06 December 2021 – As pork producers gear up for 2022, there are a number of concerns they will be taking along with them. From increasing feed prices and supply chain bottlenecks to sustainability initiatives and the looming European ban on zinc oxide as a medical veterinary product, the list of obstacles they will have to successfully navigate in the new year is not getting shorter.
But according to DSM’s Global Marketing Director for Swine, Dr. Maria Walsh, pig producers can count on the company and its extensive portfolio of solutions to help them address these challenges and maintain efficient and profitable production into 2022 and beyond.
With more than seven months in her current role, Feedinfo was keen to find out more on the direction she sees DSM taking to help swine producers confidently tackle current concerns – particularly sustainability – and how the addition of BIOMIN has influenced this strategy. We also delved into the solutions and services the newly combined organisation is looking to bring to pig producers in the future.
[Feedinfo] Dr. Walsh, since the acquisition, how has DSM’s strategy for swine producers changed? How will the addition of BIOMIN benefit your customers in the sector?
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[Maria Walsh] With the acquisition of BIOMIN last year, came the opportunity to fine tune our swine strategic direction and focus while accelerating our ability to deliver value to our swine-producing customers. A little over a year ago, we launched our ‘We Make It Possible’ initiative for sustainable animal production which is addressing the biggest sustainability concerns in animal agriculture. These platforms continue to be our overarching strategic guide in the development of efficient and sustainable performance solutions and services that address the key challenges of the swine industry in today’s turbulent environment. such as disease, high ingredient costs, environmental emissions and sow longevity. |
The addition of BIOMIN to the DSM family is allowing us to better service our customers with a more complete solution and service offering adding expertise on mycotoxin risk management and gut health coupled with a more extensive network of global and local technical support and sales expertise.
[Feedinfo] Let’s talk a bit more about the “We Make It Possible” campaign. Sustainability can be quite a broad term. Where is DSM placing its focus here when it comes to pork producers?
[Maria Walsh] Our ‘We Make It Possible’ initiative reflects DSM’s commitment to leading robust and achievable worldwide transformation of sustainable protein production and supporting our customers in this direction. In the context of swine production, the five swine relevant focused platforms are manifested through three dedicated programmes tackling production challenges by pig life stage.
Our PERFORMING AND LASTING SOW programme is focused on improving the lifetime performance of sows while also reducing reliance on antimicrobials. It is a dedicated performance solution approach designed to maximise the number of piglets produced during a sow’s lifetime, recognising that with hyper-prolificacy comes additional production challenges. Maximising the lifetime performance of sows is a critical and tangible target to support sustainable pork production.
Our HEALTHY AND FAST-GROWING PIGLET programme is a complete and comprehensive solution for piglet care supporting health and welfare thus enabling our customers to reduce their need for medication and giving flexibility in the use of alternative feed raw materials. It supports the immediate need for strategies to tackle antimicrobial resistance and more efficient use of natural resources.
Our EFFICIENT AND SUSTAINABLE GROWER-FINISHER programme is centred around driving the efficient conversion of feed to pork while managing emissions. It contains carefully crafted combinations of enzymes, eubiotics and special nutrients together with services to optimise raw material utilisation and support gut health while reducing nitrogen output. It enables our customers to more efficiently utilise natural resources, improve the quality and safety of their pork and reduce food losses while actively managing nitrogen emissions.
DSM is one of the first companies in the consumer ingredient sector to make its societal impact explicit through a set of measurable food system commitments which include enabling our customer to achieve a 30% reduction in ammonia emissions from swine production. The recent launch of SUSTELLTM – an intelligent sustainability service that delivers accurate, simple and actionable farm-level solutions to improve the environmental footprint and profitability of swine production – is another step forward in supporting our customers to reach their emission reduction and sustainability targets.
[Feedinfo] Do you think the pork industry is implementing sustainability changes fast enough? Where do you see room for improvement and how are you helping them get there?
[Maria Walsh] The pork industry has certainly recognised the need for a more tangible vision of what sustainable and responsible pork production could look like. The challenge up to now has been clarity and industry-wide acceptance of a definition of what this is. More recently we are seeing some industry-led initiatives in this direction.
DSM is proud to be part of a recently launched movement called the Responsible Meat Initiative (ReMI). Convened by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSB), together with many industry partners from along the pork value chain, this initiative is leading actions to overcome challenges and realise the ambition of producing and consuming meat responsibly. This business-led, whole value chain initiative is compiling a holistic definition of responsible pork with the aim for the industry to come together and widely adopt this definition.
There are still opportunities to close the gap between where the swine industry is currently around sustainability topics such as net carbon status and welfare versus future ambitions. At DSM, we are focused on delivering value to our customers with the ultimate goal to make them more profitable in the long run. Our broad portfolio of high-quality, innovative solutions together with service offerings to support understanding of specific challenges and implementation of tailored solutions at farm level position us well to meet the evolving needs of the swine industry. For example, combining life-cycle assessment tools such as SUSTELL® together with optimised diet formulation and a recognised and approved ammonia-reducing technology in VevoVitall® means that DSM brings our customers the knowledge, tools and expertise to make a real difference on farm.
[Feedinfo] You have quite the extensive portfolio, which you’ve called the “most powerful in the market”. But how exactly are you helping pig producers navigate all of these solutions to achieve real, on-farm results?
[Maria Walsh] At DSM, we recognise that no ingredient or feed additive alone can solve many of the complex issues facing swine producers. Our extensive portfolio, enhanced with acquisition of BIOMIN, gives pig producers access to a more complete range of solutions than any other in this space. However, it is our performance solution approach to tackling key production challenges by pig growth stage coupled with a range of service offerings and on-site technical support that enables us to be a complete solution provider for all stages of pig production.
For example, we are pioneering a complete solution for piglet care which will accelerate producers' vision of piglet health and welfare using reduced medications and zinc oxide. Through innovative and proven nutritional solutions and services, we support our customers with a dedicated three-pillar approach to PREPARE, PROTECT and SUPPORT RESILIENCE of their piglets.
Navigating the perils of weaning successfully starts with preparing that piglet while still in utero. The first pillar of our complete piglet care solution is all about preparation and begins by optimising the nutrition of the sow to shape the microbiome and develop robust immunity of her progeny. The PROTECT pillar is focused on reinforcing the gut barrier defences of piglets post-weaning by fostering an anti-inflammatory gut environment with approaches to reduce anti-nutrients originating in feed together with those from the microbiome. Finally, the SUPPORT RESILIENCE pillar is dedicated to driving digestive efficiency along with continuing to support robust immune development. Because markets and objectives are unique to each producer, our local swine experts can co-create tailor-made programmes to meet the individual needs of our customers.
[Feedinfo] Feed is one of the major cost points in pig production and that cost is rising thanks to several factors, including supply chain disruptions. Where should cash-strapped producers be focusing their efforts to ensure their operations remain profitable?
[Maria Walsh] The conversion efficacy of feed to pork is the overarching driver of profitability particularly during the grower-finisher stage where 70% of the cost of feed is incurred. During periods of high ingredient costs and depressed pork prices, the knee-jerk reaction is to strip diets down to the bare essentials, but this may not be the optimum strategy to maximise ROI. Feed efficiency is governed by two sides of the same coin.
On one side, extracting maximum nutritive value from feed and having the flexibility to use alternative lower cost feed ingredients is an important part of the strategy, and our large feed enzyme portfolio can certainly support our customers to do just that. The other side of the feed efficiency coin is post-absorptive metabolism. Disease and inflammation both at the clinical and subclinical levels, are responsible for repartitioning the nutrition value released from feed away from tissue deposition towards an elevated basal metabolic cost thus compromising feed efficiency.
By failing to prevent and manage the root cause of disease and inflammation during times of stress, which can span from enteric pathogens and viruses to mycotoxins and other feed antigens, the risk of eroding efficiency and uniformity of production is high. Enabling our customers to have a more complete approach to driving grower-finisher feed efficiency and sustainability through strategies to manage not only the ingredient utilisation side of feed efficiency but also the health and welfare side is a more comprehensive approach to driving profitability.
[Feedinfo] Talking about health and welfare, African Swine Fever remains a major concern for the industry. What are you suggesting as the best course of action to ensure future herd health?
[Maria Walsh] African Swine Fever continues to be a costly and tremendous threat and to the global swine industry. However, this experience has also taught the industry some key lessons around the importance of not only whole farm but also feed mill biosecurity. The most effective defensive strategy against any disease, African Swine Fever included, is to keep it out of the farm in the first place, but if that fails, the next line of defence is the pig's own immune system.
With the realisation that both feed ingredients and water can also be vectors of viral transmission and potentially the weak link in the whole farm biosecurity chain, we have devised a complete solution to mitigate the risk from both avenues. As part of our performance solution toolbox, DSM offers technologies such VevoWin® and Biotronic Top liquid that are scientifically proven to significantly reduce the carriage of ASF and other viruses in feed and water, respectively, to close the loop on complete feed biosecurity at farm level.
With a long tradition in vitamin research, we have also developed a solution of micronutrients that are specifically designed to optimise pig immune development. A key component of this solution is the vitamin D3 metabolite, HyD® whose pivotal role in immune activation and resolution is only now being realised. Given the poor vitamin D status at weaning, piglets can be at a significant disadvantage without adequate supplementation during this incredibly stressful period of the production cycle.
[Feedinfo] Finally, when we last spoke, BIOMIN Managing Director, Franz Waxenecker told Feedinfo that the new joint organisation will offer customers and expanded research and development pipeline of products and services. What exactly can pig producers look forward to here?
[Maria Walsh] 2022 will be an exciting year for our swine customers with the addition of the next generation of several feed enzyme technologies entering the market coming from our long-standing Feed Enzyme Alliance with our industry partner, Novozymes. This next generation of feed enzymes will enable our customers to continue to push the boundaries in terms of optimum raw material utilisation and feed cost management. We will also continue to enrich the portfolio of mycotoxin deactivating enzymes to give broader coverage against problematic mycotoxins for swine along with additional services to support a strong mycotoxin risk management strategy. Swine health, both at gut level and beyond, continues to be a key focus area for innovation which is reflected in a robust pipeline of solutions and services that leverage our competency in the area of gut microbiome science. The recent acquisition of Midori, an exciting biotechnology start-up with a novel platform technology designed to harness the power of the gut microbiome, will be a key enabler of this ambition.
We aim to continue building and strengthening our close collaboration with industry leading partners to fine tune and validate our disruptive solution development overseen by our dedicated experts. The objective of which is to better serve the needs of our customers with solutions and services that enable them to create value while remaining within our planet’s boundaries.
Published in association with DSM Animal Nutrition and Health
