Stavanger, Norway-headquartered feed producer Skretting has introduced a new sustainability proposition titled “ACT,” which stands for Action, Connection, and Transparency.
The company revealed ACT in its recently released 2024 Impact Report, which highlighted key achievements the firm made last year, including a 26 percent reduction in its carbon feed footprint since 2018, an increase in the use of certified marine ingredients to 85 percent of its total production, and a decline in antibiotic use, with just 1.4 percent of the firm’s feed now containing them.
ACT aims to aid the firm and its customers in building on that momentum, with the ultimate goal of driving industry-wide collaboration on sustainability, Skretting CEO Bastiaan van Tilburg said.
More specifically, Van Tilburg told SeafoodSource that ACT is focused on helping Skretting’s customers achieve better performance and lower mortality rates through functional feed and health solutions.
At the same time, it’s a recognition that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to sustainability solutions, he said, explaining that with this in mind, Skretting “will be intentional in co-creating solutions that address our customers’ specific realities, taking the actions that matter the most to them.”
“Through this value proposition, we’re also looking at strengthening the connections in the value chain, working closer with suppliers and other partners to accelerate progress and increasing the levels of transparency related to the different ingredients and the regions we source from to produce our feed,” van Tilburg said.
Part of this model also includes a focus on innovating with impact and scaling solutions that bring tangible results for farmers, such as through Skretting 360+ – a package of tools and services designed to optimize feeding, farming, and health management of fish and shrimp.
“After [360+’s] success in Ecuador, last year we implemented it in Southern Europe and in India, where we have seen clear improvement in performance such as 10 percent to 20 percent reductions in [farmers’] feed conversion ratios, 10 percent to 25 percent increases in growth, 5 percent to 20 percent increases in survival, and eight- to 15-day reductions in cycle days, thereby improving the sustainability performances of the farms,” van Tilburg said. “As we’ve stated many times, we believe that we can make more impact by working together. ACT means turning those words into a reality through a practical, customer-focused approach. The success of ACT is measured by the impact we make for our customers to meet their sustainability targets. These targets range from emissions reductions, to lower mortality rates, to changes in the raw materials basket.”
Formulating feed that carries lower carbon footprints is no simple task, though, especially without increasing reliance on marine ingredients.
With that in mind, Skretting’s approach is to look at end-to-end footprint emissions, focusing on the footprint of the farmed fish or shrimp feeding on Skretting’s products rather than the feed in isolation, van Tilburg said, stressing that better animal performance means lower emissions per kilogram produced.
Skretting also said it aims to avoid the trap of simply substituting one environmental impact for another. It mainly accomplishes this by:
- Limiting marine ingredient use by setting sustainability thresholds and sourcing only from certified fisheries or ones under a fishery improvement project (FIP);
- Increasing the use of trimmings, which now make up 40 percent of marine ingredients used – up from a six-year average of 35 percent; and
- Investing in novel and circular ingredients such as algae oil or fermentation-based proteins to diversify from both high-carbon and high-marine-dependency ingredients.
All of these steps embody the ACT approach in their framework, van Tilburg said.
“This approach reflects a life cycle mindset – looking beyond carbon alone to consider biodiversity, resource efficiency, and long-term ecosystem health,” he said. “The focus is not on replacing current ingredients but on expanding the raw materials basket to increase flexibility in feed formulation in a cost-effective and functionally effective way. While we explore various ingredient categories, we’re not driven by the category itself but by the specific nutrients we need … and the most sustainable, scalable, and cost-competitive ways to source them.”
Skretting and its parent company Nutreco are also scaling up solutions borne out of the latter firm’s phytotechnology program that officially opened a year ago, with the program’s team using advanced AI to identify and cultivate plants with unique profiles that support animal health, resilience, and performance.
Using these new capabilities, Skretting will be launching new feed solutions for fish and shrimp in 2025, including proprietary plants that have never been used in animal feeds before.
“When fish and shrimp are exposed to challenges, their physiological responses are remarkably similar. We develop high-quality, tangible solutions using plants that we carefully select, cultivate, harvest, and process to meet our customers' needs. As always, before releasing new solutions, they are tested and validated in the target species,” van Tilburg said. “Going forward, we keep developing our pipeline together with our business partners to make sure that we identify and address the most pressing challenges in our industry. By aligning our efforts and sharing insights, we can develop innovative solutions that are tailored to the evolving needs of our markets.”
Across all these endeavors, van Tilburg also highlighted that the last part of the ACT proposition is especially essential, as the firm promises to always be transparent about its progress and challenges.
“Through ACT, we directly link sustainability to improved performance for our customers. We put strong focus on co-creating solutions that help our customers achieve their relevant sustainability objectives while, at the same time, generating additional value through higher efficiency, better health, and/or more precision in feeding and farming," he said. "This will be fueled by increased investments in innovation and a strong emphasis on developing and adopting digital technologies and solutions.”
