Bühler Southern Africa will highlight the benefits of precision feed milling at the AFMA Forum 2026, taking place at Sun City from 8 to 10 September. During a panel discussion, Oliver Brägger, Sales Manager, Value Nutrition, Bühler Group, will explain how real-time data and automation can help feed manufacturers better manage raw material variability, optimise production, and improve feed quality.
Feed manufacturers must maintain consistent nutritional specifications even though the quality of key raw materials such as grain can vary. Changes in raw material quality will affect nutritional composition, making it more difficult to maintain feed quality while managing costs. Precision feed milling offers a more proactive approach by combining real-time data with automated process control, enabling manufacturers to adjust to variability during production.
The AFMA Forum’s 2026 theme, ‘The Feed Factor – The Chain That Feeds a Nation’, highlights the role of feed manufacturing in food security and the wider food value chain. As a critical link between agricultural production and animal protein, the feed industry plays an important role in maintaining the quality, consistency and efficiency of food production. The theme provides a relevant backdrop for discussions around how technology and data can help feed manufacturers respond to variability and strengthen performance across the value chain.
From real-time monitoring to automated control
Bühler’s precision feed milling approach uses real-time monitoring and inline analytics to provide feed manufacturers with continuous visibility into raw material information. This data can support automated formulation and recipe adjustment, rather than relying solely on fixed assumptions. “Precision feed milling is about moving from reacting to variability to actively managing it in real time,” comments Brägger. “By turning data into actionable insights, manufacturers can make better decisions, improve feed consistency and maximize the value of available raw materials.”
Feed safety and quality
Bühler’s precision feed milling approach also encompasses optical sorting technologies that help identify and remove mycotoxin-contaminated materials, supporting feed safety and quality assurance. This can help manufacturers manage potential contamination risks when raw-material quality varies, alongside the need to maintain nutritional requirements.
“Feed safety starts at the feed mill, where contaminated raw materials can be identified and removed before they enter the production process,” says Brägger. More effective process control can help reduce energy consumption, while using available raw materials more effectively can support both economic and sustainability objectives.
Efficiency through digitalisation and process optimisation
Efficiency is a key part of precision feed milling. Bühler’s approach combines smart and precise equipment, advanced plant operation, sensor technology and operational data to provide greater visibility and control across the production process. Optimised algorithms can use this data to enable real-time optimisation, helping feed manufacturers respond to changing production conditions, improve resource efficiency and make more informed operational decisions.
Bühler’s expertise includes precision feed milling and process optimisation, real-time monitoring, automated recipe control, optical sorting for mycotoxin removal and digitalised, data-driven production systems. At the AFMA Forum 2026, Brägger will discuss how these technologies translate into practical production benefits for feed manufacturers.
Media contacts:
Taryn Browne, Head of Marketing, Southern Africa
Bühler (Pty) Ltd.
Bühler Southern Africa
Phone: +27 11 801 3500
Mobile: +27 66 307 4618
E-mail: taryn.browne@buhlergroup.com
Dalen Jacomino Panto, Media Relations Manager
Bühler AG, 9240 Uzwil, Switzerland
Phone: +41 71 955 37 57
Mobile: +41 79 900 53 88
E-mail: dalen.jacomino_panto@buhlergroup.com
Katja Hartmann, Media Relations Manager
Bühler AG, 9240 Uzwil, Schweiz
Mobile: +41 79 483 68 07
E-mail: katja.hartmann@buhlergroup.com
About Bühler
Bühler is driven by its purpose of creating innovations for a better world, balancing the needs of economy, humanity, and nature in all its decision-making processes. Billions of people come into contact with Bühler technologies as they cover their basic needs for food and mobility every day. Two billion people each day enjoy foods produced on Bühler equipment; and one billion people travel in vehicles manufactured using parts produced with Bühler solutions. Countless people wear eyeglasses, use smart phones, and read newspapers and magazines – all of which depend on Bühler process technologies and solutions. As a technology partner with this global relevance, Bühler is in a unique position to help unlock new pathways to profitable sustainability and, through its solutions and services, turn global challenges into opportunities.
For this reason, in 2019, Bühler committed to having the solutions ready to multiply that reduce energy, waste, and water by 50% in the value chains of its customers. In 2025, it established that in 11 of the key 15 value chains, reductions of at least 50% are feasible in one or more key environmental dimensions. Across all value chains, savings of more than 35% are achievable in at least one category. The company is now focused on driving adoption and scaling these solutions further to multiply impact. In its own operations, Bühler has developed a pathway to achieve a 60% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scopes 1 & 2, against a 2019 baseline).
Bühler spends up to 5% of its turnover on research and development annually to improve both the commercial and sustainability performance of its solutions, products, and services. In 2025, the company employed 12,090 people who generated a turnover of CHF 2.8 billion. As a Swiss family-owned company with a history spanning 166 years, Bühler is active in over 140 countries around the world and operates a global network of 105 service stations, 27 manufacturing sites, and research and training centers in 26 locations.
-
Buhlers-precision-feed-milling-approach-uses-real-time-monitoring-and-inline-analytics-1
Oliver-Bragger-Sales-Manager-Value-Nutrition-Buhler-Group
Precision-feed-milling-is-a-proactive-approach-combining-real-time-data-with-automated-process-control
The-AFMA-Forum-2026-highlights-the-role-of-feed-manufacturing-in-food-security-and-the-wider-food-value-chain - From-data-to-decisions_improving-feed-quality-in-real-time_approved
From-data-to-decisions_improving-feed-quality-in-real-time_approved
