Council Leads Group To International Congress On Animal Nutrition

Last month, U.S. Grains Council (USGC) Deputy Director for Africa Mohamed Salah Bouthour spearheaded a team of Tunisian dairy industry leaders on a visit to Spanish production facilities and attended the eighth annual International Congress on Animal Nutrition to generate corn co-product sales to the region.

“This group is interested in enhancing the incorporation of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) into ruminant animal feed diets in Tunisia, so we arranged an agenda to show them how producers around the world are already enjoying the nutritional and economic benefits of U.S. DDGS and how to properly apply corn co-products to their operations in Africa,” Bouthour said.

Participants traveled to Cordoba, Spain on May 21 to tour COVAP, the largest dairy cooperative in the country, to learn about its practices to maximize efficiency and quality. The group also visited a smaller-scale cheese production plant and goat farm to understand corn co-product applications at various scales.

The nutrition conference kicked off on May 23 in Murcia, Spain and the first day featured speakers on the latest and best forms of animal proteins and the industry’s role in sustainable farming. The second day of the event took a broader look at global livestock and feed markets and how regional climates and geopolitical factors will come into play throughout the year.

“Attendees were very engaged in the programming on offer at this year’s feed congress and it perfectly capped our team’s agenda here,” Bouthour said. “Showing the Tunisian stakeholders how high-quality animal feed is integrated into the supply chain from a small family farm up to a nationally leading cooperative will surely inspire them to incorporate corn co-products into their own operations.”

Read more about the Council’s work in Africa here.