Event : World Nutrition Forum 2023

The Event

The need for a sustainable approach to animal protein production is becoming more apparent in our world today. Improvements in health, food security, and safety are taking place in the context of dwindling resources, increasing affluence, and the responsibility of producers to adopt environmentally sound business practices. These are the problems that the World Nutrition Forum (WNF) 2023 discussed and is trying to solve. The WNF is an international event held biannually since 2004 to discuss animal nutrition. It is finally being held again in Cancun, Mexico, this year after a short hiatus due to Covid-19.

The World Nutrition Forum was formerly held by Biomin before they were acquired by DSM in 2020. However, exciting news broke on the opening day of the event.

Ivo Lansbergen, Executive Vice President of DSM Animal Nutrition and Health, announced for the first time the completion of the merger between DSM and Firmenich to create the new entity: dsm-firmenich. This is big news as these two are giant companies in their respective industries. With a nearly 30,000-strong team, the world can hope that dsm-firmenich will lead in the reinvention, manufacturing, and combination of vital nutrients, flavors, and fragrances.

This year, the WNF raised the theme “GENiUS” to emphasize the industry’s need for research and new technologies to face future challenges. The organizers brought world-renowned experts and speakers to share the latest developments in their respective industries. Market trends, technological advances, precision livestock farming, nutrigenomics, regulatory frameworks, the environment, and ecology in animal production were some topics discussed at the event. The 2023 WNF offers top industry leaders and professionals the opportunity to engage with peers from across the globe and to learn from experts and each other to achieve success.

The Attendees

Over 700 delegates from around the world met at this unique event to discuss the forefront topics of modern agriculture and upcoming trends and challenges. The participants range from leading experts in science, academia, research, veterinary medicine, animal nutrition, genetics, business, and feed manufacturing from around the world. The speakers themselves were curated from around the world to bring the best that the industry has to offer.

This year THE CRUST was lucky enough to send one of its team, Rizky Darmawan, to WNF. According to him, WNF is one of the best events in the world that discusses animal nutrition. “I am very impressed by the quality of their event production. I feel like all details were thought off thoroughly. Plus, the organizers prepared a bunch of souvenirs to commemorate the event, such as pins, tote bags, beach mats, and even rubiks cubes that show the many goals the world needs to reach to achieve sustainability,” Rizky described.

The Content

The WNF sessions were mainly broken into two parts; the first was the primary session, where all participants gathered in a gigantic ballroom and listened to the main presentations and announcements. Then there were the breakout sessions on the first day focusing on species-specific presentations and providing a platform to delve further into poultry, swine, ruminants, and aquaculture topics. We especially enjoyed how the MC of the aquaculture session, Benedict Standen, told us a joke about how we have been focusing on animals that walks on two and four legs in the main session, while now in the aqua session, they will only focus on animals with ten legs or no legs.

The presentation topics brought by WNF were diverse and fascinating. One of the main subjects discussed there is mycotoxin and its detrimental effect on livestock performance. According to Dr. Albert Tacon from AquaHana LCC, one of the aqua speakers, mycotoxin binder should be used as a form of insurance to ensure farm performance. These mycotoxins, he added, are invisible at the farm level but can have a significant impact since one of the things they can affect is the animal’s immunity. Other speakers presented at the aqua breakout session were Mr. Ronnie Tan from USGC, Mr. Lukas Manomaitis from USSEC, Mr. Ragnar Nystøyl from Kontali, and Dr.

Louise Buttle from DSM.

Another main focus of WNF is sustainability, where they didn’t just explore it at the production level but also at the corporate management level and media. For example, one of the speakers, Bob Langert, formerly the VP of McDonald’s on sustainability, talked about how sustainability has evolved way beyond what was possible and into a mainstream business function. Corporations that have largely been on the defense are now playing offense to take their strategies and goals and make things happen.

One more breakthrough that caught our interest is the new feed additive that helps reduce methane emissions in cow’s farts. “These problems and solutions are unthinkable for people outside the industry. I’m excited to see what they can come up next that can help the world be a better place,” Rizky described.

The Festivity

Apart from the busy seminar schedules and networking sessions, the organizers did really well to ensure the attendees enjoyed themselves in Cancun. They or- ganized multiple excursions that the participants could partake such as a visit to Cenote, Tulum, and a boat ride using the catamaran. Some people who came early also got the chance to visit Chichen Itza, a Mayan city that is also one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. All of these trips were organized perfectly and were accompanied by a local tour guide fluent in English and knowledgeable about the sites.

Every day of the event ended with an amazing gala dinner filled with good food, music, and festivities. The first day ended with a Mexican-themed dinner with delicious Mexican foods, mariachi bands playing, face paintings, and dozens of types of tequilas to be enjoyed. Then, the second day ended with a dinner by the beach with bands playing cheerful songs and participants dancing on the dancefloor.

Finally, the all-inclusive resort was a nice touch to make sure all of the attendees’ needs were taken care of. And with all of that being said, everybody is looking forward to the next World Nutrition Forum. This event is undoubtedly a great learning experience and a festivity not to be missed.