By Eric Jenks, Special to NEAFA
For this NEAFA member highlight, NEAFA spoke with Natalie Glunz, the Key Account Manager for the Northeast at Kemin Animal Nutrition & Health. "My focus for Kemin is on dairy and beef cattle segments," said Glunz. "I've worked for Kemin covering Virginia to Vermont for the past seven years. Kemin is a global biotechnology company that has been in business since 1961 when R.W. Nelson started to mix his own sheep de-wormer in the drum of a Maytag® washer in an old wool barn at his residence. You can actually see the washer on display at our worldwide headquarters. Even today, the company remains family-owned-and-operated. It's based out of Des Moines, Iowa. The CEO, Chris Nelson, is the second generation to run the business, and has a PhD in biochemistry; he's a super smart guy."
As a global company, Kemin works in many different markets. "We do a lot with human food processing, ensuring a safe food supply with natural antioxidants, plus we extract molecules, such as lutein, from plants that are used in human supplements," said Glunz. "Everything that we do is backed by peer reviewed research. We also operate in the pet food space, where we have pioneered innovations in palatants, food safety, and antioxidant solutions for rendering. In animal agriculture, we work in all aspects of food animal production. We're a monogastric first company; meaning that we develop products and do research on monogastrics (poultry and swine) first, because you can obtain data so much more quickly than you can with cattle. We often look at those products for poultry and swine, and then work on ways to apply to all species after they've been proven to be effective. In animal nutrition, we’re focused on helping farmers, nutritionists and feed mills make the best quality feed that they can. That includes feed quality, nutrition, and gut health solutions to foster healthier animals while increasing the profitability for our producers."
Agriculture is a life long love for Glunz. "I'm a native of Maryland, a typical 4-H and FFA kid," said Glunz. "I grew up on a 4 acre farmette, and went to college at Virginia Tech, where I received a degree in Animal Science. I was hired by Agway shortly after school. I was very blessed to have two mentors that took me under their wing and taught me everything I needed to know to be a successful dairy nutritionist. I worked in Pennsylvania doing that for 10 years. That work really made me fall in love with the industry, and that’s what kept me in it ever since. I really enjoy working for a science first company like Kemin; we develop a lot of innovative technologies and get to nerd out about fun stuff. I enjoy working for a company that is focused on bringing sustainably made products to market that foster healthier animals."
At Kemin's suggestion, Glunz joined NEAFA when she started working for them. "I’ve always found value in the NEAFA meetings because it gave me an opportunity to interface with people in the business that I don’t often get to meet," said Glunz. "The feed mill managers, logistics members and upper management. I really like the educational aspect that NEAFA has as well. I have enough other things going on in my life that I don’t always stay current on legislation, and NEAFA provides a forum where I can have a succinct amount of information in one place."
Glunz sees a bright future for agriculture in the Northeast. "I think that the US, and agribusiness in Northeast in particular, is extremely adaptable at figuring out how to feed the world efficiently," said Glunz. "I love working with the people that are so very good at this. When met with a challenge, no one rises to that challenge better than Northeast dairy producers."
To learn more about Kemin, visit www.kemin.com/dairy