How Will the Animal Health and Nutrition Industry Change in the Next Five Years?

The Aicila Group is a niche provider of Human Resources and Management Consulting Services for industries associated with Animal Health and Nutrition, as well as Animal Production Industries. The Aicila Group offers global services to these companies, with a suite of professional services that help companies meet their business objectives, and solve some of their most crucial business problems. 

To accomplish this, the company introduces the most talented individuals, as well as recognized best practices, to meet or exceed industry standards in all areas. Using a personalized approach to help every client achieve its goals, The Aicila Group can call on its extensive experience to help clients improve their business practices.

The future of animal health:

The animal health industry is ever-changing and as consolidations continue to occur in the industry, the major players, as well as smaller companies involved with animal health and nutrition are defining and driving clear strategic goals through tailored merger & acquisition activities, in/out-licensing initiatives, product pipelines launches and new market entry activity in emerging markets. 

In the midst of events like these, cost analysis and strategic resource allocation are critical. Products which are the most commercial-ready are likely to make it to market in this environment and as the industry develops and becomes more comfortable with technological advances, redefines business partnerships, establishes new routes to market or rethinks current channels, workforce reductions and / or expansions result. 

With the continual change, it’s likely that some of the biggest animal health companies will continue to outsource a number of business processes to hungry startup companies. The future of animal health, like many other industries, appears to be closely associated with the development of industry technology, for instance in the areas of genomics, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing.

Veterinary industry outlook – top global trends and statistics 

One of the big trends in animal health will be the continued drive to develop and commercialize technology that assists the industry in identifying and treating animal diseases more efficiently. This technology results in the generation, analysis and use of big data which can subsequently be used to drive better health outcomes. Data such as body temperature, respiration rate, and heart rate can be crucial signs in monitoring animal health, and in diagnosing any issues. 

Another major trend is in the area of innovative laboratory testing, the latest of which include protein tests and DNA tests. Disease control is being assisted in large part by the adoption of DNA biotechnology by service providers, which can be a huge boon to the livestock trade. Veterinary labs are also adopting polymerase chain reaction techniques in order to more quickly detect nucleic acids so that viruses and other diseases can be identified more quickly. 

The big data revolution in animal health 

Until recently, the big data revolution did not really touch the world of animal health and animal nutrition, but all that is changing now. Having the ability to sift through mountains of data, is helping to improve animal treatment techniques, and to identify diseases and illnesses much more quickly. Wearables are playing an increasing role in preventing livestock diseases by alerting farmers to those predictors of disease outbreaks. 

Tracking devices can be worn on ear tags, and other biosensors can provide tons of data on animals’ vital signs, as well as many of their other behaviours. These biosensors can then be easily plugged into a database to offer instant access to many different kinds of useful data. Smartphone technology has allowed farmers to connect more quickly with each other, and to report threats of disease outbreaks, while veterinary services can upload images to a network for more efficient communications. 

Mobile technology is also contributing to much better diagnosis, treatment, and management of diseases than ever before, and farmers can share health data with veterinarians and production managers right from their farms. Beef growers in Australia are even making use of NASA data, in order to manage their water resources, and more efficiently manage their herds of cattle.

Animal Health Biotechnology 

The industry known as animal health biotechnology has enjoyed consistent growth over the past five years, with rising expenditures in the areas of research and development. During that five-year period of industry growth, research and development have expanded its boundaries, thereby enabling a great many companies to invest in new products and develop them, as a way of supporting the continued growth of the industry. 

Increased sales of animal health products, both for companion animals and food-producing animals, was a big factor in helping the industry to expand and reach new levels of growth. There was a much greater demand for agricultural animals such as beef, poultry, and dairy animals. 

Coupled with the increase in consumption of protein, there has been growth in ownership of companion animals, which contributed to a huge increase in the demand for companion animal medications. Specifically, the number of cats and dogsled the way in the increase of companion animals, showing steady increases throughout the five-year period and indicating a likelihood for continued future growth.

Why animal health is the next big growth area

The enormous number of companies both big and small, which develop and manufacture products for pets and livestock are expected to generate sales in the neighbourhood of $33 billion by the year 2020. This puts the animal health industry on a path for growth which is unprecedented in its history, and which is being driven by two prime factors: the popularity of owning pets, and the huge global population demand for dairy products and meat products. 

Part of this is simply a numbers game, with the global population rising to 8.5 billion by the year 2030, with a corresponding increase in demand for meat products, as well as an increase in pet ownership numbers. In addition to the growing population of the world though, other factors are contributing to the increasing demand for animal products. 

Companion animals such as dogs and cats are now living longer, which means they are at increased risk for developing all kinds of age-related diseases and disorders, all of which create demand for the animal health industry. 

Another factor in the growth of the animal health industry is the concept of One Health, which espouses that an integrative effort is used across all levels of organizations, in order to achieve optimal health for people, animals, and the environment as well. Veterinarians are uniquely positioned to satisfy the needs of the One Health concept, because of their expertise and their backgrounds. This will create additional demand for veterinary know-how, and it will contribute to the growth of the animal health industry.

Conclusion 

Any company involved in the Animal Health industry should recognize the value of long-term planning for the future, especially in light of the fact that the industry itself is poised for significant growth, much of which may be fuelled by technology advances. 

The Aicila Group has more than 130 years of combined experience in the fields of Recruitment/Talent Management and Management Consulting, particularly in the Animal Health/Nutrition and Animal Production sectors. Planning for your company’s future in Animal Health doesn’t have to be any more complicated than contacting The Aicila Group today, so you can feel secure about your company’s place in the future of Animal Health.

Alicia Keenan is the Managing Director at the Aicila Group, a globally active and highly specialised animal health/nutrition and animal production recruitment and consulting company with HQ in Australia.

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