By Eric Jenks, Special to NEAFA
This month’s NEAFA Member highlight is of Jefo Nutrition Inc. “Jefo is a global leader in high-performance, non-medicated nutritional solutions for animals,” said Chris Gwyn, the Sales Director for Canada and Ruminant Business Development Manager for North America. “Founded in Canada in 1982, the company offers innovative, cost-effective, and efficient solutions in over 80 countries. With its commitment to Life, Made Easier, Jefo aims to improve animal health and increase human longevity by feeding growing populations with better sources of protein.”
Gwyn joined Jefo Nutrition Inc in 2005, and has worked in a variety of roles over the years for the company. “I grew up in Eastern Ontario in the city,” said Gwyn. “My father was a history professor with a passion for farming and my mother grew up on an English dairy farm. I grew up working on farms and dairy farms in particular right through university. There’s a certain warmth and relaxation that you get from being around livestock, so a farm is my happy place. When I graduated from the University of Guelph - with a degree in animal science and a focus in ruminant nutrition, I worked on a dairy farm in Cayuga County in Central New York.”
According to Gwyn, Jefo Nutrition is focused on innovation. “We are innovators, go get it done company,” said Gwyn. “We have been on the forefront of nutritional strategy for 20 years. We do what we can to support the industry by working collaboratively with others. For our consumer business, we create nutritional solutions that aid the feed industries products with the end goal of sustainable milk, meat and eggs. For ruminants, we create vitamin strategies that focus on efficiency of the animal. A key technology in ruminant sector is designing and producing rumen bypass ingredients. We made a forty million US dollar investment on a ruminant bypass ingredients facility. Those ingredients can make for efficient digestion and absorption of nutrients, helping the animals’ metabolism work as effectively and efficiently as possible. Our Quebec facility, which is within five hours of the Northeastern Agricultural market, is the most modern plant in the world, and will quadruple our production ability.”
For Gwyn, being a member of NEAFA is a must for doing business in the Northeast. “It’s an important organization in supporting agriculture in the Northeast,” said Gwyn. “Being a member is something that we can do to help make sure that agriculture in the northeast, which has its own unique pressures, is supported. We have similar pressure in land use and production in Canada, and you need a strong lobby group to make sure that the needs of northeastern agriculture and the feed industry are looked after. I’ve been to NEAFA’s annual meetings and golf tournaments in the past. For me, it’s always nice to see of how companies that compete day to day can get together to network and support one another. We’re all here to promote agriculture, and to get a better understanding of the issues going on in the northeast or in agriculture in general.”
Looking to the future, Gwyn is excited for the next generation joining the industry. “There’s a high level of interest and engagement in young people in studying ag and getting into the industry,” said Gwyn. “It’s admirable that in the USA there are strong 4H and FFA programs where youth are actively involved with agriculture. There’s a high level of engagement, and it’s not just from rural areas. You have people like me from the city that have a passion for it. Agriculture is here to stay, people need to eat. There are a lot of youth that are coming up that will be strong leaders for the future. NEAFA and other organizations are great for their support and scholarships for practical agriculture is a big positive. Change is ever present. As an industry and as companies, we need to see what change is coming, and to make sure that we can have it fit within our business and ag to make it a positive outcome.”