Press releases - News

In Newsweek magazine's latest ranking of the environmental performance of America's 500 largest public companies, Smithfield Foods, Inc. jumped up 68 positions from its 2010 finish.

Three of the pig industry’s brightest young workers from Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire have been chosen as finalists competing for the 2011 Pfizer Pig Trainee of the Year Award.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) today (14 October, 2011) signed an agreement to extend their shared operations in livestock and forage genetics research. Hosted in Beijing, the Chinese capital, the initiative will strengthen the already existing relationship between ILRI and CAAS that has seen the two research centres share research and facilities through the CAAS-ILRI Joint Laboratory on Livestock and Forage Genetic Resources for the past 7 years.

"These FTAs have the potential to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. pork exports in the coming years, while creating new jobs that our country desperately needs."

De Heus Vietnam will distribute these genetics on the Vietnamese market.

“Dairy farmers are likely to come under increasing pressure to remove palm oil from their cows’ diets following recent retail moves to cut the level of saturated fats in milk,” says Mark Townsend, sales manager of Ufac-UK.

Danish Crown says goodbye to 500 employees in Denmark. The reason is surplus capacity at a number of departments because fewer pigs are currently being sent for slaughter than anticipated.

Assuring taint-free meat holds the key to raising UK pork consumption, according to Nigel Lodge, MRCVS, national veterinary manager of Pfizer Animal Health.

TOPIGS introduces a new feeding advice for their sows. Nowadays, highly productive sows have different nutritional needs compared to sows a few years ago.

As from September 1, specialist animal nutrition company SCA NuTec will become known as Provimi. Provimi UK will remain based in Dalton, North Yorkshire. Its product portfolio includes pig diets, specialising in piglet creeps, and ruminant nutrition products.

AGCO, Your Agriculture Company, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, announced that it has agreed to acquire GSI Holdings Corp. from affiliates of New York-based Centerbridge Partners, L.P. for $940 million.

Smithfield Foods announced today that Don Butler, director of government relations and public affairs for Murphy-Brown LLC, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) for animals and animal products.

Merial, a world leader in animal health and a division of the Sanofi Group, is establishing its global business headquarters at Lyon. Merial is historically well-established there, with 1400 employees and six sites in Lyon and the surrounding region.

Hormel Foods Corporation today announced the retirement of James R. Hoffman, vice president of Hormel Foods International Corporation (HFIC) for the Americas, effective January 27, 2012.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of synthetic immunogens against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate Plum Island Animal Disease Center. This collaboration will evaluate the efficacy of Inovio's SynCon® vaccines for foot & mouth disease (FMD) in important animal models including cattle, sheep, and pigs.

Gordon Spronk, DVM, is the recipient of the 2011 Allen D. Leman Science in Practice Award. The award was presented at the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, Sept. 17-20, 2011, in St. Paul, Minn. by Pfizer Animal Health and the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.

The Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) – an independent charity that works through education, training, research and technical developments towards achieving high standards of welfare for food animals at markets, during transport and at slaughter – is now inviting applications for its 2012 Humane Slaughter Award for significant advances in the humane slaughter of farmed livestock.

Hypor announces the appointment of Raf Beeren as Managing Director Hypor and member of the Hendrix Genetics Management Committee. Mr. Beeren succeeds Antoon van den Berg, CEO of Hendrix Genetics. Mr. Beeren has more than twelve years experience with Hypor, most recently as Deputy Managing Director.

The Adisseo group, one of the worldwide leaders in the animal nutrition additives has just finalized the acquisition of 90% of Innov’ia shares.

From 1 January 2013 all sow farmers in the EU will have to house pregnant sows in a group. In order to give a clear and complete picture of the options relating to group housing using pig feeding stations, the information campaign ’Welcome to 2013’ will be launched in September.

He points out that it is also important to ensure the weaned sow and service area is well lit, i.e. to an intensity of at least 200 lux and on a 16-hour light, 8-hour dark pattern.

The sale of these distribution and logistics assets will allow Marfrig and Keystone Foods to focus strategically on their core proteins business and leverage their considerable global competency in beef, pork, poultry, and fish processing.