World Grain - February 2023 - 46

Belstra Milling of DeMotte, Indiana, US, and Western
Milling of Goshen, California, US.
Kent Nutrition Group is a division of Kent Corp., a
family-owned company based in Muscatine, Iowa, US,
with a history of innovation in animal nutrition, food,
beverage and personal care ingredients, agriculture,
and pet care. Kent Nutrition Group manufactures nutrition
products for everything from livestock to small
animals.
The AFIA has been recognizing excellent feed manufacturing
facilities through the Feed Facility of the Year
program since 1985, with 2021 marking the first year
that the association began issuing top industry awards
to facilities in four categories: commercial dry, liquid
feed, premix and ingredient, and integrator.
ADM was
among the
world's major
feed producers
attending this
year's event.
Facility of the Year during the IPPE.
The 2022 award, sponsored by the AFIA and
Feedstuffs, went to the Kent Feeds plant in Marshall,
Missouri, US.
Gary Huddleston, director of feed manufacturing and
regulatory affairs at the AFIA, presented the facility's
leadership team with the award.
" Back when I was a plant manager, there was a
plaque on my wall that simply said, 'Do the right
thing,' " Huddleston said. " That's what I wanted my
employees to always understand: Do the right thing every
day. What we try to do in this program is recognize
facilities that do the right thing every day. "
He noted that although the Marshall plant is an older
facility, built in 1976, it stands out because employees
" do the right things every day. "
" They recently installed a (Repete) pellet mill automation
system that helps them be more efficient and to have
better quality control, " Huddleston said. " The Marshall
plant prides itself in offering excellent customer service
and manufacturing high-quality feed each and every day.
They have a lot of dedicated employees. "
The feed mill produces about 52,000 tonnes of multispecies
feed per year and has an 80% to 20% split between
bulk and bagged feed, Huddleston said.
Chris Igo, plant manager at the Marshall facility, received
a plaque from Huddleston and credited " a great
group of employees " for the honor. The feed mill has
14 employees.
Other finalists for this year's Commercial Feed
Facility of the Year award were Kent Nutrition Group
of Mason, Michigan, US, which was the winner of the
2021 Commercial Dry Feed Facility of the Year award,
46
Sustainability toolkit
A new toolkit released by the Institute for Feed
Education and Research (IFEEDER) during IPPE will
help feed industry members start and maintain a sustainability
program.
The Animal Food Industry Sustainability Toolkit is
the culmination of 18 months of research and development,
said Lara Moody, executive director of IFEEDER,
during the Animal Agriculture Sustainability Summit
on Jan. 24.
Sustainability is an important topic for feed industry
members, Moody said, according to a survey they
recently completed. Relative to climate alone, feed accounts
for anywhere from 30% to 70% of animal agriculture's
footprint.
" So that makes feed very significant to many of the
goals and targets that downstream stakeholders are setting, "
Moody said.
But it's the whole feed value chain that is important
to IFEEDER. Commodity crop producers as well
as livestock producers and others downstream have a
piece in the solution as well, she said.
" It's really important in the feed sector not to put the
weight on feed, " Moody said. " We have solutions, but
they only work if we work with the whole value chain
because of the market driven systems that have to occur. "
The toolkit provides an " on-ramp " for animal food
industry members who have said they are ready and
willing to support broader sustainability goals.
The toolkit materials are grouped into three stages to
support those companies getting started, making progress
and reporting out on their set targets and goals.
" We developed it as a step-wise approach that we
call crawl, walk and run, " Moody said. " There's a little
something in there for everyone. It's not to say those
steps have to be performed in that order, but it's a place
for folks to start. "
Within the toolkit there are 20-plus resources, inFebruary
2023 / World Grain / World-Grain.com
http://www.World-Grain.com
World Grain - February 2023

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