What’s the point of starting a blog?  And what is this blog about?

When I was hired as Director of Education and Communication for the National Renderers Association and the Fats and Proteins Research Foundation it was made clear to me that there was a breakdown in communication in many places—between FPRF and rendering companies, between rendering companies and the public, between rendering companies and the rest of the agriculture industry.  If you ask your average meat packing plant employee what happens to bones or meat after it is sent down the chute (in plants that do their own rendering, it’s usually in the basement), they will shrug their shoulders.  If you ask farmers what happens to his dead livestock after the rendering truck comes, they probably don’t know.  People who think they know may be thinking of the rendering industry of 30 years ago rather than the current one.  Or, worse yet, they may get very wrong information from a website claiming to know something they don’t.

Why now? Now is the perfect time to educate the agriculture industry and the public about rendering.  Rendering is recycling and people are caring more and more about being “green”.  What is more green than taking something that could have been thrown in a landfill and not only been wasted but decomposed into dangerous greenhouse gases and instead making valuable products that can go into pet food, animal feed, biodiesel, or fertilizer?  Not only are we recycling but we are saving products such as other protein or fat sources for other uses!  It is important that people know that rendered products are safe, quality products that they should feel good about.

Why us? The National Renderers Association is the leading authority on the subject of rendering in the US is our organization and our Foundation. While we are not in the day to day business of rendering, all of our members are. They represent over 90% of the total rendering business in this country. We have our fingers on the pulse of the industry with all its issues, markets, uses of the products and the value it brings to society.

What changes? This will be an opportunity for those within our industry to learn what others are doing and how they can benefit from this knowledge. Those outside the primary rendering industry may include suppliers, customers, other agricultural industries, or just individuals curious about this interesting and green industry. Every one of these audiences will benefit from a better understanding from these discussions.

What will the blog cover? This blog will cover a wide variety of topics important to the rendering industry and the agriculture industry at large.  Hopefully there will be guest posters and the blog will publish about once a month.  Follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Renderers or sign up to have the blog posts mailed to you by clicking on the sidebar.