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One of our AB Agri consultants with a client farmer on their farm in Somerset, UK
Over the last century, improvements in farming practices and technology have enabled food to be produced at scale, and more economically than ever before. In addition, as the world has globalised, agricultural supply chains have become increasingly complex.
Some inputs that are essential to agriculture are known to contribute to climate change. For example, CO2 is crucial for plant growth and nitrogen is a key component of livestock feed proteins. In many cases, effectively managing and improving the efficiency of these inputs not only reduces CO2 emissions per unit of food, such as per kilo of chicken or litre of milk, but also helps keep food affordable by optimising the use of nutrients.
AB Agri evaluates the livestock farming ecosystem to identify commercial opportunities and develop solutions to address these challenges. Science and research are the cornerstones of AB Agri’s approach. Underpinned by its community of scientists, all commercial solutions developed by its businesses are rigorously assessed to demonstrate their safety and efficacy. Its businesses invest in researching scientific advancements, by collaborating with universities and utilising its own laboratories and trial sites. These include the AB Neo Centre of Excellence trial farm in Spain and the Amur laboratory at the University of York Science Park.
External standards and the regulatory landscape are also vital considerations for AB Agri. While the agriculture industry upholds high standards, regulatory frameworks may not always keep pace with scientific developments. This creates opportunities in more adaptable markets to responsibly implement new technologies.
Industry groups and bodies play an essential role in agriculture. They help to improve food production standards and represent agricultural businesses in interactions with audiences such as consumers and governments.
AB Agri businesses and employees actively participate in industry organisations at national and international levels. These include representation on the Agriculture Industries Confederation (AIC), the European Feed Manufacturers' Federation (FEFAC), the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF), Global Feed LCA Institute (GFLI), the Global Dairy Platform (GDP) and the British Equestrian Trade Association (BETA), to name just a few.
For AB Agri, more sustainable ecosystems relate to both individual farms and whole food systems, where land use is optimised for food production, carbon storage, energy generation and human use. Nutrients are retained within the agri-food ecosystem and distributed to wherever they can have the greatest value.
There are three interconnected principles which underpin AB Agri’s priorities for action in this area:
In managing its supply chain, AB Agri prioritises the safety and quality of its products while respecting the lives and livelihoods of those within the supply chain and the environment. AB Agri recognises the unique contribution that each business along the value chain plays, from micronutrient producers for animal feed, to milk processors. AB Agri assesses its supply chain risk against criteria aligned to its ‘Care Factors’ and has prioritised mapping specific ingredients with high inherent ethical risk or where a single market supplies over 90% of global demand. In complex areas where traceability is challenging, AB Agri believes that transparency and good supply chain governance are critical, while recognising the potential for traceability enhancements in the future through better use of technology.
As a soybean meal, soy oil and palm oil user, AB Agri has long prioritised mitigating the risks associated with forest-risk commodities. Considerable progress has been made, particularly with soybean meal, a key ingredient in poultry feeds due to its nutrient efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
AB Agri has committed that all palm oil and soya usage will be certified by 2025, supporting zero deforestation responsible sourcing schemes. In 2023/24, 100% of its palm oil was RSPO certified using a combination of book and claim and mass balance. As of the end of 2024, 74% (2022/23: 64%) of the soya products AB Agri bought worldwide were certificated to schemes meeting the FEFAC benchmark for responsibly sourced soya. This is a significant increase compared to 37% in 2020.
Since September 2023, all of AB Agri’s South American maize and maize co-products have been certified to a minimum book and claim standard. This includes adopting a supplier scheme for sourcing Argentine flint maize, where AB Agri takes the co-product, maize germ. This is a segregated scheme that enables a direct link to the material compared to the ‘book and claim’ standard.
AB Agri is an active member of the FEFAC Sustainability Committee (which introduced soya sourcing guidelines in 2015), the Agricultural Industries Confederation Sustainability Committee and the UK Roundtable on Sustainable Soy, all of which are working on achieving supply chain solutions.
New laws addressing deforestation, such as the EU Deforestation Regulation, will require new supply chain practices across global markets especially with respect to traceability and data management. AB Agri is working closely with external bodies such as FEFAC, AIC, suppliers and customers, and with its purchasing and commercial teams to build knowledge and capability and develop enhanced processes across its supply chains to address requirements such as these.
Consumers expect the agricultural industry to uphold high standards of animal health and welfare in livestock farming worldwide. Although AB Agri does not operate commercial livestock farms, its technical expertise helps to support animal health through advanced technology and better nutrition.
Animal health and welfare relates to a broad spectrum of considerations, from disease prevention to stocking density and other living condition factors. These are best described by the Five Domains Model for animal health and welfare, which form the basis of AB Agri’s Animal Health and Welfare Policy.
Antimicrobial resistance is recognised as a threat to human health, and the livestock sector has been making efforts to reduce antibiotic use for decades. In 2016, a UN declaration encouraged governments to work together on responsible antibiotic use and international co-operation.
While significant progress has been made, concerns remain around the risk and impact of disease, which can lead to reduced production rates and lead to waste. To minimise this risk, AB Agri has operational procedures in place to prevent being a vector in the spread of diseases in customer farms.
AB Agri’s Animal Health and Welfare Steering Committee, which is responsible for monitoring and responding to animal health and welfare challenges, has mapped the top five focus areas across its species groups: pigs, poultry, ruminants, pets and equines.
The five issues currently cover:
AB Agri has mapped where its businesses can offer support to livestock farmers and horse and pet owners to address these concerns and how it can positively influence the welfare for each species group.
It reviews these five areas of focus annually to ensure it continues to offer relevant products and services, including technical consultation to improve health and welfare across the industry. Four material components, genetics, nutrition, management, testing and monitoring, work in harmony to better support animal health and welfare today and in the future.
Where veterinary medicines can only treat illness once it is already present, AB Agri’s approach is to focus on proactively protecting animal health and supporting immune systems through nutritional strategies, monitoring and advice.
In 2024, the AB Agri Animal Health and Welfare Steering Committee updated the AB Agri Animal Testing Policy, covering all business activities related to animal testing2.
2. Defined as scientific procedures performed on living animals outside of what an animal would expect to experience either in its natural environment or in a typical domestic or farmed situation.
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A colleague sampling feed at our ABN mill, Enstone, UK
Supporting customers in achieving more sustainable farm ecosystems has become an essential part of AB Agri’s service offering.
AB Sustain plays a crucial role in connecting consumers, retailers, processors and farmers by offering farm and supply chain programmes and tools which support more sustainable supply chains. Its ‘Farm Footprints’ on-farm carbon footprint assessment service, launched in 2007, helps major international food producers to measure their supply chain emissions. Additionally, AB Agri’s dairy consultancy business, Kite Consulting, provides practical guidance on emissions reduction and nutrient conservation to individual farm operations.
AB Agri has committed to calculating product environmental footprints for all branded animal nutrition products by 2027. This initiative leverages diverse data sources, including primary production data, Global Feed Lifecycle Assessment Institute (GFLI) information and suitable proxies for unlisted materials. The tool and its methodology have been peer-reviewed and validated by University College London.
In 2023, AB Agri completed the collection of carbon emission values for all the raw materials used in its compound feeds globally. AB Agri is now collecting carbon values for its specialty feed ingredients, where data is often scarce or hard to obtain. However, AB Agri is working closely with its technical teams, suppliers and carbon footprint specialists, and aims to have completed this work by the end of 2025, with all remaining products completed by 2027.
Piglet feed, AB Neo Centre of Excellence
AB Agri’s business, AB Neo, which focuses on neonatal and maternal stages in animals, uses its Centre of Excellence piglet trial farm facility in Spain, to better understand the impact of early nutrition for piglets. In 2023/24 this has included trials focused on supporting gut health during the ‘transition’ period, where a piglet’s diet shifts from milk to solid feed. This is a critical period for piglets, due to significant changes in the gut environment. By optimising the diet during this phase, AB Neo aims to harness its transition-period expertise to help the animal maintain robust health.
Milk testing at NMR laboratory in Wolverhampton, UK
In recent years, there have been improvements in the potential for testing and monitoring to detect early, sub-clinical signs of infection in livestock. Developed by AB Agri’s milk testing and analytics business, NMR, ‘GenoCells’ is a next-generation milk test that provides individual cow Somatic Cell Counts (SCC) using a single bulk milk sample enabling the early detection of mastitis. GenoCells analyses the genetics of all cows in the herd. If the bulk milk sample shows a high SCC, GenoCells can pinpoint the specific cow responsible. This allows for early intervention, helps to detect sub-clinical mastitis, improves milk quality and reduces the need for antibiotics.
