Producing Animal Food Sustainably
You’ve probably heard or seen the stat: the world population is expected to explode to 9.8 billion people in 2050, up from the current population of 7.6 billion. The pressure to produce more crops and animals on the same amount of land to sustain the food supply is a growing challenge.
The animal food industry cares about what the future holds as it must help the agricultural community produce 70% more food over the next 30 years. We know we have a responsibility to do our part in helping conserve natural resources and bring new technologies that help farmers and ranchers become more efficient in growing the animals that meet our meat, milk, egg and aquaculture needs.
At the American Feed Industry Association, we define “sustainability” as:
providing a continuous, safe and nutritious food supply for poultry, livestock, fish and pets in a manner that optimizes environmental quality and the use of natural resources, while positively affecting the social and economic wellbeing of customers, their communities and their industry.
The AFIA recognizes the role our industry plays not only in continuously reducing animal agriculture’s carbon footprint here in the United States, but also in developing tools and resources that help our industry improve its practices globally. We also know that we need to be committed partners with the communities where we operate and do more to ensure that consumers have reliable information to make informed decisions about the foods they buy for their families. As an animal food industry, we are actively working on four focal points aimed at:
- optimizing the use of energy and natural resources,
- enhancing the precision of our animal nutrition programs through new, efficient and productive technologies,
- providing consumers and policymakers with a better understanding and appreciation of today’s food production system, and
- supporting our local communities.
The AFIA’s Sustainability Committee provides the overall strategic direction and leadership for this work within the AFIA. The association also partners with others within the agricultural community, including the Animal Agriculture Alliance, farmers and ranchers groups, and AFIA’s public charity, the Institute for Feed Education and Research, to support research efforts. IFEEDER is embarking on a Sustainability Road Map project which will help IFEEDER and the AFIA refine our work in sustainability in years to come. This work provides the data the animal food industry needs to achieve its sustainability initiatives and offer policymakers and the public accurate context on industry advances and consumer interests.