July 2023
AQ: Zeigler was founded in 1935 as a livestock feed supplier and moved to aquafeeds in 1967. Where is the company today in terms of size and markets served?
CS: Zeigler’s first aquaculture feeds were produced for trout around 1955, so we are approaching 90 years in business and 70 years in the aquaculture industry. The company transitioned to a specialty feed producer when Dr. Tom Zeigler became the 2nd generation owner and today, we remain a very unique feed company even within the aquaculture industry. Here in the US, we are a leading supplier of aquaculture feeds along the East Coast and into the mid-west region where the market is dominated by warm and cold-water finfish production. There also is an interesting and active segment of RAS fish and shrimp producers in North America that Zeigler has been supporting for many years now. A lot of our focus is on the shrimp hatchery industry. Zeigler has been involved with shrimp hatcheries since
around the time of their commercial inception in the Western hemisphere. Today, Zeigler’s shrimp hatchery diets can be found in every shrimp-farming country in the world with just a few exceptions.
In the early years of the industry, we exported volume grow-out diets around the world. As the need for
more locally produced feeds became evident, Zeigler adapted by creating our technology transfer program. This turn-key program has allowed Zeigler’s formulas, technology and brand to continue to contribute to growout production throughout the world. Today, we have five different active technology partners and Zeigler products are currently being produced in North America, South America, Africa and Asia.
AQ: One of the main Zeigler markets is shrimp feeds. How do you see current Asian industry issues and how Zeigler is supporting them?
CS: In Asia, we see feed-related challenges at the hatchery level which can exacerbate disease problems on the farm. At the top of the chain, the industry is investing in genetics through high-quality imported broodstock, but things can unravel shortly thereafter. Some hatcheries feed their SPF broodstock contaminated live and fresh feeds, immediately breaching the biosecurity. There are wellmanaged hatcheries that evolved beyond this, but there are still many that have not implemented biosecurity programs that adequately provide protection from the well-documented risks of using locally sourced live and fresh feeds. Pathogen screening programs are important but it is impossible to test every wild polychaete, oyster, etc. for disease. This leaves a gap that allows pathogens through. Once in the hatchery, pathogens like bacteria and microsporidians such as EHP quickly spread. Today, there are very good manufactured broodstock diets and biosecure sources of live feeds available as alternatives to risky live and fresh feeds. We need broader adoption of them for the benefit of the entire industry. At the larval-rearing phase, we see problems emanating from the adoption of cost-cutting tactics in response to stagnant PL prices. It’s problematic that as all other costs have risen, PL prices have not. Unfortunately, a common response to this price crunch is the increased use of low-cost feeds. The low-cost formulations have poor conversion rates and thus water quality becomes more of an issue while animal robustness is simultaneously compromised by decreased nutrient uptake. All of this occurs against the backdrop of improved growth rates. It is Zeigler’s observation that PL harvest weights have increased by as much as 40-60% over the past 15-20 years. We think this has equated to an increase of 30-50% in total feed used in the hatcheries during that time. What happens when increased feeding rates compound with users adopting lower-quality feeds? One result is more waste to fuel Vibrio proliferation. Current research indicates that Vibrio is associated with outbreaks of disease in hatcheries and farms including white feces disease in ponds. There is a lot of opportunity to mitigate these problems at the beginning of the supply chain.
AQ: One of Zeigler’s shrimp hatchery developments is liquid hatchery feeds. How is the market acceptance?
CS: We’ve been making liquid hatchery diets for just under three decades. We have learned a lot in that time and today they are flagship products for us. In fact, we just launched EZ Artemia Ultra, a 3rd generation product that leveraged all this research and commercial experience to make the best product yet. Liquid feeds have many advantages including high nutrient availability (digestibility), stability (water quality) and accessibility (buoyancy) which are some of the fundamental benefits over traditional dry diets. Now more than ever, we see liquid diets as excellent vehicles for delivering probiotics directly to the larval gut. Acceptance of liquids remains well behind dry diets but in some markets, you will find widespread adoption. Zeigler has different formulations for different needs so usage depends on the purpose and the market preferences. We do have many who have significantly cut or entirely replaced their Artemia usage. There is no such thing as an Artemia requirement for vannamei larvae. On the other hand, larvae do have requirements for individual nutrients. Our liquid diets meet or exceed larval nutrient requirements. For example, lipid and fatty acid levels far exceed levels supplied by Artemia nauplii.
AQ: Zeigler also offers feeding systems and services. What markets does Zeigler service and how does Zeigler differentiate itself from other manufacturers?
CS: Zeigler currently deploys technical representatives to all major shrimp hatchery markets. We visit hatcheries worldwide on a daily basis. This provides opportunities to deeply understand challenges and opportunities and share the latest strategies and technologies with our growing list of friends and clients around the world. Information from visits and data from field trials are shared within the company, guiding and directing our R&D efforts. In Florida, we maintain a robust research and development platform where fundamental and applied studies are carried out in highly replicated experimental systems. It is this platform that provides the foundation for our robust product development and improvement efforts which run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
AQ: How about fish feeds? How do you see the RAS arena?
CS: RAS systems have been here in the US for a long time, and we’ve been servicing these operations all along. We do make specialized diets for RAS systems for both fish and shrimp. Zeigler has invested heavily in research on RAS shrimp feeds. Our HI2 diet is a specialty feed designed for these systems where protein conversion efficiencies drive growth at super-intensive densities upon which profitability depends. The diversity of species produced in RAS systems has given us a lot of experience over the
years. Of course, there is a lot of talk about the future of RAS in the US and our location is near major metro areas like New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC, which the RAS markets want to serve. Clearly, engaging with RAS producers and collaborators in academic institutions is a priority for us to stay ahead of the curve on RAS industry needs and potential.
AQ: Is Zeigler currently utilizing novel ingredients (insects, SCPs, etc.)? What are Zeigler’s sustainability goals in the short and medium term?
CS: Quality ingredients are the key to quality feeds. Our access to quality raw materials from US farmers and our access to a wide array of ingredients enables Zeigler to consistently produce the highest-performing aquafeeds. One of the keys to the sustainability of Zeigler feeds is our proximity to the highest quality agricultural commodities. In fact, for our RAS shrimp diets, about 60% of total feed ingredients are sourced from within <200 miles of Zeigler’s production site and none of our ingredients are associated with deforestation. Greater than 90% of Zeigler’s diet composition is sourced from ingredients produced in the USA. A hundred percent of our marine ingredients come from MSC-certified fisheries or as byproducts from existing fisheries value chains. A powerful way to reduce aquaculture’s global footprint is to improve feeding efficiencies. Increased feed efficiencies have been and continue to be a key objective for Zeigler. Ultimately stainability has to be a winwin increasing both profitability and environmental responsibility through investment in high-quality feeds and precision feeding systems. Zeigler is continuously evaluating all types of new ingredients. With our reputation for innovation born from the early development of stable forms of vitamin C, innovators and ingredient suppliers worldwide are represented in our powerful ingredient databases. We remain on the lookout for both cost effective quality alternatives that reduce demand on marine ingredients and new supplements that responsibly and effectively contribute to improved performance and animal health. At our research laboratories, we continually carry out both internal and contract research on ingredients to generate high-quality data upon which effective formulation decisions depend.
AQ: Zeigler runs an Aquaculture Research Center (ZARC) together with Florida Atlantic University. What does this center add to the company’s capacities? What are the current projects you are working on?
CS: ZARC is our hub for innovation in the areas of shrimp nutrition and health. The facility is designed around several highly replicated systems including larviculture tanks as well as grow-out and broodstock tanks. ZARC’s success centers on both a rigorous management program that allows us to produce powerful statistical analyses on our studies and an amazing team that ensures our trials are run in a highly professional manner. As an example, we’ve been successfully able to measure FCRs in larval stages which are invaluable when designing the next generations of larval diets. The research done at ZARC is always looking at new things but of course, evaluating our current formulas, new ingredients and additives as well as potential new formulations and products takes up a lot of the time and space, we have available. We have also selectively opened up ZARC for some contract research work as well.
AQ: As mentioned before, Zeigler also offers a technology transfer program. Would you tell us how it works and what are the current partnerships?
CS: Our technology transfer program works with foreign companies to establish highly successful local feed mills. The program begins with engineering, designing or adapting the production facilities of an operation to meet the partners’ goals and local market opportunities. It then focuses on every aspect of running a mill. Zeigler’s nutrition and R&D teams design and manage formulas and new products for the local market, while our QA and operations teams ensure the mill remains efficient and product quality is consistent and up to our high standards. Making good feed is a requirement because the Zeigler name is on every bag made by our local partners and if they are not successful then neither are we. This program has been a strategically important part of our business and brand for nearly three decades, so we have a very experienced team who oversees it. In that time, we’ve had 11 different partner mills in eight different countries. Today, we have five active partnerships producing shrimp and/or fish feeds in Mexico (2), Ecuador, Egypt and India.
AQ: What are Zeigler’s projections for growth going forward?
CS: I anticipate we’ll focus on continuing to grow sales of shrimp larval and maturation diets and I believe we will leverage these abilities to also bring new products to the fish hatchery market in the future. Much of our growth will likely continue to come from new sales channels and clients overseas, but we support the expansion of the US aquaculture industry and hope to see a greater opportunity for growth in this market as well. One thing I am most confident about is that Zeigler’s unique company culture which emanates from our size, longevity and continuous family ownership will allow us to continue to differentiate from the competition with not only the products we provide but the way we serve our clients.