Perdue AgriBusiness recently opened Pennsylvania’s first large-scale, commercial soybean processing plant in Bainbridge, PA. Perdue AgriBusiness invested more than $60 million to design and construct the plant. With a storage capacity of 1.5 million bushels, the grain elevator will receive, dry, store and ship soybeans that are grown and harvested throughout the region, as the adjoining plant processes the beans. “This plant is a game changer for farmers in Pennsylvania, opening new lanes of supply, new markets, and new opportunities in the commonwealth’s agriculture economy.”

Cooke Inc., parent company of Cooke Aquaculture Inc., and Omega Protein Corporation have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Cooke will acquire all outstanding shares of Omega Protein for $22.00 per share in cash. The transaction price represents a premium of 32.5% to Omega Protein’s closing share price on the date of transaction. “Omega Protein will provide us with another platform in Cooke’s growth strategy through further diversification in the supply side of the business. We believe this will be a very good fit between our two cultures."

Gael Force Group has been awarded the accolade of Outstanding Performing Business at the 2017 Highland Business Awards. The award win comes as a result of Gael Force’s very strong showing this year, including a growth in turnover in excess of 30%, the recruitment of over 50 new employees, successful launch of the SeaFeed Offshore Feeding System, and the confirmation of their biggest ever single order for feed barges.

KnipBio, Inc. announced that it has received a significant purchase order for the company’s innovative fishmeal alternative, KnipBio Meal. The multi-tonne order is from an aquaculture industry leader operating across the Asia/Pacific region, and comes after the customer found promising preliminary results from a series of KBM feed trials conducted with both shrimp and finfish at various stages of growth in both laboratory and field conditions. "This order has enabled KnipBio to significantly scale-up our fermentation process so that we are now able to produce up to ten metric tonnes of KBM per month."

Bühler has celebrated the groundbreaking of its Innovation Campus in Uzwil, Switzerland. Completion of the building is expected during the first quarter of 2019. The innovation campus consists of two key elements: upgraded technology labs and a new innovation building. “We are creating a space that brings together visionaries and long-term thinkers of the start-up scene and universities with engineering teams that hold Bühler’s long-standing applied and tested know-how in processing technology."

Unibio has announced that they have been selected to form part of the PROVIDE project in cooperation with Innovation Fund Denmark. The aim of the 5-year research project is to increase the value of residual products and optimize resource utilization. The project has a total investment of DKK 14,780,000 (GBP 1,764,000). "Taking part in the PROVIDE project is a big opportunity for Unibio. Besides collaborating with some very knowledgeable institutions and companies, the focus on creating added value from our core protein product holds great potential for the company."

ADM Animal Nutrition™ has announced that PROPLEX® DY, a high-quality protein source for aquaculture, swine and poultry, has been approved for registration in the Philippines and Vietnam. Produced from the wet corn milling process, PROPLEX® DY is composed of dried Saccharomyces yeast. “PROPLEX® DY is one of a multitude specialty ingredients ADM has developed to help feed and aquaculture producers optimize productivity and maximize profitability.”

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has announced that the Danish Government will guarantee a 10 per cent equity financing of NNPC's Joint Venture Company with Danish firm Unibio. The JV Company will engage in the production of animal feeds from Nigeria’s abundant natural gas resources through conversion of methane gas into protein. “There are huge possibilities in view of the demands for this kind of feeds and it will boost food production in Nigeria tremendously. The benefits are not only in local production and consumption of the feeds but also in terms of revenue generation in foreign currencies through export.”

Nutriad has announced the appointment of Ms. Karen de Ridder as Business Development Manager Preservation & Functional Ingredients. "To further support our customers across the world we continue to invest in the development of new concepts and in-market technical support. This appointment follows from that strategy.”

Nova Eel Inc.'s new medicated product Estradiol has been added to the FDA Designations List. The intended use is for the new product is increased rate of weight gain and improved feed efficiency in American eels fed in recirculating aquaculture systems.

Kemin Industries recently hosted a conference on improving the efficiency, safety and profitability of feed mill operations. The event was led by a panel of six feed processing experts and attended by feed mill operators from more than 20 countries, representing the continents of Africa, America, Asia and Europe. The panel provided educational, practical and business-focused insights that can be put in place to optimize the bottom line of feed production.

The Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) has announced that the fifth annual Global Aquaculture Innovation Award will be presented to TerraVia and Bunge Oils for their AlgaPrime™ DHA aquaculture feed ingredient. The AlgaPrime™ DHA aquaculture feed ingredient has been manufactured at a facility in Brazil since 2014, running off the steam generated by a sugarcane mill, as part of a joint venture with Bunge Oils. "The Global Aquaculture Innovation Award represents the future of aquaculture, and we believe that AlgaPrime DHA is a key feed ingredient for the industry’s continued growth."

Neptune Technologies and Aker BioMarine have announced the conclusion of an agreement whereby Aker BioMarine acquired Neptune’s krill oil inventory and IP for $34 million. “Neptune has made a strategic decision to withdraw as a bulk krill oil supplier, while Aker BioMarine wants to increase investment in the category, so this agreement is a perfect fit for both parties."

Leiber GmbH has appointed Marie-Christin Reismann to the role of product manager. Since March 2016, Reismann has been strengthening Leiber GmbH as Distribution Assistant in the Business Unit Animal Nutrition. In her new role, Reismann will expand and promote the use of feed from brewers’ yeast products. “Thanks to her career as agronomist, as well as her technical knowledge in the area of agribusiness, Ms. Reismann with her experience fits very well into our product management team.”

Olmix Group, a producer of natural algae-sourced solutions, has announced the acquisition of PRP Technologies, a European specialist in biostimulants for agroecology. The partnership between Olmix Group and PRP Technologies offers benefits in nutrition and animal health, Olmix Group is known for its solutions based on algae, clays and trace elements to improve performance, welfare and health in animals (environmental hygiene, mycotoxin risk, digestive efficiency, immunity, digestive welfare), plants (environment, nutrition and plant strengthening) and humans. PRP Technologies produces stimulator products for animals and plants.

Allen (Ming-Hsun) Wu, Regional Manager Aquaculture APAC of Nutriad, was recently presented with an appreciation award for his outstanding services and contribution to WAS-APC. A member since 2002, Mr. Wu was elected as Board Director of World Aquaculture Society – Asian Pacific Chapter (WAS-APC) for 2015-2017. “I am honored to form part of WAS and to be able to actively contribute to to WAS and to the progressive development of our industry at the same time."

At the recent Asia Pacific Aquaculture 2017 (APA) exhibition in Malaysia, Nutriad sponsored the scientific session entitled “Functional Feeds for Disease Prevention.” At this session, chaired by Dr. Peter Coutteau and Prof. Dr. Rossita Shapawisurely, speakers from the industry as well as the academic sector discussed topics related to functional feed additives to prevent fish and shrimp diseases, health management and farm practices in Thailand, and more.

The Animal Nutrition business line of Evonik will participate in the cooperative research project "Water Footprint for Companies - Local Measures in Global Value Chains" (WELLE). The aim is to expand life cycle assessments of products and processes by the aspects of water consumption and local water scarcity. "In addition to climate change, water is expected to become one of the most dominant ecological issues in the coming years. We are glad that this methodology development in the area of assessing water footprint is now being pushed forward. As a basis for making responsible future business decisions, reliable facts are essential."

INVE Aquaculture Holding has successfully renewed its sales and marketing agreement with the Great Salt Lake Brine Shrimp Cooperative, Inc. Under this long-term agreement, the Benchmark group maintains its rights to distribute a substantial share of the GSL COOP's harvest of artemia from the Great Salt Lake, Utah. Alongside continuation of the sales and marketing agreement, INVE has entered into a similarly long-term distribution agreement with the GSL COOP for INVE's current and future artemia-related products and technologies.  INVE is developing a range of breakthrough artemia-related feed products, which are on track to be launched in early 2020. 

In their latest quarterly aquaculture newsletter, Alltech\'s chief innovations officer, Aiden Connolly identified eight digital technologies that are disrupting aquaculture. Among them are robots, drones, and sensors for smarter, more sustainable aquaculture. One of the more interesting technologies is that of eFishery, which uses sensors to detect the hunger level of the fish and feed them accordingly. It can be used in any size farm and can reduce feed costs by up to 21 percent.