Dick Ziggers
After graduating from Larenstein Agricultural College Dick Ziggers started his career as a technical adviser in the poultry sector for a large Dutch feed manufacturer (then CTA, now ForFarmers). During that period he also took care of the cooperative’s periodical that was sent out to its members.The decision to become a full time journalist was made and he found a job as an editor of the market section of Agrarisch Dagblad, the unique Dutch agricultural daily.
Because his skills and experience were mainly in the poultry sector he quickly obtained a job as a journalist for the Dutch national weekly poultry magazine "Pluimveehouderij". Already taking care of the international stories for the magazine the foundation was laid for an international career and after nine years he switched to the International group within Reed Business Information to start writing for World Poultry (www.worldpoultry.net ).
Soon after the previous editor of Feed Tech left there was a opportunity to close the circle again and return to the feed industry to become editor of Feed Tech, which in 2010 merged with its sister magazine Feed Mix to a new AllAboutFeed publication and its accompanying website www.AllAboutFeed.net.
Latest Blogs (1-10 of 31)
Is Feed Technology a good career?
Recently Victor from Norway contacted me. He was, let’s say “annoyed”. Victor graduated from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences with an MSc in Feed Manufacturing Technology. He applied to all the feed companies in Norway for internships, and was rejected. The excuses given were unreasonable, some were even reluctant to reply.
Virtual water not potable, but accountable?
Researchers at the University Twente (UT), Enschede, the Netherlands, in a study quantified and mapped the water footprint (WF) of humanity at a high spatial resolution. The study introduced the topic of 'virtual water' in order to track gross and net trade in water. Unfortunately production of animal protein remains the highest consumer of this indispensible liquid, whatever name it is given to it.
Europe does not like force feeding
German chemical company BASF said it is stopping production of genetically modified (GM) crops for the European market. They said hostility from consumers was the reason for this decision. Through this move 140 high skilled people will lose their job.
Antibiotics lead us into death
More people in hospitals become infected with resistant bacteria that doctors cannot treat with antibiotics. In Europe it is estimated that 25,000 people die because of this. Some of the bacteria also occur in the livestock industry, such as MRSA and ESBL. Because of a long and intensive use of antibiotics in animal husbandry these bacteria have become resistant to most antibiotics used in hospitals. Healthy people won’t die of these killer bugs, but to people with a strongly reduced general resistance, such as cancer patients, they can be lethal.
Processed animal protein pain
Processed animal protein (PAP) — previously known with the more consumer conscious name ‘Meat and Bone Meal’ — is close to reintroduction in the feed chain. But do we really want it back? That is the question in parliaments, among the feed industry and in advisory bodies. Recently Koen Van Dyck, head of Unit SANCO.DDG2.G4 on Food, Alert system and Training of the Directorate-General for Health & Consumer of the European Commission gave an update to delegates at an animal nutrition conference of AgraEurope in Brussels.
Unbeatable nature
Perhaps the activists consider it a victory, but I rather see it as a failure – corn that was altered by Monsanto to withstand the corn borer plague is losing its power. In the US state of Iowa the mono-culture for the first time has shown not to be the ideal crop management system and the insects that were supposed to be stopped have build resistance to the genetically modified plant.
‘Destroy all GMOs’
“Hungary destroys all GMO maize fields” headed the news on this website on July 13. Since then the article scored the highest number of pageviews ever, outnumbering other news articles by more than tenfold. Fifteen years after introduction of GM-crops the issue still is a burning one.
The cost of progress
In the western world food has never been as cheap as it is today and people just take it for granted. Here the impact of a wheat price increase on a loaf of bread is far less than in developing countries.
The Victam Awards
This year is going to be an exiting year for the feed industry. Not only will the high volatility of raw material prices induce new opportunities for use of other feedstuffs and processing technologies, but also the upcoming Victam International show in Cologne, Germany in May can be a showcase for the feed industry.
Managing bacterial crowds
The rumen contains around 20% of the bodyweight of a cow. The main digestion of the cow’s feed takes place in this enormous organ and is carried out by zillions of microbes – and it takes place in an anaerobic environment. Oxygen is deadly for the system. When in balance the system works pretty well, with one exception – one of the major outputs into the environment is methane (CH4).
