International Production and Processing Expo
by Jenny Alonge
The record-setting 2024 International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE), which attracts worldwide industry leaders, was held January 30 to February 1 at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center. The IPPE encompasses the International Feed Expo, the International Meat Expo, and the International Poultry Expo and represents the world’s protein production and processing industries. The expo provides opportunities for attendees to build relationships, find new suppliers and vendors, update operations, and remain competitive. IPPE was sponsored by the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), the Meat Institute, and the United States Poultry and Egg Association (USPOULTRY).
Setting records
The 2024 IPPE set two new records—the expo hosted 1,432 exhibitors over 620,850 square feet of exhibit space. The 9,063 international attendees, representing 133 countries, set a third record for the expo. In total, 31,353 registered attendees from the poultry and egg, meat, and animal food industries registered. Canada, with 14.9% of registered attendees, was the largest group from a country outside the United States, while Latin America boasted 45% of international visitors. The educational program featured more than 80 hours of sessions that covered topics such as food safety design principles, worker safety, and sustainability for the meat, animal food, and poultry and egg industries.
Featured programs
The IPPE focuses on innovation, education, global reach, and networking. Featured programs included:
- International Poultry Scientific Forum (IPSF) — The IPSF kicked off on January 29 with Hannah Thompson-Weeman’s Dendy Keynote Lecture entitled “Safeguarding the Future of Poultry: Mitigating Activist Threats.” Other presentations included:
- Light emitting diodes can modulate a chicken’s embryonic growth, hatching performance, and chick quality
- Zero shot image segmentation for monitoring thermal conditions of individual laying hens
- Effects of varying branched-chain amino acid ration using corn gluten meal, L-isoleucine, and L-valine on 0- to 21-day turkey poult performance
- Latin America Poultry Summit — The summit focused on the surveillance, prevention, management, and eradication of avian influenza, which has spread throughout Central and South America and created a regional emergency.
- College Student Career Program (CSCP) — The CSCP is held annually during the IPPE to connect college students seeking professions in the poultry industry with human resource managers and recruiters. Students submit their resumes in October, and companies that sign up to participate in CSCP can access the information to find qualified candidates.
- Young Leaders Under 30 Award — Hunter Ulrich, a project engineer at Mountaire Farms in greater Philadelphia, received the 2024 Young Leaders Under 30 Award. The award includes free registration for the trade show and educational programs, hotel accommodation for two nights, breakfast with a keynote speaker, a VIP tour of the trade show, a plaque recognizing their achievement, and complimentary registration for 2025.
- Pet Food Conference — The AFIA’s annual Pet Food Conference is designed for pet food and pet treat manufacturers and industry supporters, such as ingredient manufacturers and equipment suppliers. The conference covers a wide variety of topics, including regulatory issues, technical aspects of pet food production, product claims, marketing, and nutrition.
Highlighted educational sessions
Attendees took advantage of more than 80 hours of educational sessions. Highlights included:
- Domestic and Global Poultry Market Outlook for the Poultry and Egg Industry — Brian Earnest, lead animal protein analyst with CoBank, discussed trade protectionism and harmful trade restrictions in the poultry industry.
- Domestic and Global Outlook of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza for 2024 — Dr. David Swayne, Birdflu Veterinarian, LLC consultant, noted that avian influenza is not a single disease and discussed next steps, such as biosecurity protocols, movement control, and eradicating infected poultry, to fight the virus.
- Feed Your ESG: How Feed Will Help Hit Sustainability Targets — This half-day educational program featured multiple speakers who focused on how environmental, social, and governance factors are necessary to create sustainability opportunities for the feed industry. Speakers also provided insight on how feed industry sustainability contributes to the broader food supply chain.
- The Use of Animal Proteins in Chicken and Egg Production — Antonio Aburto, Ph.D., a poultry nutrition consultant, talked about how poultry meat production is now achieved in fewer days with better calorie conversion.
- More Than a Production Facility: Rendering in the Community — Kyle Canning, a Scoular group product manager, discussed the rendering industry’s economic importance.
2024 was a great year for the IPPE, and plans are already in progress for IPPE 2025, which will be held January 28–30 at the same location.
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