Dr. Kristjan Bregendahl, Poultry Nutritionist, Devenish Nutrition was requested by EGG-NEWS to provide his perspective on constraining feed costs given noteworthy escalation in the prices of major ingredients. It is estimated that increases in corn and soybean meal alone have added 7 cents per dozen to the cost of egg production over the past six weeks although mostly offset by a welcome Mid-January rise in price. Obviously industry margins would turn negative if high feed costs and low prices due to oversupply relative to demand persisted over an extended period.

Dr. Bregendahl is a native of Denmark and has lived in the USA for more than 25 years. He earned a Ph.D. in Animal Nutrition from Iowa State University and after post-doctoral research at the University of Guelph in Canada served as an Assistant Professor of Poultry Nutrition at Iowa State University.

Dr. Bregendahl has spent the last ten years as a poultry nutritionist with a focus on laying hens. He has extensive experience working with a major primary breeder and for egg producers in the Midwest. In his current position with Devenish Nutrition he provides consulting services to feed mills  and to producers of conventional and organic eggs.