Anamax Acquires Van Hoven
The Anamax Group of Companies, Green Bay, WI, has acquired Van Hoven Company, Inc., and sister company Environmental Recycling Corporation, both of South St. Paul, MN. All three companies recycle animal and food by-products.
“This is a strategic fit for the Anamax Group, allowing us to live our vision and continue to build on our position as a leader in our industry,” stated Anamax President Michael Langenhorst. “We are delighted to have the talents and energy of Van Hoven Company and Environmental Recycling Corporation join us.”
Greg Van Hoven, fourth generation president of Van Hoven Company, which was established in 1882, and Environmental Recycling Corporation, said the companies’ relationship with Anamax spans many years.
“Anamax, established in 1881, is also a family held business and shares the same values and business philosophies that have guided us to our success,” commented Van Hoven. “We feel that the combination of these two companies strengthens both of us and allows us to be productive in the future. We are delighted to be able to reassure our suppliers and customers that their relationship will remain unchanged.”
The current management team at Van Hoven and Environmental Recycling will continue to run the day-to-day operations of the South St. Paul facilities.
The Anamax Group of Companies employs more than 350 people in five plants and two transfer stations.
AFIA President to Retire
David A. Bossman, president and chief executive officer of the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) for the past 11 years, has announced plans to retire from his current post, effective December 2004.
AFIA Chairman Steve Koenig, Bioproducts, Inc., expressed regret over the action, but lauded Bossman for the extensive contributions and far-reaching leadership he has provided as the association’s top ranking staff officer. “We are certainly going to miss Dave and realize that we have an enormous task ahead in replacing him,” he said.
In announcing the action, Bossman said, “This was not an easy or quick decision. Heading this great association for the past 10-plus years has been a challenge, a pleasure, and great honor. My passion for the industry and feeding a hungry world continues; but I have many other interests that I still want to pursue.”
Bossman joined AFIA as director of feed production in 1979 and was elected president in May 1992. He began his feed industry career with Kent Feeds in 1966, serving as plant manager of the firm’s Logansport, IN, feed mill prior to joining AFIA.
AFIA Chair-Elect Joel Newman, United Cooperative Farmers, will head a search committee to select a new association president and implement a smooth transition.
Ag Research Service Turns 50
The Agriculture Research Service (ARS), chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), marked its 50th anniversary on November 3, 2003.
ARS’ accomplishments during the past half-century include development of the leading mosquito repellent, development of vaccines to protect chickens against economically devastating diseases, construction of the first gene maps of cattle, and assistance in tripling milk production per cow.
Today, ARS has more than 2,100 scientists conducting research at about 100 locations across the United States and overseas.
While ARS was officially created in 1953, the agency has deep roots that go back more than a century. When Abraham Lincoln created USDA in 1862, the founding legislation called for the new department to acquire “useful information connected with agriculture in the most general and comprehensive sense.”
Within four years, a Division of Botany was created, soon followed by the Division of Microscopy and, in 1873, the Bureau of Animal Industry and other scientific units. Many of these were merged in 1953 to form the core of today’s ARS.
More information about ARS’ research milestones can be found in the November issue of Agricultural Research magazine, available on the Internet at www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/nov03/ars1103.htm.
Alfa Laval and Vortex Dehydration Join Forces
Alfa Laval, Inc., maker of high-speed separators, decanters, and heat transfer equipment, and Vortex Dehydration Technology, LLC, a system integrator and supplier of efficient hot-air drying systems, have announced an alliance for the marketing of further processing systems for edible and inedible by-products in the meat, poultry, and fish industries. The on-site system combines dewatering, evaporation, and low-temperature processing of low-grade edible products, inedible by-products, and dissolved air flotation sludge.
Chicken Council Selects Officers
Greg W. Lee, chief administrative officer, Tyson Foods, and president of Tyson International, took office in October as chairman of the National Chicken Council (NCC). Tom Shelton, chairman and chief executive officer, Case Foods, Inc., was installed as NCC vice chairman, and Don Jackson, president of the poultry division of Foster Farms, became the group’s secretary-treasurer.
The new officers were installed during NCC’s 49th Annual Conference held in Washington, DC. Officers serve one-year terms.
Lee joined Tyson Foods in 1980 as a regional sales manager, after which he held numerous positions until his current chief administration officer and president positions. He has been a member of the NCC’s Board of Directors since 2000 and has been secretary-treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee for the past year.
Shelton founded Case Foods in 1987. The company is headquartered in Salisbury, MD, and currently has operations in North Carolina and Ohio. Shelton previously worked for 23 years at Perdue Farms, finishing his tenure as president and chief operating officer. He has served on the NCC Board of Directors since 1988.
Jackson has been president of the poultry division at Foster Farms, based in Livingston, CA, for the past three years. Previously, he was executive vice president for foodservice of ConAgra Poultry Company, Duluth, GA, and worked for 22 years for Seaboard Farms, Athens, GA, including fours years as president and chief executive officer. Jackson has served on the NCC Board of Directors since 1996.
George Watts of Alexandria, VA, was elected to another term as NCC president, a post he has held since 1972.
Foster Workers Decertify Union
According to news reports, workers at the Foster Farms plant in Livingston, CA, have voted to decertify their contract with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union. After 35 years as a union plant, workers voted 1,608 to 494 to drop the union. The existing contract was negotiated in 1997.
Contract talks stalled in October 2002 when employees balked at the union-negotiated offer. After obtaining the required signatures, the National Labor Relations Board scheduled a vote on whether to remove the union’s exclusive bargaining rights. The union said it has not decided whether it will challenge the vote.
Meat Products Plant Closes
The J.R. Simplot Company closed its meat processing plant in Nampa, ID, in late September due to lack of profitability. The plant employed 272 and produced boxed beef – primarily cuts of fresh and frozen meat products for the foodservice and retail markets.
Simplot Senior Vice President Leigh Brinkerhoff said every effort was made to sell the plant and preserve jobs, but no buyer could be found.
“This is a small operation by industry standards, engaged in a commodity business,” he said.
Simplot purchased the plant in 1988 from H.H. Keim Company. Modernization and expansion projects totaling $8 million in the mid-1990s increased capacity from 70,000 to 130,000 cattle per year.
Nalco Welcomes New Chairman and CEO After Acquisition
William H. Joyce, Ph.D., has been named chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Nalco Company, a water treatment and process chemicals and services company. The appointment took effect upon completion of the acquisition of Nalco from Suez S.A. by the Investor Group, which includes The Blackstone Group, Apollo Management, and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. The purchase was a $4.2 billion transaction.
Joyce joined Hercules, Inc., in 2001 as chairman and CEO following a distinguished career with Union Carbide where he was named CEO in 1995 and chairman of the board in 1996. Upon Union Carbide’s merger with The Dow Chemical Company in 2001, Joyce was named vice chairman of Dow Chemical.
Joyce holds a bachelor of science degree in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from New York University.
Rendered Products Pocket Guide Available
The National Renderers Association (NRA) is preparing to publish the 2003 edition of the Pocket Information Manual, a Buyer’s Guide to Rendered Products. The 72-page pocket-size manual is a technical guide for buyers and users of rendered products as well as for industry, focusing on a wide range of topics, including a description of the various products available, quality control specifications and tests on fats and oils and animal proteins, and tables consisting of product profiles, grades, and nutrient compositions.
Estimated cost is $5 per copy, which includes shipping and handling. Advance orders can be placed with Glenda Dixon at NRA by calling (703) 683-0065, or e-mailing gdixon@nationalrenderers.com.
Revised OSHA Log is Online
Effective January 1, 2004, employers are required to use the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) revised Form 300 to report work related injuries and illnesses. To aid in the transition to the new form, OSHA has made the form available online at www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/new-osha300form1-1-04.pdf.
Among the changes in the revised Form 300 are the additions of an occupational hearing loss column and more clear-cut formulas for calculating incident rates. Also, while the revised form does not have a separate column for work-related injuries associated with ergonomic factors, OSHA still requires employers to record those injuries in either the “injury” or “all other illness” columns.
Smithfield Buys Farmland Foods
After a bidding war, Smithfield Foods, Inc., came out successful to acquire substantially all of the assets of Farmland Foods, the pork production and processing business of Farmland Industries, Inc. The purchase price was $367.4 million in cash, plus the assumption of certain Farmland liabilities.
With the acquisition of Farmland, Smithfield Foods annualized sales will approach $10 billion.
Shur-Gain to Construct Feed Mill
Shur-Gain, a division of Maple Leaf Foods, will invest $15 million in a new state-of-the-art feed mill in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. Construction of the mill is scheduled to begin immediately with site preparation and is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months.
The new mill will produce 225,000 tons per year of dairy, beef, swine, poultry, and other livestock feed. The plant will be fully automated to include receipt of orders, ingredients, batching, process control, and shipping. As a result of the investment, the volume produced at Shur-Gain’s feed mills in Port Williams, Nova Scotia, in Sussex, New Brunswick, and in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, will be consol-idated to the new mill in Moncton when it is commissioned in 2005.
Shur-Gain operates 16 feed mills in Canada and the United States.
U.S., Mexican Researchers Unite
Officials from the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and Mexico’s National Council for Science and Technology (CONACyT) signed an agreement in November expediting cooperative research to tackle agricultural problems affecting both the United States and Mexico.
Under the agreement, ARS will work with CONACyT and Mexican agriculture research institutions to identify opportunities for ARS and Mexican scientists to collaborate on projects of interest and benefit to both countries. The signing culminates more than a year’s worth of activities in which representatives from more than a dozen Mexican research organizations and universities, ARS, other U.S. Department of Agriculture and federal agencies, and state universities participated in five workshops. The workshops focused on five main areas: agriculture’s impact on water and the environment; food safety; pest problems, including phytosanitary issues; animal health; and plant biotechnology and biosafety.
Part of the cooperation will include scientific exchanges enabling Mexican graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and scientists to visit ARS laboratories, where they will conduct research related to the five project areas.
December 2003 Render