HANFORD, CALIFORNIA, US — Forever Feed Technologies (FFT), which designs automated agricultural systems to produce sustainable feed, has received funding from an investment coalition of beef and dairy producers to accelerate the technology development and complete its enterprise-scale on-farm feed mill growing Automated Sprouted Grain (ASG).
The first FFT feed mill is currently under construction at the River Ranch Dairy in Hanford, California, US. The mill is an enterprise-scale system that grows ASG year-round, such as wheat and barley, to enrich the animal’s daily diet. The benefits to farmers and animals are increased productivity, improved animal health, nutritional consistency, plus significant resource savings of water, land and fuel emissions, FFT said. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.
The investment coalition includes 15 leading dairy and beef producers from California, Texas, Indiana and Michigan that collectively feed over 500,000 head of cattle annually. As future installations of the technology are complete, the group anticipates saving billions of gallons of water and significantly reducing the climate impact from feeding cattle, FFT said.
“We are extremely pleased with the caliber of our second-round investment coalition,” said Jack de Jong, owner of River Ranch Farms and co-founder/chief executive officer of Forever Feed Technologies. “Our investors are some of the leading producers and businesses in agriculture and represent the forward-thinking innovators needed to help solve the major challenges of water shortages and the climate impact facing our industry.”
The Forever Feed coalition includes River Ranch Farms, Hanford; Bar 20 Dairy, Fresno, California; Producers Dairy Foods, Fresno; Grimmius Cattle, Hanford; Wreden Ranch, Hanford; Hollandia Farms, Hanford; Central Valley Meat Company & Harris Ranch Beef, Hanford; Rancho Teresita Dairy, Tulare, California; Associated Feed & Supply, Turlock, California; Red Triangle Oil Co., Fresno; High Roller Dairy, Hanford; D&J Dairies, Hereford, Texas, US; de Jong Family Farms, Franceville, Indiana, US; Prairie View Dairy, Delton, Michigan, US; and M.F. Rosa Dairy, Hanford.
“The dairy and beef industries share many of the same opportunities for improving the quality and sustainability of the foods they produce,” said Brian Coelho, president and CEO of the Central Valley Meat Co. and Harris Ranch Beef. “Having both dairy and beef operators join the Forever Feed investment coalition expands FFT’s ability to tap into our expertise as they develop the most dependable and sustainable high-volume feed mill in the world.”
