Animal feed is one of the biggest components in livestock production, and many headaches arise for farmers when trends in trade and supply work against them.

 

To surmount this challenge, producing a greater volume of grains, like corn and soybeans, can help to stabilise prices for feed ingredients, offsetting a part of the operational cost in animal farming. Biotechnology is one means considered in the strengthening of a nation's food self-sufficiency, as it is in the case of Indonesia (pages 18-19). However, its implementation-even if it leads to more drought-tolerant crops-risks ignoring "unequal access to land, credit and markets" for smallholder farmers who are the dominating segment of Indonesia's cropgrowing sector.

 

Even with an increase in supply, this must be balanced with demand for the most favourable grain prices. One cannot easily forecast when a tight supply or glut will happen (and thus, the accompanying effects of price spikes or drops). For instance, as the Philippines saw a year-on-year rise in corn production last year (along with a growth in the country's domestic swine and chicken populations in Q4 2025), there are signs of a strong demand that kept corn prices on a gradual uptrend for most of January until the middle of February (pages 8-9).

 

As market uncertainties persist, industry experts turn to diet optimisation to achieve the concept of "less with more": supplementing a lower volume of feed ingredients with higher nutritional additives to meet an animal's dietary needs. Yet, solutions of this nature need to be backed by credible science. In this issue of Livestock & Feed Business, we look at how AB Vista supports the market in achieving "accurate, reliable, and consistent (feed) enzyme recovery results" through its proprietary methods adopted by customer laboratories (pages 6-7).

 

Understanding and even prognosticating market dynamics is a valuable, if rare, talent in livestock farming. Aside from that, an excellent application of scientifically validated methods potentially reduces negative factors in production and narrows down to the best outcome.

 

The full article is published on the March 2026 issue of LIVESTOCK & FEED Business. To read the full report, please email to inquiry@efeedlink.com to request for a complimentary copy of the magazine, indicating your name, mailing address and title of the report.