Animal nutrition innovation: how marketing creates customer value

What trends are shaping the future of animal nutrition and health in Latin America?

I believe the most significant trend is the pursuit of efficiency.

Our customers are facing rising raw material costs, increasing regulatory pressure and a shortage of skilled labour. In this environment, the expectation is to produce more animal protein with fewer resources while achieving greater predictability in results.

At the same time, we see an important shift in how the industry views sustainability. Today, sustainability is directly linked to the ability to extract more value from feed, improve nutrient utilisation and reduce emissions without compromising productivity.

Digitalisation is accelerating this transformation by enabling faster data-driven decisions.

The future of animal nutrition will increasingly be defined by the combination of science, operational efficiency and the ability to generate economic value for producers.

How does Kemin transform animal nutrition science into customer value through strategic marketing?

For me, science generates knowledge, but value is only created when that knowledge translates into tangible results for customers.

The role of strategic marketing is precisely to build that connection. It is not enough to demonstrate that technology works. We must show how it improves feed efficiency, reduces losses, creates savings, mitigates risks or increases profitability.

Our 2026 customer satisfaction survey reinforced this perspective. When customers were asked what most influences their choice of supplier, quality, cost-effectiveness and support ranked far ahead of any other factor.

This confirms that innovation only matters when it is connected to a clear business benefit.

That is why we focus on transforming science into relevant solutions, communicated in a simple way and aligned with the real challenges our customers face.

How do customer insights drive innovation in animal nutrition and health?

Customers are one of our most important sources of innovation.

By listening closely through our customer research programmes, we have learned that customers consistently value quality, technical expertise and strong relationships. They also highlight areas where we can improve, whether through additional training, expanded technical support, greater responsiveness or new solutions for emerging industry challenges.

These insights help guide both our commercial priorities and our innovation investments.

Rather than developing technologies in isolation, we can create solutions that directly address the issues affecting our customers' productivity and profitability. The better we understand their challenges, the greater our ability to create sustainable value.

How does cross-functional collaboration bring innovation in animal nutrition to market?

Innovation rarely happens within a single function.

Bringing a solution to market requires the integration of diverse capabilities. Research and Development generates scientific knowledge. Technical teams validate applications and understand their impact under real production conditions. Marketing identifies opportunities and develops compelling value propositions. Sales provides the voice of the customer, while Operations ensure successful execution.

In my experience, the most successful innovations emerge when all these functions work together from the very beginning. The stronger the collaboration, the faster an idea can be transformed into a meaningful market solution.

How are sustainability, digital technology and data transforming animal nutrition?

What stands out most to me is that all these themes are converging.

When we asked our customers about sustainability, the most common responses focused on improving nutrient utilisation, reducing emissions and leveraging data to support production decisions. This demonstrates that sustainability is no longer a separate discussion. It has become an integral part of the operational efficiency agenda.

Similarly, when discussing digitalisation and artificial intelligence, customers identified increased efficiency as the primary benefit, followed by advancements in precision nutrition and animal health monitoring.

The greatest opportunity lies in connecting these elements. The more precise our decisions become, the better we can utilise resources, reduce waste and build a more sustainable production chain.

What leadership skills will shape the future of animal nutrition and health?

Future leaders will need to combine strategic vision with a deep understanding of customer needs.

We will continue to see more technology, more data and greater complexity. However, customers will continue to seek something remarkably simple: partners who understand their challenges and help them achieve results.

For this reason, I believe the most critical leadership skills will be collaboration, continuous learning, customer orientation and the ability to transform information into action.

It will also be essential to connect different areas of the business to accelerate innovation and generate meaningful market impact.

Ultimately, the leaders who make the greatest difference will be those who can turn knowledge into value creation for customers, teams and organisations.