Devenish is a farming & food company. It aims to be a leading provider of integrated environmental, animal and human health solutions and invests heavily in research and product development, and employs a well-educated workforce.
Background
Headquartered in Belfast with four other UK sites and five sites located in USA, Middle East and Africa, the Devenish group employs more than 450 staff globally with a turnover of £200m and currently exports to 35 countries.
Devenish seeks to establish food chain partnerships which encourage a whole systems approach to the production of high quality food. Its business leaders recognise that high quality service must be delivered at each level within the company – production, quality control, technical support and customer service.
What Devenish Nutrition did
Devenish’s strategy board recognised the importance of animal nutrition in supporting cost-effective production of livestock but also in minimising environmental impact of livestock production. It also appreciates the role that nutritionally superior food can have on societal health. The company formally established Sustainability & Food Innovation as new business sectors in 2013.
No other agricultural company has demonstrated such a proactive approach to environmental and consumer health. Testimony to the success of this approach is the company’s 20% year-on-year financial growth for the last 20 years and employment increase from 23 to more than 450 at present.
The company has self-funded several research facilities which enable a continuous flow of product development. During the development of OmegaPro Devenish engaged in a human clinical study with RCSI, the results of which have enabled its OmegaPro fed chicken to make unique marketing claims which cannot be copied by any other providers of a similar product.
While also continuing to support many local initiatives such as The Prince’s Trust and RDS, Devenish is involved in two key areas Internationally: Farm Africa and Hoima Project.
Through its One Health strategy and working with its charity partner Farm Africa, it has invested heavily to make Ugandan farming more economically sustainable while delivering significant improvements to the infrastructure of the region and to the local community in terms of employment, direct and indirect.
For Devenish employees globally, many now have a tangible connection to the developing world for the first time. Staff learn about the economic and cultural challenges that exist in Africa, giving them a different perspective on the world they inhabit.
Devenish has continued to management lead its employee engagement with several projects such as Kilimanjaro, Uganda to Kenya trek and the Tanzania Beehive Build. It also promotes the work it is doing in Africa among it clients to widen awareness of this broader mission to positively change lives on the continent.
Impacts and Outcomes
- Developed first-class research facilities
- Facilities established in partnership with processor customers to ensure transparency in the supply chain
- Market leader on many products including OmegaPro
- Sales of OmegaPro have risen from £132,524 at year end 2015, to £1,246,292 at year end 2017
- Developed a natural alternative source of omega 3 by feeding OmegaPro to chickens
- Its production systems for micro-algae have minimal negative environmental impact and are non-GM, sustainable, scalable and affordable
For more information, please email gillian.mcauley@devenish.com