By Eric Jenks, Special to NEAFA
This month’s NEAFA member highlight is of Balchem’s Animal Nutrition and Health Division, based out of Montvale, NJ. “Balchem has three segments,” said Luke Lines, the Business Development Manager for the East. “Human Nutrition and Health, Specialty Products, and of course Animal Nutrition and Health. I cover everything East of the Mississippi and all of Canada. Balchem operates globally. We were based out of New Hampton, NY until last year, but we outgrew the facilities there. Last fall we moved to Montvale, NJ.
Balchem is a global leader in choline production, nutrient encapsulation, chelated minerals and functional ingredients. “Our chelation process works to fulfill the unique needs of various animal species including nutrition, gut health, and feed quality,” said Lines. “We also understand that due to animal diversity and the ever-shifting environment in which they’re raised, no animal or situation is the same. This is our area of expertise in animal nutrition and health. We produce all of these products in our facilities in the US and around the world. We sell to the animal health sector via distribution, and those products get distributed out to feed companies which then get sent to farms and nutritionists. We’re very involved in the ruminant side; mostly dairy, but also with beef cattle, goats and sheep. We also do some work with swine and poultry.”
Lines comes from an agricultural background, growing up in New York and Ohio. “My father was the director at the Miner Institute in Chazy, New York,” said Lines. “When I was in 4th grade, we moved to Ohio when he became an ag econ professor. I went to Ohio State for undergrad and my masters degrees in dairy science. I’ve been with Balchem a little over 11 years. I started as sales specialist before becoming the business development manager for the Eastern US and Canada.”
For Lines, working in agriculture is a vocation. “My passion is feeding the world,” said Lines. “When I was in the peace corps in Tunisia, I learned how important food is for people. The production of food is a very important aspect of life, and we sometimes take it for granted in the US. Food production is what excites me. My specific passion is on the dairy side, because that’s my upbringing. My mom and dad both grew up on dairy farms. Ruminants can take products that humans can’t readily consume and turn them into products that we can enjoy, and I love that.”
When Lines started working in the Northeast, involvement with associations in the area was a must. “I’ve been involved with NEAFA prior to it's beginning in 2004, as a member of both the New England Grain and Feed Council and the Eastern Federation of Feed Merchant,” said Lines. “I started working for Elanco in Indiana, and then moved to Albany, NY for them. The first meetings that I had were at the Cornell Nutrition Conference, and everyone there told me that if I wanted to be successful in the Northeast, these were organizations I needed to be involved with. That stayed true when they combined in 2004, so I’ve been a member since then as well. NEAFA is just a great organization. Everybody that is involved is dedicated to making agriculture better. It’s also a great way to network, be involved, and to get to know what’s going on in the agricultural industry in the Northeast.”
For Lines, the future of agriculture is bright in the Northeast. “I’m excited about Northeast dairy,” said Lines. “I think we have a really bright future. I work all across the eastern half of the US and Canada. I’ve been on a lot of farms, and I think we have a really healthy industry up here in the Northeast, and the support system from associations and universities, etc., is fantastic. It’s a very health industry, and I love to see that manufacturing is taking off up here. I’m coming towards the end of my career, but I’m excited for the students that are coming out of universities. They have a lot to offer. I think for the young people coming out of school, it’s a really exciting time to get involved with the industry, and I’m looking forward to seeing them grow the industry.”
For more information on Balchem, visit: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/