Press releases - News

AGCO, Your Agriculture Company, a worldwide manufacturer and distributor of agricultural equipment, announced that it has agreed to acquire GSI Holdings Corp. from affiliates of New York-based Centerbridge Partners, L.P. for $940 million.

Smithfield Foods announced today that Don Butler, director of government relations and public affairs for Murphy-Brown LLC, has been appointed to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee (ATAC) for animals and animal products.

Merial, a world leader in animal health and a division of the Sanofi Group, is establishing its global business headquarters at Lyon. Merial is historically well-established there, with 1400 employees and six sites in Lyon and the surrounding region.

Hormel Foods Corporation today announced the retirement of James R. Hoffman, vice president of Hormel Foods International Corporation (HFIC) for the Americas, effective January 27, 2012.

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of synthetic immunogens against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that it has entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate Plum Island Animal Disease Center. This collaboration will evaluate the efficacy of Inovio's SynCon® vaccines for foot & mouth disease (FMD) in important animal models including cattle, sheep, and pigs.

Gordon Spronk, DVM, is the recipient of the 2011 Allen D. Leman Science in Practice Award. The award was presented at the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, Sept. 17-20, 2011, in St. Paul, Minn. by Pfizer Animal Health and the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine.

The Humane Slaughter Association (HSA) – an independent charity that works through education, training, research and technical developments towards achieving high standards of welfare for food animals at markets, during transport and at slaughter – is now inviting applications for its 2012 Humane Slaughter Award for significant advances in the humane slaughter of farmed livestock.

Hypor announces the appointment of Raf Beeren as Managing Director Hypor and member of the Hendrix Genetics Management Committee. Mr. Beeren succeeds Antoon van den Berg, CEO of Hendrix Genetics. Mr. Beeren has more than twelve years experience with Hypor, most recently as Deputy Managing Director.

The Adisseo group, one of the worldwide leaders in the animal nutrition additives has just finalized the acquisition of 90% of Innov’ia shares.

From 1 January 2013 all sow farmers in the EU will have to house pregnant sows in a group. In order to give a clear and complete picture of the options relating to group housing using pig feeding stations, the information campaign ’Welcome to 2013’ will be launched in September.

He points out that it is also important to ensure the weaned sow and service area is well lit, i.e. to an intensity of at least 200 lux and on a 16-hour light, 8-hour dark pattern.

The sale of these distribution and logistics assets will allow Marfrig and Keystone Foods to focus strategically on their core proteins business and leverage their considerable global competency in beef, pork, poultry, and fish processing.

Helen Clarke has been appointed to take over as the BPEX Veterinary Projects Manager.

This biennial program is designed to recognize 10 veterinarians under the age of 40 who are making significant contributions to swine medicine.

The company had signed with the provincial government of Jilin with an investment totaling RMB 7,900 million that will consist of farming 3 million broilers, 1 million swine and 100 million chickens for meat per year.

Manufacturer of livestock management equipment and custom molded plastics, Osborne Industries, Inc., has named long time employee George Eakin as the president and chief operating officer of the Kansas based employee-owned company.

With an investment of R$ 145 milhões, the unit has an annual production capacity of 151 thousand tons of pork.

Richard Jones has been appointed as mill administrator by specialist feed supplement manufacturer, Ufac-UK. This is a management trainee position for Richard, who will be based at the company’s Woolfox Mill at Oakham in Rutland.

Nearly every pig in Canada receives a vaccine for protection against porcine circovirus (PCV), and now swine producers have a new option for efficacious protection with the registration of Fostera PCV from Pfizer Animal Health.

DSM Nutritional Products, based in Switzerland, today announced the formation of Nutritional Lipids that will combine Martek’s algal DHA Ω-3 and ARA Ω-6 products and DSM Nutritional Products’ polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFAs) portfolio, making DSM the world’s leading innovator and supplier in this category. Nutritional Lipids will focus on developing and positioning innovative nutritional lipids products. The business will leverage Martek’s technology and market position in the U.S., and DSM Nutritional Products’ unique global asset footprint, marketing and sales, and premix network to capture significant global growth opportunities and accelerate international expansion.

Animine presented recent experimental data conducted at the Free University of Berlin (Institute of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine). The study compared HiZox, a new potentiated source of zinc for piglets, to analytical grade zinc oxide.

Pfizer Animal Health, a business unit of Pfizer Inc, and Jilin Guoyuan Animal Health Company, Ltd., an innovator in animal health vaccines based in Huinan, today announced an agreement to jointly develop, manufacture and distribute animal health vaccines in China. The new joint venture, Jilin Pfizer Guoyuan Animal Health Co., Ltd., will bolster the capabilities of both companies to offer a comprehensive range of vaccine products tailored to help China’s livestock producers meet increasing demand for a safe and abundant supply of pork, beef, dairy, and poultry from healthy animals.