Evonik was awarded with special recognition in the categories of “Business Responsibility and Ethics” and “Supply Chain Management” at the Sustainability Business Awards (SBA) Singapore 2018. The recognition specifically highlights Evonik’s consistent and outstanding approach to its sustainability agenda. For example, in the area of supply chain management, Evonik is taking active steps to perform a sustainability evaluation of 90 percent of suppliers of critical raw materials by the end of 2020.

The Association of Exporters of Peru (ADEX) has awarded Vitapro the prize for the Export Excellence Award in the Product Diversification category. This recognition promotes national competitiveness and excellence and innovation of Peruvian exporters in the foreign market. "This award is the fruit of the effort of the entire organization to contribute to the development of our country, with a first-class product that meets the highest standards of quality and working hand in hand with our clients for the development of modern aquaculture."

According to experts who will present at the Biomin World Nutrition Forum, the expanding danger that secondary fungal metabolites pose to global feed safety, profitability and sustainability is becoming more apparent to the scientific community and agriculture sector. Fungi-produced mycotoxins endanger more than feed safety and security. They also hamper productivity, adding additional cost to the feed and food industry while also affecting the environment. Higher atmospheric temperatures, elevated carbon dioxide levels and water stress associated with climate change may all contribute to higher mycotoxin contamination of crops in the future.

At the recent Aqua Expo El Oro fair, organized by the National Chamber of Aquaculture of Ecuador, Nicovita presented on technological transformation and its tools; the application to the productive realities of the aquaculture industry. "The aquaculture of the future is projected with many challenges that can only be overcome with innovation and technology. With this transformation, tangible improvements will be achieved, such as higher productivity in a sustainable manner and lower production costs."

This year Geelen Counterflow supplied its 10,000th counterflow system. When the company started in 1980, it specialized exclusively in the counterflow cooler as invented by its founder Pierre Geelen. Since the late 1980’s the company has also been building counterflow dryers for aquafeed, food, and petfood using the counterflow heat exchange principle. Dryers typically consume 40-60% of an extrusion line’s total energy consumption, but counterflow dryers consume 20-50% less energy than belt dryers.

Cargill and ADM have formally launched SoyVenTM, their new joint venture to provide soybean meal and oil for customers in Egypt. SoyVen owns and operates the National Vegetable Oil Company soy crush facility in Borg Al-Arab. The plant’s daily crush capacity has been doubled to 6,000 metric tons in order to meet increasing Egyptian demand for higher-protein soybean meal and for oil, reducing the need for imports.

Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Probiotics International Limited (PIL). The all-cash transaction will be valued at £185 million. PIL, known under its umbrella brand Protexin, is a provider of probiotic supplements for human wellness and animal markets, including aquaculture. “There are great synergies with ADM and Biopolis, especially in the area of R&D, and we plan to add to an already very exciting development pipeline to provide innovative, evidence-based products of the highest quality for people and animals.”

Biomin has announced the publication of new survey results on the use of phytogenic feed additives (PFAs, or botanicals) in farm animal diets worldwide. According to the results, the digestibility enhancement and antimicrobial effects of phytogenics continue to rank as the two top reasons for the application of PFAs in animal diets. “The interest in how plant-based substances can contribute to better health and performance of farm animals remains strong among the feed and animal protein industries in all sectors and geographies, as evidenced by the latest findings.”

Neovia has announced it will become the majority shareholder of Hi Nutrients, a leading player on the premix market in Nigeria. Through this acquisition, Neovia is gaining a foothold in a promising market in which the company wants to draw on Hi Nutrients’ premix market position to develop and roll out its international premix brand Wisium’s portfolio of products and services.

BASF has released Natuphos® E, a new generation phytase which helps aquaculture animals, pigs, and poultry better utilize phosphorous and other key nutrients. BASF will be launching the product in Vietnam, and BIOMIN Vietnam will be responsible for the distribution in the country.

KnipBio, Inc. announced that it has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant by the National Science Foundation to study how changes in diet can alleviate enteritis and other diseases in aquaculture. The company will investigate more than a dozen specific components in its KnipBio Meal™ (KBM) aquafeed ingredient to determine which can act as positive nutritional factors in both growth and gut biome composition of the model salmonid species rainbow trout. The study will be conducted over the course of one year and, if successful, may lead to additional funding to commercialize the findings. 

Aller Aqua has announced the opening of Aller Aqua AM in Armenia. "We have been present on this market for 20 years and followed the great development of aquaculture in the country. With this initiative we strengthen the availability of our products and show our continued support of the fish farmers and the ongoing development of the aquaculture industry in Armenia.”

AgriProtein, which is currently developing six Generation One (G1) factory models around the world, has announced that it has received a further investment of USD $105 Million into its UK holding company. With the consolidation of its group headquarters into London, AgriProtein continues to expand its international, project development and leadership teams. John Diener former CEO of Gold Coin has joined as Group COO, with Mark Williams taking on the role of Group CFO and factory project finance. Andrew Bernard, a leading worldwide organic feedstock expert, has also joined the UK based team.

The Fabricators and Manufacturers Association (FMA) presented Bühler Aeroglide with a safety award at the 10th Annual FMA Safety Conference in Chicago, Illinois. “We are pleased to receive this award for the fifth consecutive year. We’ve developed a strong commitment to safety awareness during the past few years, with training and professional development that has increased workforce engagement, while recognizing an inclusiveness of all employees. This award reflects the goals of our in house safety program.“

The Flint Hills Resources Fairmont ethanol plant has nearly completed installation of Maximized Stillage Co-Products™ (MSC) technology. MSC produces a high protein fish and animal feed ingrediet from a portion of the distillers grains produced during the ethanol making process; Flint Hills expect to begin producing their NexPro™ branded protein ingredient this summer. “NexPro is a combination of corn protein and spent yeast. The combination contains about 50 percent protein and contains elevated levels of amino acids such as lysine, which is essential for growth animals. With its excellent protein content and improved amino acid profile, NexPro is a great alternative to traditional feed ingredients like soybean meal and corn gluten meal.”

Corbion has announced that it has completed the acquisition from Bunge Limited of Bunge's stake in the SB Renewable Oils, a joint venture that operates a facility in Brazil specializing in the production of algae ingredients for aquaculture and animal feed. Corbion is now 100% owner of the plant in Orindiúva, which employs around 170 staff.

Veramaris, the DSM and Evonik joint venture to produce omega-3 oil from marine algae, held a topping-out ceremony last weekend at its new production site in Nebraska. Construction is progressing on schedule, and commercial quantities of algal oil will be ready for delivery in mid-2019. Pilot-scale quantities are already being supplied to selected feed producers and farmers for market development. Once operational, the Nebraska plant will have an annual production capacity that could meet roughly 15 percent of the total current annual demand for EPA and DHA by the global salmon aquaculture industry.

Aker BioMarine was named the most innovative company at the 2018 European Business Awards. The company was one of 13 winners of the competition, which began last year with over 112,000 businesses from 34 countries. In cooperation with major educational institutions, Ayer BioMarine conducts innovative research such as incorporating krill in fish feed and the development of eco-harvesting technology.

Biomin has launched a Bahasa version of its new corporate website. The new site features an improved newsletter design, a stronger species-focus to help users quickly navigate their way to the most relevant information, and more.

Novus International, Inc. announced an eight percent price increase for its methionine hydroxy analog feed supplement products, effective immediately. These products include ALIMET®, MHA® and MHA® SP feed supplements. Prices quoted will take into consideration local market conditions, and all existing contracts will be honored.