Mr. Claudio Paredes: “Cargill Branded Feed continually innovates to accompany and support the livestock industry in Southeast Asia”

VFM: How long have you worked in aquafeeds and what encouraged you to enter?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: I have been involved in aquatic feeds and their ingredients for over 26 years. During this time, I have developed aquaculture  feed/ingredient  businesses at Cargill across different countries in the Americas, Asia, and Africa. I have been passionate about aquaculture since my university days, when I was studying Marine Biology and learned about its principles, expectations, and how this farming activity could contribute to human nutrition and, in turn, contribute to the conservation of marine species at risk of extinction due to fishing pressure. Regardingmy work withingredients, I firmly believe that to allow aquaculture to continue developing worldwide, it is necessary to develop alternative ingredients that offer alternatives to the ingredients traditionally used in aquaculture nutrition. And what better way to support this growth than with a plant-based protein?

VFM: What areas of aquaculture have you been involved in over your career to date?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: I began working with Cargill in Venezuela back in 1999, serving as Aquaculture Feed Development Manager, focusing on warm-water species. In 2002, the opportunity arose to support the company’s aquaculture feed operations in Colombia and Peru. I launched the shrimp feed business in Ecuador, and finally, I led the international sales division of aquatic feed for Cargill AQUA in the USA. In 2013, I shifted my business focus slightly and took on the role of leading the commercial side of a plant-based protein alternative that Cargill’s Corn Milling business had recently developed. This has allowed me to remain involved in aquaculture, but this time from the perspective of protein alternatives that can be used to formulate aquaculture feeds. Today, I continue to lead the commercial division of Empyreal 75 (Corn Protein Concentrate) and MOTIV, a fermented plant-based product specifically designed for shrimp nutrition.

VFM: In your opinion, what has enabled Cargill to gain and maintain the trust of even the most demanding customers? Given the current shortage of high-quality human resources in aquaculture, what has Cargill done to build and sustain a team of skilled and dedicated professionals?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: Cargill is a great place to work. It’s a company with high ethical and business principles, with a 160-year history, and employs more than 155,000 employees in 70 countries. This track record attracts and retains talent and, in turn, builds trust among customers and business partners.

VFM: From your perspective, what are the biggest barriers to sustainable development in Vietnam’s aquafeed industry today?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: We can’t just talk about the sustainability of feed; we must address the entire chain involved in the development of the activity. The fragmented nature of some components of the Vietnamese aquaculture chain makes it more complicated to implement comprehensive sustainability plans. To give an example, let’s take shrimp farming. Most shrimp farms are managed by small producers, with four to ten ponds, diverse sources of larvae to stock those ponds, highly diverse management of those ponds, and diverse sources of feed to feed those animals. This diversity makes it more difficult to achieve uniformity in farm management and sustainability parameters that can be applied to the entire chain involved in raising these animals. It’s different when you’re integrated, since you have control over each of the links that make up that supply chain. But these more integrated models have probably only been implemented in Pangasius farming and some large shrimp farming groups. But the bulk of aquaculture remains highly fragmented and difficult to track at every stage of farming.

VFM: “Green nutrition” is increasingly seen as an inevitable trend. How do you evaluate its impact on production efficiency, costs, and the environment?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: Practicing and applying the concepts involved in “Green Nutrition” should be the purpose and guiding principle of aquaculture nutrition. In this regard, Empyreal 75, a product manufactured by Cargill, aims to offer a plant-based protein alternative that replaces or complements the use of traditional proteins in aquaculture diet design. Empyreal 75 is a corn protein concentrate developed by Cargill Branded Feed as a high-quality ingredient for aquafeeds. It is a natural product with high crude protein and low ash content that can be used to reduce animal protein in aquafeed formulations, lowering both formulation and production costs. It has a high methionine- to-lysine ratio and serves as a good source of essential amino acids at a lower cost than other vegetable or animal proteins of comparable purity, consistency and crude protein level. It has low water solubility and good oil binding properties contributing to lower nutrient losses due to leaching.

VFM: What specific strategies is Cargill implementing to optimize production costs while ensuring nutritional quality and animal health, and at the same time minimizing environmental impacts?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: A good example of how the company is involved in supporting this cost optimization initiative, without compromising nutritional quality or putting animal health and the environment at risk, is the development of a product like MOTIV. This product is a combination of 3 different protein steams in the wet mill that are each uniquely processed and then combined to not only be a protein source, but to also deliver a prebiotic effect in shrimp. It is much more than a protein alternative – it is a functional, macro ingredient, specially designed for SHRIMP nutrition, that improves nutrient utilization and uptake for the whole diet by creating a better environment in the gut. This leads to have a cost/effective ingredient capable of delivering greater energy into diet, growth and survival.

VFM: With climate change posing growing challenges to agriculture and aquaculture, what solutions is Cargill applying to both protect the environment and meet food security needs?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: Cargill depends on both nature and people to do our business. Protecting the earth’s resources — and those who rely on them — is embedded into our company’s purpose. Our sustainability journey starts with farmers, whose actions influence the entire food ecosystem. In fiscal year 2024, we leaned into programs and partnerships that support farmers to adopt sustainable practices and secure stable livelihoods for individuals and communities. Here are a few highlights of what we’ve accomplished:

• Innovated to decrease greenhouse gas emissions from our operations by 15.8% from our 2017 baseline, exceeding our goal
• Advanced partnerships to support farmer adoption of regenerative agriculture across more than 1.1 million acres in North America since 2020
• Accelerated our commitment to eliminate deforestation and land conversion in supply chains for key crops in Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay by 2025
• Invested $130 million in our partners and local communities across 70 countries to amplify our impact This report to our global stakeholders isn’t just a means to share Cargill’s successes or the impact we’re making in people’s It’s a critical tool to track our progress and challenge all of us to reach even higher for the sustainable solutions our customers, communities, and world so urgently need. Cargill is committed to building on the progress we’ve outlined here. And we’re convinced, as ever, that agriculture is how we’ll get it done.
• Delivered more than 700,000 farmer trainings this year focused on sustainable agricultural practices and increasing market access Cargill recognizes the complex social, economic, and environmental issues facing our world — and we know we can’t do this work alone. With the help of our customers and partners, we are working together to make the world’s food system more sustainable, resilient, and accessible.

VFM: In your view, how important is collaboration between businesses, farmers, communities, and partners in realizing a sustainable food system?

Mr. Claudio Paredes: Cargill is a family company providing food, ingredients, agricultural solutions and industrial products to nourish the world in a safe, responsible and sustainable way. Sitting at the heart of the global supply chain, we bring people together to make the world’s food and agriculture system more sustainable, resilient and accessible. With over 160 years of experience, we offer trusted expertise and a long-term view, so we can do the right thing—today and for generations to come. We listen and we care, so we can anticipate and meet our customers’ needs and innovate with purpose in an ever-changing world. With sustainability embedded in our purpose, it’s part of everything we do. We build sustainable supply chains that benefit people and the planet we share.

VFM