USSEC held its second regional aquaculture investment conference in Dead Sea, Jordan from September 23 - 26. More than 70 aquaculture professionals attended the conference from 7 different countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Participants represented major aquaculture producers and aquaculture feed millers.
American Soybean Association (ASA) director Mark Jackson and United Soybean Board (USB) director Bob Metz represented U.S. soybean farmers at the event.
Several speakers from different parts of the world gave talks on processing quality aquafeed, least cost formulation, small scale aqua operation, soy global supply and demand, aquafeed safety and extrusion, advancement in preconditioning and drying of aqua feed, aquaculture systems innovation, and the aqua industry from the Middle East and other regions.
Speakers included: Jesse Chappell, Associate Professor, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture & Sciences, Auburn University; Ramesh G, Technical Sales Advisor, Aqua Feed Division –Worldwide, Wenger Manufacturing Inc.; Michael Martin, Regional Sales Director, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Insta-Pro International; Colby Sutter, USSEC Marketing Director – International Aquaculture / Customer Focus; Suleiman Al Qura’an, Senior Communication Officer, Jordan Investment Commission; Mian Riaz, Director, Food Protein R&D Center, Texas A&M University; John C. Baize, President, John C. Baize and Associates; Tony Freiji, Group President and CEO, Wadi Group; and Sirri Kayhan, USSEC Consultant.
The high level of audience participation and networking was a measure of the success of the event, which comes at a time when countries throughout the region are expanding their seafood production in response to consumer demand and food security concerns.
USSEC has developed long-term relationships with Texas A&M University, Auburn University, Insta-Pro International, and Wenger Manufacturing Inc., where they cooperate to develop international soybean and soybean product markets.
Dr. Riaz gave two talks titled, “How to Make Quality Feed Using Extrusion Technology” and “Aquafeed Safety and Extrusion Processing.” In the past, Dr. Riaz has spoken on soybean processing and aquafeed extrusion at other USSEC conferences in the MENA region. USSEC has sent participants from all over the world to attend aquafeed extrusion short courses offered by the Food Protein Research and Development Center at Texas A&M.
Mr. Martin commented, “As an industry member of USSEC, Insta-Pro appreciates USSEC’s continuing commitment to grow the aquaculture market in the MENA region and is grateful for the opportunity to participate in this highly effective event. Soybeans are critical to the success of aquafeed production [here] and this is clearly understood by the conference participants.”
After the conference, the USSEC delegation visited two fish farms in the Jordan Valley.