May 5, 2022

 

AB Vista: A valuable service partner in a challenging 2022

 

 

With a rocky 2022 expected to pressure grain supplies and further inflate animal feed and oil prices, how would AB Vista help feed producers navigate challenges arising from these developments?

 

Dieter Suida, global commercial director at AB Vista, speaks with eFeedLink about the company's capabilities to aid customers in managing feed costs and improving production efficiency, addressing the rise in feed formulation costs in Asia.

 

He also shares the current concerns of customers in the United States and highlights AB Vista's services to answer these needs of the animal feed market. 

 

 
Dieter Suida, AB Vista's global commercial director

  

Please describe AB Vista's current strategy and services that are helping to deal with the rising costs of feed formulations in Asia.

 

Suida: AB Vista has invested significant resources in trials to get a robust nutritional matrix for our phytase, Quantum Blue, at different and higher dosages, 1,000FTU to over 2,000FTU, on minerals, amino acids and energy release that can be applied with confidence when feed cost reduction is the main objective of our customers.

 

We have also developed the Maximum Matrix Nutrition application concept, where the combination of a high level of Quantum Blue, 2,000FTU with our xylanase Econase XT can bring additional formulation cost savings due to the synergism of the combination of those two enzymes together. To better support the application of this technology, we have developed analytical services measuring the feed phytate content of the diets as well the fiber level and quality based on its component content.

 

For other species like ruminants, we have VistaPre-T and Optipartum C which are applied to improve milk production, feed efficiency or reduce total ruminant diet costs and, in the case of Vista Pre T, allow a change to the animals' total mixed ration content, with the partial replacement of some ingredients and using lower-cost ingredients that normally have higher fiber contents.

 

Our live yeast, Vistacell, can be used for ruminant supplementation, improving rumen bacteria status that has a direct impact on the ruminant's performance or with piglets and/or sows improving general production yield.

  

With the complications that have arisen from climate change and the urgent call for sustainable actions in agriculture as well as the continuing impact of COVID-19, how have all these developments affected and shaped the way AB Vista does feed intelligence?

 

Suida: The application of our technologies brings positive benefits to the carbon footprint in the poultry, pig, ruminants and aquaculture segments because they improve nutrient utilisation efficacy.

 

AB Vista has recently launched the Emission Report service, with the support of its sister company, to allow customers to calculate the carbon footprint and other environmental impacts at the farm gate. With this service, we help customers evaluate different nutritional strategies and management practices to reduce their emissions while maintaining animal performance and/or production cost objectives.

  

Please give us an update on your recent participation in the 2022 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) show in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, last January.

 

Suida: We found our customers' concerns continue to be the following:

 

    - How the industry can reduce the environmental impact of its activity without affecting the quality of its final products and remain profitable — as well as with the warranty of being free of any potential residual molecule that can affect the consumers' health and animal welfare;

 

    - The pressure of high production costs coming from the rising costs of raw material, energy, supply chain, labor costs and inflation combined with production challenges that the pandemic in the last one and half years. Costs have, in fact, been further exacerbated recently with increased costs in the energy sources and essential grains;

 

    - Developing production strategies to support gut health and other areas affected by the exclusion of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) including disease control, nutritional optimisation and food safety.

  

In our interview with AB Vista, managing director Juan Ignacio Fernandez has emphasised the increasing importance of feed additive companies being more proactive to help livestock producers "do away with antibiotics as growth promoters from the farm while maintaining performance and consequently improve animal welfare and reduce environmental impact". How will AB Vista continue to enhance its engagement with its customers in this area?

 

Suida: This engagement will come with our technologies, like Signis, Vistacell and Optipartum C that are already part of our portfolio, helping the companies to achieve those objectives.

 

AB Vista is also enhancing its knowledge of the intestinal gut environment, with more scientists in its team specialising in microbiome and gut health.

 

Additionally, we are developing services in this segment that are capable of analysing the quality of the intestinal biome that can help identify the animal gut health status and use the results to suggest different nutritional programmes to improve animal welfare with optimal performance. 

 

 

- Terry Tan, eFeedLink