The show had more than 31,000 attendees from multiple countries, and more than 1,275 exhibitors, organizers said. However, final numbers have yet to be released.
While attending this year’s show FeedNavigator has been asking members of the feed industry and agricultural industries their thoughts on how to engage the next generation of leaders.
“Show them it’s not just making feed, but how every step is so important to the growth of the bird and it’s all a big system,” said attendee Coltin Caraway. “I think millennials, or whoever the future generations are, they like little nitpicky things, they want to know how things are made, they’re interested in the steps – they love to see recipes being made – those kinds of things with feed milling or agriculture would be awesome.”
He suggested that using social media as a way to show what the industry does could be engaging. “Not even informative or detail videos, but quick excepts to show that feed milling, it’s not just mixing feed, it’s engineering, it’s an art – it’s more of an art form than just animal feed,” he added.
Others mentioned the need for outreach to younger students, not just those at the college level.
“The relationship with food starts at a very young age,” said Miranda McDaniel, director of communications with AFIA. “And being able to have the proper information to educate the youth of America about the food they are eating and where it comes from through programs in school systems is extremely important.”
Other perspectives on the concept of engagement include:
However, discussions about steps for engaging the next generation of feed industry members were not the only that that took place: