7 Largest Animal Feed Factories in the World

Since animal feed became a trade commodity or commercial product starting in the early 1800s when the means of transportation and propulsion of agricultural equipment mainly used horses and donkeys, a number of animal feed providers began to emerge such as Cargill, ADM, Purina and Ridley. In that era, the science of animal feed nutrition became a scientific discipline, starting in 1810 a German scientist named Albrecht Daniel Thaer developed the first animal feed standard by comparing the nutrients of various types of hay. Around 1900 the hammer mill was first used followed by the horizontal batch mixer in 1909. The early 20th century saw many advances in the use of technology for animal feed but the most noticeable and dramatic progress was when Purina introduced feed pellets in the 1920s. With this pelletization, the powder is less favorable to livestock (unpalatable), the different densities become easier to use and increases uniformity. This pelletization technique was quickly in demand by many feed producers so that in 1930 there were a number of feed factories that specialized in the production of these feed pellets. In 1944 L.A. Maynard published a table of nutritional requirements for livestock and laboratory animal husbandry. The table of nutritional requirements then becomes the world standard for feed formulation to date including ruminants such as sheep, goats and cows. In the late 1950s progress and specialization continued in the feed industry. In addition, the production capacity is also getting bigger, even in the 1970s the range of animal feed factory capacity was between 200 - 500 thousand tons per year. Currently there are about 30 thousand feed factories around the world with a production of more than 1 billion tons every year, and the 7 giant animal feed factories are as follows: 

1.Charoen Pokphand (27 million tons / year)   

Charoen Pokphand's business started in 1921 when two Chinese brothers Chia Ek Chor and Chia Siew Whooy set up a Chia Tai Chueng shop and did business in plant seeds and vegetables from China and exported pork and eggs to Hong Kong. Currently, Charoen Pokphand, based in Bangkok, is the largest Thai conglomerate and also one of the largest conglomerates in the world. The company has 8 business lines covering 13 business groups including the largest retail business in Southeast Asia (Seven Eleven), telecommunications (True), hypermarkets (Siam Makro) and automotive (Dayang Motor). By 2020 this business group has invested in 21 countries. Charoen Pokphand's animal feed production began in 1978 and is currently the world's largest producer of animal feed and shrimp products, as well as the world's top three for poultry, pork and a number of agricultural products. 

2. New Hope (20 million tons / year)

New Hope was founded by Liu Yonghao in 1982 and is also the current managing director. Before founding New Hope Liu Yonghao was a teacher at a technical school and with his three siblings started farming quails and chickens. Today New Hope is China's largest animal feed producer. Apart from New Hope, Liu Yonghao also does business in banking and is the founder of a shareholder in China Minsheng Bank. Currently, New Hope is mainly engaged in the agricultural, livestock and food processing sectors, with a production of 20 million tons of animal feed, processing 1.3 billion chickens and 8 million pigs annually. The company operates in 30 countries including Vietnam, Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Egypt. 

3.Cargill (19.2 million tonnes / year)

Cargill was founded in 1865 or about 156 years ago in the United States by William W. Cargill with headquarters in Minnetonka, Minnesota. A year after his birth, his brother Sam joined to form W.W. Cargill and Brother. In 1875 another of James's brothers joined the company. In 1898, John H. MacMillan, Sr., and his brother, Daniel, began working at W. W. Cargill. MacMillan later married William Cargill's eldest daughter, Edna. Today Cargill is still a family company, with the descendants of the founders (from the Cargill and MacMillan Families) owning 90% of the company and is Cargill's largest private company by revenue in the United States.

Some of Cargill's main businesses are trading, purchasing and distributing grains such as wheat and other agricultural commodities, such as coconut oil; trade in energy, steel and transportation; livestock breeding and feed production; as well as producing food ingredients such as starch and glucose syrup, vegetable oils and fats for use in instant food and industry. Cargill also has a financial services business, which manages Cargill's financial risk in commodity markets. Cargill operates in 66 countries and is the largest poultry producer in Thailand. 

4.Purina Animal Nutrition (12 million tonnes / year)

Purina Animal Nutrition was founded in the United States by William H. Danforth in 1894 with the production of a variety of animal feeds under the name Purina Mills. The animal feed produced at that time included horses, dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs and monkeys. In 1902, William H. Danforth with Webster Edgerly, a university professor who founded Ralstonism, who at that time produced breakfast cereal, founded the Ralston Purina company. In 1986 Ralston Purina sold the Purina Mill, the animal feed business for the American market, to British Petroleum and retained its international pet feed and animal feed businesses. In 1993 Sterling Group purchased Purina Mill and in 1998 it was purchased by Koch Industries, but the U.S. the bankruptcy court canceled all of Koch's rights to manage the survival of the company. Lastly Purina Mills was purchased by Land O'Lakes in 2001. 

5.BRF (11 million tons / year) 

BRF S.A. is a Brazilian company which is a merger between Sadia and Perdigao, the two main feed companies in Brazil. Currently BRF is one of the largest feed companies in the world with more than 30 brands in its portfolio, including Sadia, Perdigao, Qualy, Paty, Danica and Bocatti. BRF products are marketed in more than 150 countries in the world. BRF has more than 50 factories in 8 countries namely Argentina, Brazil, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Netherlands, Malaysia, UK, Thailand and Turkey. In Brazil, BRF has more than 30 factories and 20 distribution centers, while overseas operates 9 factories in Argentina, one unit in the UK, one unit in the Netherlands, five in Thailand, one in Malaysia, one in the UAE, and five in Turkey. with the support of 27 distribution centers. The animal feed products produced by BRF are for chickens and pigs. 

6.Tyson Foods (10.3 million tonnes / year)

Tyson Foods is a public trade company from the United States whose main business is in the animal feed industry with headquarters at 2200 Don Tyson Pkwy., Springdale, Arkansas. Tyson Foods is also the world's largest company and marketer after JBS S.A based on chicken, beef and pork. The company was founded by John W. Tyson in 1935 and from its founding until his death in 1967 he served as its managing director. Tyson started out in the chicken market when he heard that chicken in northern America was more expensive than where he lived in Arkansas. In 1936 Tyson brought 500 chickens from his home to Chichago, Illinois and made quite a fortune. Since that success he started raising chickens and making feed for them. Currently Tyson Foods operates in 10 countries with products spread across five continents in the world. 

7.COFCO (8.3 million tons / year)

COFCO (China Oil and Foodstuffs Corporation) is a Chinese state-owned company which was founded in 1949 and is the largest food processor and marketer in China today. COFCO is also one of the leaders of the Asian agribusiness group alongside Wilmar International. Between 1952 and 1987 (35 years), COFCO was the sole importer and exporter of agricultural products under the direct control of the central government. COFCO has a number of production sites in China, as well as in countries such as Japan, the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada.

Soon it is estimated that the era of bioeconomy will become a trend and lifestyle in the world so that the issue of sustainability becomes very important. Bioeconomy itself can be defined as knowledge-based production and using biological resources or living things to produce products, processes and services in the economic sector within the framework of a sustainable economic system. With a Muslim majority population, Indonesia should have developed many bioeconomic models that are in line with Islamic values. This is because bioeconomy will also be related to food and clothing issues which in Islam are very clearly related to the issue of halal and haram. Not only that, of course, the model is also optimized so that it can bring prosperity to the people as much as possible and provide solutions to a number of major problems faced. Islamic economics that have not become mainstream in Muslim-majority countries is one of these big problems. Practically feed and animal husbandry products must be in line with the halal industry so as to provide blessings in the life of the world and the hereafter, not only seeking profit but justifying any means.