Farming and the feed industry, along with the overall U.S. economy, prospered after World War II as new technologies came along.
Feed manufacturers and marketers found various ways to change and grow their businesses.
For example, feed had been packaged, transported and sold in sacks and bags for decades. But after Triangle Grain Company in Bellflower, Calif., started using a truck to deliver in bulk, the industry’s move to bulk delivery in the 1950s and 1960s changed equipment and labor requirements considerably. One driver could deliver 10 tons of bagged feed in a full day, but a single driver could deliver three or four times that much in a day when he hauled bulk. Feed manufacturers also started contracting broiler chicken production in the 1950s.
Across the country, feed manufacturers helped integrate poultryproduction. Meanwhile, The stayed American Feed Manufacturers Association stayed on its regulatory mission. In 1957, the model feed law designed by the Association of American Feed Control Officials and AFMA was refined.
“The advent of medicated feeds, the rapid changes in production techniques, the growing importance of detailed poultry and livestock management programs and the marked trend in specialization of animal agriculture, caused the association to organize new committees and subcommittees, and institute new programs in these areas in keeping with the changing times,” said AFMA staff member Glenn Berger as he commented on association developments in the 1950s. The association and feed manufacturers had become more interested and concerned with relationships outside the industry, even beyond farmers and ranchers.”
Market research and economic information also became more important to the feed industry. Those member interests led to the 1958 establishment of the AFMA market research division, and the association chose Oakley Ray as its director. This expanded AFMA’s work on statistical information involving the industry and developed new programs, including a poultry survey committee.
More growth came as the National Feed Show was conducted for the first time in conjunction with the AFMA convention in 1957. “The combined event became the industry’s top, double-barreled attraction, biennially bringing together more people from more countries than any other feed function,” reported Berger.
During AFMA’s fifth decade, its members had seen far-reaching changes that greatly changed their businesses. Feed mills were automated. New technologies for pelleting, cooling, mixing and using liquids came to market. Animal nutrition and animal health discoveries hit fast. The industry was clearly on the move as AFMA marked its Golden Anniversary in 1958. |
 |