Sunday, December 3, 2017

04/12/2017: Aller Aqua wins entrepreneur of the year in Denmark as well as globalisation award

An independent jury awarded Aller Aqua the two prizes during a large party and award ceremony held Thursday evening at forum in Copenhagen in front of 800 business leaders from all of Denmark

The award is given out by Ernst & Young as part of the world’s largest competition for growth companies.

The jury placed emphasis on three key areas for awarding Aller Aqua the national Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOTY) prize.
 
Aller Aqua owners with their wives receiving the awards
Image credit: Aller Aqua

Firstly, the company’s long history as a family owned business and the fact that the 4th generation is in place was deemed important. Secondly, Aller Aqua’s recent and fast expansion and many locations around the globe played a major part. Finally, the fact that Aller Aqua’s business supports many of UN’s 17 sustainable development goals and the fact that fish farming is a sustainable way of producing protein-rich food to the growing world population was deemed important.

Hans Erik Bylling is third generation of the Bylling family in the business, which is still based in Aller just outside Christiansfeld. In November he inaugurated the company’s Chinese factory, Aller Aqua Qingdao, together with his son, Anders Bylling. Anders is the managing director of Aller Aqua Qingdao and 4th generation of the Bylling family involved in the business. In 2017 Aller Aqua also inaugurated a new factory in Zambia. Aller Aqua sells fish feed to more than 60 countries worldwide. Outside of Europe the sector grows by eight percent yearly, and Aller Aqua supports the growth by delivering fish feed of the highest quality and by helping fish farmers optimise their yield.

Hans Erik Bylling, CEO and owner of Aller Aqua explained, “We were very excited to win the regional finals, and it means a lot to us to win both the national final and the Globalisation award. EY’s recognition of the work we do and how we conduct business around the world makes us very proud! We were up against some very strong contenders, so we feel truly humbled to bring these awards back to the office.”

Henrik T. Halken, Group Vice President and owner, stated, “The opening of two new factories this year as well as our approach to sustainable production and knowledge sharing in new challenging markets are some of the reasons we have received these awards. We place a big emphasis on education of fish farmers in new markets as well as our CSR activities. It is certainly possible to achieve growth in a responsible way.”

Carsten Jørgensen, CFO and owner, added, “We have achieved an excellent turnover this year, and besides the fast growth we have a solid economy. We have entered into some risky markets, which has not been easy, but we have been successful and it has really paid off.”

Aller Aqua is now through to the EY World Entrepreneur of The Year finals which take place in Monaco in 2018. All in all the award is given out in more than 60 countries. This year 1361 Danish businesses met the requirements for participation in EOTY. An independent jury selected six regional finalists, and the winners met at the national finals. 2017 is the 32nd year the award is handed out internationally.

Visit the Aller Aqua website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by
Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news

04/12/2017: Prospects for land-based fish farming - fish international with aquaculture workshop SCOPE

Aquaculture has been a key focus at fish international for some years

Once again, from Sunday 25 to Tuesday 27 February 2018, Germany's only fish trade fair devotes a lot of attention to this topic. However, the SCOPE workshop is a new departure.

"For the first time, we're offering a complete module so that we can work intensively on four specially selected topics", says Project Manager Sabine Wedell. "We believe this is a better way of catering to the participants' interests."
 


One of the greatest challenges of aquaculture is achieving ever more effective and sustainable production. The four modules on the Monday tackle best-practice examples of farming in recirculating systems, salmonid farming, shrimp farming in Europe and animal welfare.

On the Tuesday, the participants will get to know interesting exhibitors and experience a variety of aquaculture products in our Smoke House, where the delicacies will be explained and exclusively prepared for them.

Ohad Maiman, CEO of Kingfish Zeeland, will talk about stand-out systems. The Dutch company has been producing yellowtail amberjacks (Seriola lalandi) as high-end products since last year. He sees great potential for the product on the European market.

According to Mr. Maiman, gourmets value the excellent sashimi quality of the tropical predatory fish with its firm, oily flesh. A further advantage for the company is the freshness that results from the comparatively short transport distances in Europe compared to imports from Asia or Australia. Currently, the company is convincing above all top chefs of the qualities of its product. fishinternational will boost awareness of the fish in Germany and open up new sales channels.

German aquaculture currently focuses mainly on salmonids. Production is mostly in the hands of small and very small companies. However, a few large companies, mainly in Baden-Württemberg, are highly profitable and demonstrate that it is possible to succeed in international competition. Despite this, the sector is stagnating. Two producers, Stephan Hofer of Hofer-Forellen in Baden-Württemberg and trout farmer Marcin Juchniewicz of Fishfarm K2, one of Poland's most innovative fish farms, will lead a discussion on how to improve production efficiency.

A comparatively new topic in Germany and Europe is shrimp farming, which has been noteworthy above all for a string of business failures. Förde Garnelen in Kiel has so far been one of only a few successful ventures. Up to now, the company has only been producing in a pilot project. "We plan to increase production next year from five to 50 tons", says Managing Director Dr. Bert Wecker. He will be one of the contributors to the Shrimp Workshop. There is a vast market for shrimps in Germany, which imports 40,000 tons per year. Mr. Wecker sees good sales opportunities in the luxury segment for high-priced goods made in Germany. So why do many companies fail in this sector? He names possible reasons as: "poor technology, inexpert management and systems that are too small to produce economically". A great many skills are required, leading to an in-built possibility of failure. Today, farmers are advised not to invest in shrimp farming. Even apart from the problems already mentioned, the animals are sensitive – they need a lot of space to thrive.

That does not apply to many other types of farmed fish. Aquaculture usually cultivates juvenile fish, which have a natural swarm behaviour. That is why the fish density in farming is not the most important parameter for animal welfare. The basic requirements for animal-friendly fish farming are above all other environmental conditions such as water quality. These are among the findings of research by a team under Dr Helmut Wedekind of the Fisheries Institute of the Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture. In a study, they measured the release of the stress hormone cortisol in rainbow trout in relation to factors including stock density. Just recently, Dr Wedekind and his team conducted trials with a new method of slaughtering catfish which avoids stressful catching of individual fish out of a group. Instead, the fish swim independently into the slaughtering system.

All the details of the workshop are available on the trade fair website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by
Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news

Biorigin company profile



Biorigin is a Brazilian company which mobilises knowledge and technology to promote health and quality of life. Using biotechnological processes, it produces natural ingredients for flavor enhancement, sodium reduction, shelf life extension in food market; and nutritional enrichment of feeds and substitutes for antibiotics.


It is a business unit of Zilor, a company with more than 65 years of experience and one of the largest Brazilian producers of ethanol, sugar and electricity from sugar cane.

Biorigin was founded in 2003, and in 2008 acquired the companies PTX Food Corp in The United States and Immunocorp and Animal Health, in Norway, expanding and strengthening its international presence.


Visit the website HERE.

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by
Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news