Foreword: Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition – Australia 2021

The Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition – Australia (RAAN-A) Conference in 2021 continued its tradition of fostering the sharing of the latest research in the field of animal nutrition across the most economically significant animal species, including poultry, pigs, sheep, cattle, companion animals and aquaculture. RAAN-A is one of the few conferences worldwide devoted to animal nutrition science across the species, and this unique meeting of intensive and extensive production systems, industry and research, makes it one of the most thought provoking and stimulating symposia in Australia.

Although traditionally the RAAN-A program presents a mixture of the most significant recent animal nutrition advances internationally and locally, in 2021, the conference put a particular focus on developments in the field of nutrition led from Australia and New Zealand. Further international involvement was curtailed by the COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictions. The pandemic necessitated the conference being held in a hybrid mode. However, most delegates took the opportunity to participate in person at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. This was a major break with tradition as it was the first time that the meeting was not held on the Armidale campus of UNE. With the move to the Gold Coast, a conference organiser was hired for the first time.