production then we have to have effective trace ability systems in place to ensure that food is delivered in a safe format for consumption. This becomes even more vital as we see moves by populations in to cities and urban areas. However we intensify, and as much as some people would like us all to go back to producing our own food, it is simply not practical. We need to be sure that intensive farming systems can produce food fit for human consumption that will be beneficial. Here Governments must play their part in monitoring supplies, only recently we have seen eggs contaminated by the pesticide fipronil, produced in Holland being consumed across France, Belgium and the UK. Within the EU this product is banned from use in animals and birds destined for human consumption. There has to have been a breakdown or a mistake made within the production cycle to have allowed contaminated products in to the market place. But without the use of products to aid health control large-scale production cannot take place. Here again is a very clear message our operatives need to be highly skilled and motivated to produce high quality safe food. Which we all take for granted in our western world of high-speed living, supermarkets and fast food outlets. @AgrictecExports
AFIA thanks its outgoing committee members
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he American Feed Industry Association depends heavily on the dedication and involvement of hundreds of members who volunteer annually to serve on committees that further the success of the association’s mission, objectives and programs. The organisation has released a statement thanking these volunteer members and the companies they represent for their service, as many long-term projects have been tackled because of their extra efforts. Committee terms run from May 1-April 30 each year, and volunteers serve a term of three years. Each of AFIA’s 19 committees represent the interests of specific disciplines and segments throughout the feed industry and work together on supporting activities and programs critical to AFIA’s legislative and regulatory efforts and various member services. "Representing members by providing one solidified voice for the feed industry" Joel G. Newman, AFIA President and CEO remarked, “It takes more than just AFIA staff to provide the leadership driving this association, with their expertise and unique perspective, committee members come together to help achieve our goal of representing members by providing one solidified voice for the feed industry.”