INTERVIEW 56 FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE March 2022 Covid-19 outbreak (+ 5.7% compared to 2019). On the other hand, 2020 was a difficult year with logistical challenges and reduced margins. Belgium recovered the ASF-free status at the end of 2020, but export of pig meat remained very difficult. The Chinese market, for example, still hasn’t been reopened for Belgian pig meat. Hence, the Belgium pig farmers received very low prices for their products, putting pressure on feed production as well. In 2021, the continued rise in price for raw materials and energy put even more pressure on the margins. The total production remained almost stable in 2021 (compared to 2020), but a decline in pig feed (more specifically feed for piglets and sows) started in the second half of the year due to the crisis in the pig breeding industry. It is expected that this decline will continue in the upcoming months. How the situation will develop over the coming years depends also on the discussions around the emission of ammonia. These emissions have to be reduced, but it remains to be decided which measures will be accepted (reduction of protein content of feed, less animals, technical innovations, etc.). In addition to above, there is a crisis situation in pig breeding industry of your country due to the cost/price balance. What is the importance of pig farming industry for Belgium? What are the problems experienced in this sector and how do these problems affect your business and your country? The crisis in in the pig breeding industry has different causes. We obviously suffered from the outbreak of ASF in 2018. Belgium could no longer export to China while countries such as Denmark and Spain - where pig production increased significantly over the last couple of years – still could, made the situation worse. With China lowering the import of EU pig meat – including from Denmark and Spain – and the outbreak of ASF in Germany, there is currently too much pig meat on the EU market. Together with very high prices for raw materials and hence for feed, this leads to a real storm for the pig farming industry. With pig feed accounting for half of the total Belgian feed production, the problems at the level of pig production extend to the feed sector as well. The global animal nutrition industry is also at the center of a very busy agenda, such as antibiotic-free production, sustainability, environmental footprint, carbon emissions, alternative proteins, feed safety and animal welfare. How do all these agendas affect the feed industry in Belgium? Which of these issues are particularly at the forefront in the agenda of Belgian feed industry? The Belgian animal feed sector has committed to a sustainable feed production for many years. Together with its members, BFA has already undertaken several initiatives in this respect. With its Sustainability Charter published in September 2020, BFA intends to take even a step further and defined 12 objectives to be met by 2030. The Belgian animal feed sector strives to reduce the production of antibiotic-medicated feed to 0%. Also, the sector committed to a 13% reduction of methane emissions by 2025 by applying specific feed measures (e.g. 3-NOP, nitrate as electron receptor, extruded linseed, rapeseed meal and brewers’ grain). BFA will offer its members training on life cycle analyses (LCA) to be able to evaluate the impact of their raw materials, refine their approach and reduce the ecological footprint. BFA and the Flemish government published the Flemish Protein Strategy aiming to reduce the import of soy and to diversify the use of alternative protein sources. Besides, BFA maps out the net contribution of Belgian livestock farming to the supply of proteins to humans. As a last example, the sector wants to contribute to the circular economy by increasing the share of co-products used in animal feed. By 2030, 50% of the raw materials used in the Belgian animal feed industry will be co-products of the food and biofuel industries. In the context of food safety, BFA developed a sectoral sampling plan with the aim of guaranteeing high-quality animal feeds. Samples are taken at three levels: (1) at the raw material suppliers and at the compound feed manufacturers both (2) before and (3) after the mixing process. When it comes to animal welfare, BFA is one of the founding members of Belpork, the Belgian quality system for pig production. In 2021, Belpork developed a specific module around animal welfare.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNjkxNQ==