Growing up on an animal farm in Australia, I always wondered why agriculture did not have more respect in society. Everyone needs to eat daily and this continuous supply of food has to be produced by farmers. As a producer, I was amazed at the skills needed to manage the food supply chain and the huge impact of the supply chain on the use of natural resources and on so many parts of our everyday life.
Over time I saw many opportunities that companies and individuals could have on improving the inefficiencies of the food supply chain in order to use less natural resources. Food waste is one that jumps out. So much food is produced, yet not everyone gets enough to eat. On our farm, we wasted nothing. All food and food scrap was recycled in some way. Maybe because my father grew up during World War 2, and therefore, the farm was 100% self-sufficient. In comparison, Aussie families waste an average of 345kg of food per year per household. This means that 1 in 5 bags of groceries bought are wasted. That’s why I am so interested in helping reduce the loss and waste of food supply chains. And what opportunities do we have to impact this issue?
Let’s consider eggs. On our farm, the eggs had to only survive being carried from the hen house 10 meters to our home. But eggs from the chicken to most houses in the cities take a much longer journey. Consider your disappointment when you find a cracked egg in the carton when you get home. How many eggs are produced and wasted for each dozen eggs you take home? On average, 13 plus eggs are laid so a dozen eggs can get to your home. Since we have 7.8 billion people on the planet, eating an average of 180 eggs per year, we are talking about the staggering number of over 120 billion eggs that go to waste every year! Along the supply chain these losses multiply.
Now imagine if there was an easy solution to reduce this loss, improving the chickens' health at the same time? You don’t have to imagine, there is one and we have it: 25 Hydroxy vitamin D (active form of vitamin D3), commercially called HyD. It reduces substantially the number of cracked eggs by making stronger egg shells, combined with making the chickens healthier by building stronger bones, stimulating their immune system and gut function.
The WE MAKE IT POSSIBLE new positioning supports our ambition to be the world leader in animal nutrition & health, providing tangible and measurable solutions like HyD to our customers so together we can tackle the biggest challenges facing society & the animal protein industry.
At DSM, we strongly believe in sustainable food systems and that the livestock industry can transform itself from within to be a part of the solution. We want to play a key role in this transformation and work at species and country level, with our partners, to provide tangible and actionable solutions to create brighter lives for all.
If not us, who?
If not now, when?
So, let’s make it possible!
Cheers,
Charlie Culley,
HyD Global Lead
