10 minute read
Interview - Pilar Cruz
Pilar Cruz is president and group leader for Cargill Aqua Nutrition business. Her background spans 18 years in leadership roles with Cargill and includes running the company’s strategy and business development group, leading teams in Cargill’s animal nutrition and animal protein businesses, and managing teams in Latin American, Europe, Canada and the United States.
INTERVIEW with Pilar Cruz
AQUAFEED: Would you tell us about your background and how it has led you to the feed industry? PC: First and foremost, thank you for taking the time to get to know me, and for your interest in learning more about Cargill’s Aqua nutrition business. I have worked in the animal nutrition and animal protein industries for more than 15 years – in different places of the world, and have a good perspective of these industries globally. Certainly, aquaculture was part of the landscape for my previous work and I have always stayed close to the aqua business because I find this industry very relevant to fulfill Cargill’s mission of nourishing the world safely, responsibly and sustainably. Aquaculture is also a fascinating industry with a lot of opportunities for growth. I’m super excited to bring my previous experience to aquaculture and dig into the opportunities that we see in this industry, including finding new sources of sustainable ingredients, developing functional feeds and nutritional solutions that will help our customers be more productive, and partnering with our communities to raise their standards. I am excited about being part of a company that wants to make a difference through food, agriculture and aqua nutrition. I also know that my experience in leading Cargill’s global strategy and business development function, which will help me propel our strategy and our aqua business forward. We are confident this is a growth business with plenty of opportunities to help our customers thrive!
AQUAFEED: Cargill spans the supply chain from field to table; how do these businesses work together? PC: As an integrated operating company that operates in over 70 countries, we’re successful because we put our customers and our purpose – nourishing the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way – at the center of everything we do. This gives us agility and stronger integration to make the connections that enable success. Cargill has been in business for over 150 years, and if you look back at our history, our company has always moved food from where it is produced to where it is needed. Today, we are working to implement sustainable practices and develop healthy, delicious products that consumers want. Our role as a global, integrated food company gives us a unique perspective on where we’ve come from – and where we’re going – as an aquaculture industry. A couple key areas of opportunity we see are efficient and sustainable value chains, characterized by a consistent, quality product, on-time delivery, supply availability, pricing predictability, traceability, and sustainability; variety in product mix and packaging, including unique flavor profiles, easily prepared items, and convenient and sustainable packaging; and new routes to market where consumers eat is changing. There are blurred lines between snacking - home and away - and fragmented channels.
AQUAFEED: Would you tell us about Cargill's aquafeed business? What is the production volume and your geographic coverage? PC: As a thought leader within the global aqua nutrition industry, Cargill’s strategy is to focus on getting as close to our customers as possible in order to enable their success. To facilitate this closeness, our global teams are located in different regions around the world. We operate 40 facilities – 20 fully dedicated to aqua nutrition – around the globe, including aqua-focused Cargill Innovation Centers in Chile, Norway and the United States that drive our research, development and innovation of products and services. We are recognized as a leader in innovative nutrition and technology and our brands support customers across regional businesses in Chile, the North Sea, North America, northern Latin America and Asia.
AQUAFEED: Beyond the "commodity" species you feed - salmon, shrimp and tilapia, what other species do you see coming up as a growing market? PC: From a species standpoint, our top priorities are shrimp and salmon. We also work with strategic customers on numerous regional species such as tilapia, eel and others. Our marine fish feeds are tailored to meet the needs of a wide range of marine fish around the world.
AQUAFEED: The USDA deregulated Cargill’s proprietary canola for cultivation in the U.S. What is the expected impact of this new source in terms of fishmeal consumption? PC: Salmon feeds have fallen from using up to 70% marine ingredients in the 1990s to between 10-20% according to customer requirements today. While it is possible to make a series of diets for the lifecycle of salmon that entirely replace fishmeal using other ingredient sources, we do not feel that it is necessary as we have our focus on sourcing sustainable sources of fishmeal. We are also seeing increasing evidence from farmers that fishmeal is important to the long-term health of the fish, probably due to the micronutrients in it which are not supplied by plant-based ingredients. Our preference is to continue to use relatively small amounts of sustainably sourced fishmeal from whole fish or trimmings, complemented with other sources of protein from sustainable supply chains. Our aim is not to focus on particular ingredients, but rather be able to get the nutrients we need to deliver nutritious feeds from a wide range of sustainable supply chains. To this end, we work with our suppliers to demonstrate their sustainability credentials and where required, improve
them. In June 2018, we started a global initiative with WWF to learn more about the sustainability of the wild fish stocks we source from and how they are managed. The initiative includes a review of our global 2017 sourcing of fishmeal and oil against our public commitment to sourcing more sustainable marine ingredients. The initiative showed that in Scotland and Norway combined, we are already sourcing 65% of our total marine ingredients from MSC (Marine Stewardship Council)-certified fisheries, according to figures from 2017 and 2018. Globally, we are at 43%. Our 2025 goal is that all marine ingredients should come from MSC-certified fisheries, and we hope to continue our collaboration with WWF in pursuit of this goal.
We understand that the planet has finite resources and believe that it is our job to find innovative feed options for our customers that will protect the planet while supporting sustainable protein production.
AQUAFEED: Cargill recently partnered with Innovafeed and White Dog Labs for sustainable alternatives to fishmeal. Apart from this, what other strategies are you following to improve feed production sustainability? PC: Feed has a major influence on the sustainability of aquaculture. Raw materials need to come from sustainable supply chains, reducing competition for resources with other food production systems. Aquafeed must be formulated to meet the needs of the fish in the environment where they are farmed. But feed can also affect the health and welfare of the fish, improving overall efficiencies and also delivering the nutrients that human consumers will eat.
Our wide range of health feeds reflects our commitment to working alongside customers to understand the issues they face and help solve them. One example is EWOS Dermic, a revolutionary solution we launched in 2018. Cargill’s research team drew on 15 years of trial results to develop a dietary package that supports skin health and integrity through nutrition. With EWOS Dermic, customers are seeing rapid repair of skin damage and fewer downgraded fish at harvest. Trials indicate that the fish recover their appetites faster after handling, returning to their healthy growth patterns. Our health feeds, as part of integrated health management programs, have already played a major part in almost eliminating the use of antibiotics in salmon farming in Norway and Scotland.
AQUAFEED: Cargill is making a significant investment in human and animal health business. Are there any solutions in the future portfolio that will apply in the aqua industry? PC: You’re correct – Cargill is making a significant investment to build a leading digestive and immune health business for both animal and human application, which emphasizes the growing importance of health among both farmers and consumers and demonstrates our commitment to growing this business into a leading player in the industry.
By applying science, technology and research, Cargill Health Technologies is developing new categories of products that strengthen the immune system, drive better overall health and unlock the full potential of the bodies we’re feeding – both animal and human. Through our work in understanding and influencing the microbiome, we’re creating solutions that improve digestive and immune health at all stages of life to help nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. We have started to apply solutions from our Health Technologies business to aqua applications. Today we’re able to significantly improve the health of shrimp and tilapia with our DVAQUA product, which supports animals during challenging conditions like early mortality syndrome (EMS). We also have several projects in process to combat some of the most difficult health challenges in aquaculture, such as sea lice in salmonids. Providing solutions to large health challenges like these are critical to improving the welfare of aquatic animals, and financial support to farmers.
AQUAFEED: In terms of aquafeed research and innovation, what can we expect to see in the near future? PC: I see two big areas of opportunity that will see significant development in the next few years. The first is digital. Accurate and available data will continue to drive better insights, farm management and ultimately success for our industry. We developed a platform called myEWOS, which is a flexible digital platform that enables us to build and deploy data or digital services, helps customers better plan their production strategy, monitor and compare farm performance, and assess fish quality. Customer data is stored in our SeaCloud database, which allows accurate analyses and feed recommendations based on big data from the production of over 1.5 billion salmon.
The myEWOS platform and SeaCloud are also key in developing new green solutions such as the ongoing work to deliver feed with a lower carbon footprint due to sensor and machine-based optimizations of the supply chain.
The second area is in feed ingredients. A range of “novel” ingredients are achieving scales that enable them to be introduced to the salmon feed market. As I mentioned in regard to InnovaFeed and White Dog Labs, protein sources are arising from bacterial origins, capturing nitrogen and creating the amino acids and some other micro-nutrients needed for feed. Supplying new sources of EPA and DHA which are not related to fish oils, traditionally the only source available at scale, also bring exciting developments.
AQUAFEED: Where would you like to see the aquaculture feed business in 10 years? PC: Aquaculture production needs to more than double between 2010 and 2050 to meet the projected fish demand according to the World
Resource Institute (WRI 2018). And while aquaculture provides relatively efficient means of supplying animal-based protein as well as a range of essential micro-nutrients, it also brings a range of environmental and social sustainability challenges that must be addressed to enable the sustainable growth of the industry.
This is the challenge – but I believe, also a great opportunity for our industry. We are growing, expanding and investing in our aqua nutrition business because we see great opportunities in line with our customers' growth – and in order to be able to nourish a growing population. Cargill research shows that protein demand will grow by more than 70% over the next 30 years. Seafood will be the largest part of this growth, contributing to 37% of this demand growth in the next six years. Cargill wants to be there to support the increased demand from consumers as well as our customers growth aspirations. This is an exciting time to be in the aqua business and to be a part of the Cargill Aqua Nutrition business.
