In 2026, the U.S. feed industry will navigate global trade realignments, emerging regulatory reforms and an accelerated focus on sustainability and data integration marking a shift in how the industry operates.
Feed Strategy interviews with executives from the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and ADM Animal Nutrition reveal the critical themes that will define the year ahead.
Supply chain resilience
Agrifood has had to face the reality of supply chain vulnerability since the COVID pandemic exposed its weaknesses in 2020. In the U.S. feed sector, the sourcing of key ingredients continues to drive policy discussions. For example, U.S. manufacturers remain heavily dependent on overseas suppliers, particularly China, which produces approximately 80% of vitamins used in animal and human food production.
Constance Cullman, AFIA president and CEO, emphasizes that this degree of concentration has food security implications.
"It's not a China problem; it's a sole supplier problem," Cullman notes.
AFIA supports the Securing American Agriculture Act, which would direct the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to assess sourcing dependencies across the agricultural supply chain — with vitamins, amino acids and minerals drawing particular scrutiny.
This solution involves reshoring manufacturing to the United States and "friend-shoring," which means diversifying supply sources to friendly trading partners. According to a 2024 report from the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF), strategic diversification of ingredient sourcing could reduce supply disruption risks by up to 40% while maintaining cost competitiveness.
"If something were to happen to disrupt our trade with China, even a small decline in the supply of these important ingredients can have a huge impact on animal health and productivity and our ability to secure a safe food supply system," Cullman warns.
Navigating tariffs and market access
The Trump administration's use of tariffs as a negotiating tool has created risks and opportunities. While tariff threats have brought trading partners to the table, the test lies in implementation and adherence to agreements.
Industry stakeholders are working to ensure negotiations address non-tariff barriers, or regulatory obstacles and approval delays that keep American products out of foreign markets regardless of tariff rates.
"We're really working hard in this opportunity that's been presented to negotiate with these trading partners on how to reduce some of those non-tariff barriers," Cullman explains.
Pierre-Joseph Paoli, president of growth and commercial excellence at ADM Animal Nutrition, sees trade policy as a primary factor determining where animal production centers develop globally.
"These dictate where animal production will take place and how the trade flows will evolve based on the evolution of the tariffs that are being put in place," Paoli notes. "That's a very general comment, I would say, but it is important because then it will shift the center of gravity of production of some species from one region to another."
The persistent challenge of mycotoxins
Threatening animal health and feed safety, mycotoxins always rank as a top concern for animal food producers. According to Berit Foss, NGFA's vice president of feed and sustainability, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectional findings related to mycotoxins are increasing. According to mycotoxin tracking data, elevated deoxynivalenol (DON) and fumonisin levels were found in U.S. corn samples after a wet harvest season. Feed mills are responding with more rigorous testing and ingredient tracing, supported by artificial intellingence (AI)-based analytical tools.
"Whether you are a facility receiving 200 grain trucks a day or just one grain truck a week, the pressures are real and varied," Foss says. As a result, NGFA's Feed Committee is collaborating with state and federal regulators on educational initiatives while encouraging innovation in mitigation strategies and testing methodologies.
Innovation is occurring across the mycotoxin management spectrum, from agronomic strategies that prevent contamination to feed additives that mitigate effects and advances in testing efficiency.
"This is where food safety and food security intersect, and it's an area worth watching," Foss says. NGFA plans to offer targeted programming on mycotoxins in 2026.
Regulatory policy reform ahead
The Innovative Feed Enhancement and Economic Development (FEED) Act has the potential to significantly impact for the feed sector and its suppliers. Pending in Congress with bipartisan support, the legislation would modernize FDA's regulatory framework to allow approval of feed ingredients offering benefits beyond basic nutrition, including production efficiency gains, improved animal health, better environmental performance and enhanced food safety.
The current regulatory structure restricts label claims to taste, nutrition and aroma. This puts U.S. manufacturers at a competitive disadvantage compared with European, South American and Australian counterparts who can market innovative ingredients with full claims, industry advocates say.
"These are really incredible innovations that our competitors are using throughout the world because their regulatory process allows them to be able to be brought to the market and have claims listed on the label," Cullman says. "We can't do that here. We are far behind Europe, South America, Australia, all other parts of the world because we don't have that modern regulatory system."
The Innovative FEED Act would empower FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) to review products for non-nutritional claims.
"Today, we stand at a pivotal moment where meaningful progress is within reach and we, along with our members, remain committed to advancing forward-looking solutions," Foss says.
Industry groups are also watching discussions around generally recognized as safe (GRAS) pathways as the Make America Healthy Again movement influences food policy. GRAS designation provides a regulatory approach for ingredients with established safety records, allowing regulators to focus on novel ingredients requiring closer scrutiny. AFIA and NGFA advocate for science-based, risk-proportionate regulation that balances innovation and safety.
"We know these industries, we're intimately familiar with how they are regulated," Cullman says. "We need to be at the table for that conversation rather than brought in after."
Preserving regulatory capacity despite cuts
As the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made significant reductions in the federal workforce, feed industry groups advocated to protect the regulatory capacity that enables commerce. For example, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) signs export certificates to facilitate international trade, and FDA's CVM needs adequate staffing to review new ingredient applications without creating bottlenecks.
"We definitely need to make sure that we have the expertise in those agencies that facilitate us doing business," Cullman says. "There's different types of government employees: there's folks who keep businesses from doing things, and there are the people that enable businesses to do things. And in the case of APHIS, we need them to sign off on all of those export certificates."
Data-driven decision-making
Technological advancement is reshaping how feed manufacturers operate and how customers manage livestock. Paoli identifies data integration and technology adoption as disruptive forces in animal nutrition.
"The buzzword at the moment is AI, and we see this a lot, including in the valuation of companies," he says. "I think for sure technology and digitization of the data is a very important trend."
Enabling farmers to make better decisions without becoming overwhelmed by information will be key, Paoli adds. At ADM, he shared, its approach to new technology is to ensure solutions organize around its three pillars: "maximizing animal performance to reach full genetic potential, maintaining animal robustness throughout production cycles, and minimizing environmental impact."
For example, this philosophy addresses the interconnected challenges from heat stress and respiratory diseases to carbon footprint reduction.
As environmental performance metrics have become standard specifications for feed ingredients, manufacturers can anticipate providing life cycle assessment data through the Global Feed Lifecycle Assessment Institute (GFLI) to ensure transparency and science-based standards.
Engagement and advocacy
The heightened level of engagement among feed manufacturers in policy discussions is encouraging. Cullman reports that AFIA members have embraced their role in shaping the regulatory environment, meeting with congressional representatives in Washington and in their districts.
"One thing that's changed a lot in the last several years is that our members in the animal food industry recognize the need to be engaged," she notes.
"The thing I think that made me the proudest and that I found to be really reassuring about our role within the U.S. economy was how seriously our business owners and our members took participating in their government."
Foss echoes this sentiment, expressing gratitude for the collaborative spirit across industry, regulatory agencies and policymakers working toward the shared goal of safe food.
"Progress is not always easy and does not always keep pace with innovation, but what is encouraging is that everyone shares the same goal: safe food," she says.
As feed manufacturers navigate 2026, success will require balancing multiple priorities: diversifying supply chains while maintaining cost competitiveness, pushing for regulatory modernization while upholding safety standards, adopting new technologies while avoiding information overload, and engaging in policy discussions.
References available upon request.
