BRUSSLES, BELGIUM — The European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC) and the E.U. Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients (FEFANA) will hold an invitational joint high-level stakeholder E.U. Conference on Innovation in Animal Nutrition, in Brussels, Belgium on June 9. The two European feed industry organizations will present the vision of a modern industry where central roles are played by innovation and public-private partnerships.

The joint event aims to illustrate the role of animal nutrition as an integral part of sustainable food consumption. In addition, the event will highlight the role of the feed sector as an important driver for competitiveness of the E.U. livestock farming sector. Both FEFAC and FEFANA members are convinced that animal nutrition is part of the solution for the E.U. livestock sector to address societal challenges, such as climate change and antimicrobial resistance, while it must meet consumer demands in terms of food safety and quality.

The program will feature key speakers from the European Commission, the feed and livestock sectors and the academic world. The presentation and discussion of practical examples will also deliver a vision on how to boost innovative feed products, overcoming key bottlenecks in the current E.U. feed regulatory system.

“Together with breeding, animal nutrition has been the engine of continuous improvement within the E.U. livestock sector for decades,” FEFAC and FEFANA said. “Better animal nutrition not only leads to better animal performance, welfare and health. Indeed, enhanced knowledge about specialty feed ingredients and compound feed and their respective interaction and application in precision feeding and farming offers economic benefits to farmers as well as great potential to mitigate the environmental impacts of livestock production. The feed sector seeks opportunities to move innovative products and technologies faster to the market. We look forward to a fruitful dialogue with E.U. decision makers and other important stakeholders during our first joint event.”