View From Europe


By Colin Ley


ONCE MORE INTO THE UNKNOWN COVID-19 lockdown has returned to large chunks of Europe, the British Government is still pretty much locked into final/final Brexit negotiations with the European Union, and while US voters would appear to have chosen Joe Biden as their next President the legal challenges surrounding the outcome are set to continue. This, of course, is all at the time of writing. Although, sadly, I can’t


see much progress being made on any of these issues by the time this appears in print. While our industry has always been resilient in the face of previous


periods of challenge and extremely innovative in addressing times of change, 2020 has redefined the boundaries of both domestic and international trade. At least, in confronting the realities of the second wave of COVID-


19, feed, farming, and food chains already have good coping structures in place. That doesn’t mean anyone will be making that much money at present, but the raw material-to-plate trail is well set to continuing operating, albeit according to its new go-slow/reduced volume format. The biggest threat to manufacturers, in fact, is that rising


infection and hospitalisation numbers, will remove essential workers from production and processing plants and from vital distribution networks. The rise in online shopping and home deliveries should keep food


supplies flowing, despite obvious second-wave issues, although the potential loss of Christmas and New Year meat sales is a negative factor. The new surge of lockdowns appears to be designed to leave a door open for a mid-December lifting of restrictions for the Christmas period. That’s not a given, however. If such a strategy doesn’t work, in fact, farmers will have to do without their traditional injection of festive sales volumes and prices, an outcome none of us would enjoy. As for Brexit, who would have thought we’d still be waiting on a


deal or no-deal decision at this point in the year? Okay, most of us I guess, judging by the way Britain’s exit from the EU has unfolded since June 2016. Ironically, the Brexit chat, or non-chat, has extended throughout the


entire length of US President Trump’s first four-year term. Elected on November 8, 2016, the Donald’s bid for a second term was still being seen by some commentators (on October 30) as a factor in Britain’s willingness to leave the EU without a deal. His promise of a great US/ GB trade deal has been placed against the suggestion that a Joe Biden presidency would shift US Government emphasis towards restoring relations with the EU rather than courting the UK. It’s frustrating, as a journalist, to have such open-ended issues to consider, when going to press, but I’m sure it’s 100 times more complex


PAGE 14 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020 FEED COMPOUNDER


and demanding when setting feed production budgets for 2021 and beyond. You have my sympathy and admiration.


COVID-19 IMPACT SURVEY Putting hard facts and figures on the impact of COVID-19 on feed, farming, and food businesses isn’t easy but that’s the task being addressed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The survey is open to contributions from support bodies and


business operators until November 30 and, having studied the questions being asked, it does appear to be a worthwhile use of business leaders’ time. I know management time and resources are at a premium at present but the more we can pinpoint how businesses are being affected, the more precise our lobbying for support can be in the future. As the current return to lockdowns illustrates, the pandemic is not


going away any time soon, so a bit of extra form filling now could make a worthwhile difference in 2021. After starting with a few standard pages of who, what, and where


questions, the JRC document develops into a more detailed probing of significant impacts and implications for companies. One question, for example, examines production cost changes, caused by COVID-19, with operators asked to give a 1-5 (good-to-bad) ranking of how their business has suffered across a range of factors. Energy, labour, transport, building rents, packaging, and special items of newly purchased equipment and/ or materials, are all on the list. And there’s a space to add other cost hits which your own individual business has taken. Another section seeks input concerning which measures/actions


businesses have taken, or are planning to take, to mitigate the impact of COVID-19. Response options include searching for alternative suppliers, modifying labelling and packaging requirements, and stockpiling essential inputs. The whole document runs to 35 pages, so there’s a lot more to it than I’ve outlined here. Finally on this, and I realise this is a boring comment, the more


business leaders who take part in JRC’s initiative, the more valuable the process will be. If you’re searching for details on this, I found it on the FEFAC website.


POSITIVE PARTNERS In the midst of coping with COVID-19 and all the other issues I’ve just been commenting on, it’s refreshing to be able to draw attention to what appears to have been a steady flow of partnership deals and takeovers involving some of our industry’s major players. It’s good to see that the businesses concerned, all Dutch-driven,


aren’t standing still, despite the obvious horrors of 2020. ForFarmers’ late-October agreement to ‘join forces’ with De Hoop


Mengvoeders, Kelhem, The Netherlands, certainly fits the model with the two companies stating that they consider one powerful, international organisation, focusing on feed quality and advice for poultry farmers, to be of great added value to the poultry sector. Consumers, they added, are increasingly interested in the


provenance of what they eat, linked to the rising demand for high quality food, manufactured in a sustainable manner. Accordingly, it’s stated, this has led to more strategic partnerships in the broiler food chain with the ‘acquisition’ of De Hoop by ForFarmers needing


Comment section is sponsored by Compound Feed Engineering Ltd www.cfegroup.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68