Lynn Verstrepen, director of strategic growth at BESTMIX Software, believes feed manufacturers are sitting on a goldmine of untapped potential. With decades of formulation and production data stored away, the industry has an opportunity to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) not as a replacement for human expertise, but as a virtual co-worker that eliminates bias, reveals hidden inefficiencies and shifts operations from reactive to proactive.
In this interview, Verstrepen explains how AI can help nutritionists and formulators unlock the hidden value in their data, optimize ingredient combinations, reduce overformulation, and create closed-loop systems that drive continuous improvement. She'll present these strategies at the Feed Mill of the Future Conference on January 27 at the 2026 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Transcript of interview with Lynn Verstrepen, director of strategic growth, BESTMIX
Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief, WATT Feed Brands: Hi everyone, welcome to Feed Strategy Chat. I'm your host, Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief of WATT's Feed Brands.
This edition of Feed Strategy Chat is being brought to you by the Feed Mill of the Future Conference. The half-day conference, held on January 27 at IPPE, brings together feed industry experts to examine emerging technologies poised to shape animal feed manufacturing. The event is produced by Feed Strategy and Feed & Grain and organized in partnership with the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA).
For additional details and to view the full agenda, visit www.FeedMilloftheFuture.com.
Today we're joined by Lynn Verstrepen, the director of strategic growth at BESTMIX Software. She's here to talk about how artificial intelligence can transform feed formulation and production by unlocking the hidden value of your data.
Hi, Lynn. How are you today?
Lynn Verstrepen, director of strategic growth, BESTMIX Software: Good, fine, looking forward to my session next year.
Roembke: Yes, excellent. Well, we're getting close to it. Thank you again for taking the time to speak with me. And with that, we'll launch right into our questions. So many feed manufacturers have decades of formulation and production data stored away. What's the opportunity cost for leaving that data unexplored?
Verstrepen: Yeah, it's a good question. For me, having the data and not using it is really a missed opportunity. And the easiest way to explain it is via a reference story that I use a lot. In fact, it's a pet food example, but it resonates because it's about a pet adoption shelter and they had issues with the adoption of their dogs. And what most people think is, okay, we have an issue because maybe the dogs are not cute enough or they're not young enough and the dogs are too old, for example.
That's what we see as human beings. And what they did is they used AI on their data to see, OK, what's in fact really the problem? And AI revealed there, it's not the cuteness factor, it's more your quality of your pictures and how many pictures you're uploading on your website.
And as soon as they changed that, they saw an increase in their adoption of their animals. So, it's a nice example, it resonates, it brings it more to reality, let's say, what data can do for you. And for me, that's the biggest example. If you then turn it to feed production, for example, we have big stories like overformulation, sometimes inefficiencies in the combination of certain ingredients. Imagine that you do that same scenario on these stories, on these issues.
How much it could reveal things that we are not seeing and how much efficiency we could gain. That's the biggest opportunity cost there is in falling behind and not using the value or valued data that you have.
Roembke: Well, and there's been a lot of skepticism about AI potentially taking or replacing human expertise. How do you respond to nutritionists or formulators who may worry that the role of AI could impact their position or their operation?
Verstrepen: Yeah, true. Some people think that it will replace my expertise or it will replace my job. Most often I start the conversation a bit more in a safe environment in the sense of, OK, let's first have a look at production. Production is already a more autonomous system. We are used to getting automation there. But what AI does there is supporting human beings. It helps them to take the right decisions in a proactive way and not in a reactive way anymore. And the same you can transpose towards formulation, in fact. I think most people know already ChatGPT. If you write a text, if it's now for LinkedIn, a vision document, or you want to have a kind of celebration memo to your colleague, for example, we all get inspired by ChatGPT.
And what it does is it replaces your bias. It helps you to think more broadly. It inspires you. So, you as a human being, you put in your strength, in fact, and because you're inspired, you're supported. And the same can happen in formulation. Because when I talk with formulators, they all recognize the fact they have a bias.
We as human beings tend to make recipes in the same way as we already do for years. Or maybe a junior formulator that is just graduating from school. They don't even have a backpack. So, imagine that you could have a supporting assistant. It's not about replacing. It's more like, okay, bring in, in fact, your co-worker, a virtual then, and augment, in fact, your strength as a nutritionist.
Roembke: Yeah, that's a great way of exemplifying that. I know that with my work, it's like showing somebody else a draft and having them evaluate it and improve upon it. I totally agree. Now, you mentioned earlier waste and overformulation as being a persistent challenge for feed operations. What makes AI-driven approaches different from the process improvements that the industry has already tried?
Verstrepen: Most of the things were reactive, I would say, and not a proactive mode. AI is all about when you see things, you immediately get assistance and move this parameter from this to this. It's automatically instantly helping you real time to make those modifications. And in the past, we focused on siloed things in certain production areas. But it's like a spider's web, but it's not because over here this is going wrong that the other place is not being affected. So, you need to have the overall picture. And that's also something where AI is good at, to see the overall picture and knowing, OK, if I change this, it has impact on that, that, and that so do this. While we were good in the past in looking at the solo or the solo actions, let's say, it will bring overall efficiency. In the end, it just means that you shift from the reactive mode toward being proactive. And that's the impact initiative that AI can mean to the industry.
Roembke: Great. Now the closed-loop system connecting production insights back to formulation sounds promising for continuous improvement purposes. What does implementation look like for a feed manufacturer just starting their AI journey? Where should they begin?
Verstrepen: Yeah, indeed in my presentation, I will tell you something about the closed loop, but you need to start somewhere, and you can't do the Holy Grail as a whole from the beginning. And for me, the start is gathering data. You need to gather all the data from formulation production — ingredients, specs, your results — gather that data, centralize that, and then you can learn from the data.
And then the most important thing is focus, because don't think if you have the data that you will solve every single issue that you have in production or formulation. It's more like, OK, pick one project, let's focus on that project, let's get a measurable ROI, I would say, and then you can rinse and repeat on different sides, on different formulation departments, for example. And then you get that holistic approach of everything which is being tied together, let's say in the end.
Roembke: Excellent. So, for the viewers, if you haven't picked up on it, Lynn will be presenting at the Feed Mill of the Future Conference. So if you'd like to hear more from her about some of the things we've talked about today, or if you'd like to just view the whole agenda, please visit www.FeedMilloftheFuture.com. And again, the event will be held on January 27 at IPPE 2026.
Thank you again, Lynn, and thanks to you for tuning in.