On Thursday, May 19 at FICO – Eataly World, the AGER conference “Evolutions and Prospects of the Feed and Milling Industry” was held.
AGER is a network of companies established to meet the growing demand for integrated solutions and consolidate a decades-long experience of collaboration with numerous projects conducted in synergy consisting of Versya, Tecnica Elettronica and Verducci Impianti.
The beginning of the conference: digital innovation, blockchain and new perspectives with the Smart Agrifood observatory
The conference opened with a welcome greeting brought by Gianmarco Salvagno, CEO of Versya, representing the Ager network, and immediately got into the swing of things thanks to the speech by Filippo Renga, co-founder of the Smart AgriFood observatory of the Politecnico di Milano.
Renga presented a snapshot of the application of digital solutions in agriculture, showing how Italian agriculture is far from backward. Digital innovation is transforming the agricultural and agri-food sector with positive impacts on all players in the supply chain and, in particular, food traceability is one of the areas where digital is finding the greatest diffusion and, above all, where companies see great potential.
Blockchain in particular is one of the applications of greatest interest and on which the most attention is being paid.
Dr. Cagnolati, data analysis and forecasting of prices and consumption
This was followed by the speech of Dr. Andrea Cagnolati, an international grain trader for nearly 40 years and CEO of Grain Services, who showed a different key to evaluating grain stock data. Cagnolati’s analysis is not based on absolute data, but on days of availability for consumption, reminding that not all estimated stocks are available due to events such as the pandemic in China, conflicts, or unavailability of containers for moving.
The suggestion to the feed producers present in the room was to offload rising downstream costs before they undermine their business.
The final debate: the panel discussion and open debate
This was followed by an open debate between the room and the speakers, with protagonists Massimo Agostini, spokesman for the Honorable Paolo De Castro, Dr. Giuseppe Tresso – CEO of BEF Biosystem, a startup for the production of proteins of entomological origin, Dr. Valentina Massa, manager of Dalma Mangimi di Marene and European president of circular food producers, Dr. Giuseppe Tresso – CEO of the company BEF Biosystem, a startup for the production of proteins of entomological origin, Dr. Valentina Massa, manager of Dalma Mangimi di Marene and European president of the circular food producers, Dr. Giuseppe Tresso– CEO of the company Roberto Ranieri – CEO of Parma-based Open Fields company that deals with technology transfer for industrial process and product development, and Assalzoo regent president Michele Liverini, with journalist Francesco Zerbinati conducting.
Giuseppe Tresso illustrated how insect breeding can become a viable source of protein with very high nutritional content as a use in feed and an excellent front for fats and other products such as derivatives of chitin, the substance that makes up the skeleton of insects while Valentina Massa brought the focus on how “in a circular economy perspective, the recovery of any noble matrix to be used for feed production is equivalent to avoiding waste.”
The morning concluded with a greeting from the Ager network to the attendees brought by Fausto Beghelli of Tecnica Elettronica, who anticipated the growth of the network and the services offered with the entry of other partner companies and made an appointment for the next edition, the third, to be held in 2024.
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