Environmental control in pig housing is important for animal growth and health. Modern farms have computer-controlled systems that are adjusted automatically to optimize the environment depending on the stage of growth or reproduction, based on ideal temperature curves established from research and models. For example, for growing pigs, temperature needs to decrease by set amounts as they increase in body weight. However, it is important to ensure the correct growth curve is selected in any automated system to account for breed, age and health of the animals.
What does the future hold for farming and the entire food supply chain?
Everything from automated farm implements and nonstop reams of data to consumers’ ability to trace their food to its source and create supply chain reversal, according to a panel of agribusiness experts.
Looking ahead into that near (and already here) future was the basis of a live video panel discussion entitled “Farming the Future.”
Seafood is rich in many of the essential nutrients that we must consume regularly to maintain a healthy life. In order for fish and shrimp to reach their full genetic and nutritional potential, it is important that they receive the right minerals. Organic trace minerals can not only positively impact animal health and performance, but producer profitability, the environment and the food on our dinner tables.
Whether you are a commercial producer of Atlantic salmon, an aquaculture research scientist or a consumer with a fondness for the fish, Lepeophtheirus salmonis matters.
In fact, this sea louse is the reason your salmon dinner is weighing heavy on your grocery bill. Market prices of farmed salmon have been reaching historic highs.
How do you prefer your salmon: wild-caught or farm-raised?
When that question came up in dinner conversations 20 years ago, the answer likely would have revealed skepticism about farmed fish.
In those days, the industry was new. Salmon farms were being accused of polluting the oceans. Some were found to be harboring and incubating disease, turning a blind eye to infected escapees, and wiping out forage fish, up to 7 pounds of which once went into each pound of farmed Atlantic salmon.
