Our most read story last month was ASF related.
In a report on the implications of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China, Rabobank forecast a further drop in local swine production in 2020 in China, which it predicted would reduce overall pork production, suggesting imports will increase in 2020, above record levels.
ASF, as well are all acutely aware at this stage, spread to a number of countries in 2019. After hitting China and Vietnam – the two major pork countries in Asia – and Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, it made its way to the Philippines, South Korea, and Indonesia in 2H 2019. The impact in many countries, though still significant, is not as big as in China and Vietnam, due to lower hog population density and preparedness for the disease, noted the Rabobank team.
Our second most read, or in this case, most listened to story, was a podcast focused on sustainable cattle production.
As cows burb, they emit the methane produced in their stomach, and this factor makes dairy and beef production responsible for a significant amount of man-made global warming. So the race is on to find solutions to reduce methane emissions in livestock, namely in dairy and beef cattle.
To weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of some of the solutions already on the table, as part of our new podcast series, Feed Matters, we interviewed methane emission reduction expert, Dr Jan Dijkstra, associate professor, ruminant nutrition, Wageningen University.
He analysed major developments in this area for us from work done with seaweed to the methane reduction success rate to date recorded in trials on DSM's feed additive, 3NOP. He also evaluated the impact of roughage quality on methane production in ruminants and how this can differ depending on the type of animal involved - sheep, beef cattle or dairy cows. Finally, he assessed the impact of residual feed intake and feed efficiency on methane release in livestock, and determined how effective it is to go down the genetic route and select for low methane emitting cows.
Coming in third in our Top 10 list of most popular stories for February 2020 was an article related to criminal activity - a story about arrests in a feed fraud case in the Netherlands.
We reported on how three employees of a feed company based in Noord-Brabant, in the Netherlands, were arrested for selling non-certified food waste as feedstuffs to livestock farmers, as per a statement from the Dutch public prosecution office [OM].
The arrests followed an eight-month long investigation into the operation.
The prosecution office suspected that the company blended and resold substances from mostly unregistered producers - or even waste not suitable for use in feed – to farmers as feed with the GMP + quality label. The company may have generated revenue of €4m through this fraudulent approach from 2017 up until May 2019, said the authorities.
Our first story about the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, one looking at potential disruption to feed additive supply arising from the spread of the virus in China and consequent factory shutdowns, ranked number four in our roll-call of most read stories last month.
The article was based on a survey conducted by feed and food additive trading platform, Kemiex.
Our fifth most read story related to Brazil, and a USDA outlook report.
Higher feed prices and export market uncertainty connected to the ongoing coronavirus – or COVID-19 – outbreak in China are not dampening export market expectations for beef and pork producers in Brazil, found the report.
"Despite the current logistical problems with the ports and the internal transportation system in China, Brazil’s beef exports soared to China during Jan-Feb 2020. Brazilian packers also expect higher beef exports to China throughout the year due to the continued problems derived from the outbreak of African Swine Fever [in China] and higher demand for beef.”
Beef production in Brazil is anticipated to increase by 3.4% while pork production is predicted to expand by 4.5%, with the growth in production supported by export and domestic demand, wrote the USDA.
A story looking at a report showing the BSF market will be worth US$2.57bn in 2030 gained a lot of traction last month.
Insect species that are mass-reared such as black soldier fly (BSF) have received significant attention mainly due to their ability to feed on different substrates including organic waste streams, according to the report.
As well as the increasing demand from the feed industry for alternative proteins, the growth of the BSF market stems from a hike in global meat demand, the development of the aquaculture industry, and more government support for the use of insect meal in livestock feed, along with investments by the key players in the BSF industry, noted the authors.
A story that proved popular with our audience last month was another novel feed related piece.
The article was about how USDA researchers saw that the addition of frass generated by black soldier fly (BSF) larvae to the diets of farmed catfish increased fish feed intake and weight gain. Nevertheless, there were downsides noted, as the feed could reduce feed and protein use efficiency, said the team involved.tory:
The study was published in the journal Aquaculture Nutrition.
There was a lot of interest in a story last month about the likely impact of an ASF outbreak in Germany on EU pig prices.
A UK AHDB report outlined how the spread of African Swine Fever (ASF) into Germany may have less severe consequences for EU pig prices than it would have 18 months ago, given that the sharp rise in Chinese import demand has drawn enough product from the EU market that if German pork is retained within the bloc, the market is unlikely to be swamped.
“Prices are still likely to fall, but probably not to the historic lows we might have seen otherwise. Much of this analysis is dependent on the assumption that Chinese import demand holds, and even increases this year. The pork supply gap is expected to be even larger than in 2019, so this seems likely, but international relations and the current coronavirus situation do bring some uncertainty.”
Our report in mid-February on the blaze at ADM's facility in Clinton Iowa, the same production site that also had a fire-related incident last year, drew a lot of attention.
The incident at the facility in January 2019 saw one firefighter killed and another injured.
A story about an investigation in the Netherlands into illegal export of processed animal proteins from ruminants generated a lot of clicks.
Two homes and three business premises in the country were raided as part of the probe.