Martin Zuidhof is honored with the American Feed Industry Association Poultry Nutrition Research Award

This award is given to recognize distinctive work demonstrating sound research in poultry nutrition in the last 10 years. This is an annual award.

Martin Zuidhof, a member of PSA since 1991, enjoys a mixture of praise and criticism for being a boisterous, fun-loving Canadian. Zuidhof is a Professor at the University of Alberta, Canada, specializing in Poultry Systems Modeling and Precision Feeding. Zuidhof received a MSc in broiler breeder management in 1993, and a PhD in bioeconomic modeling of the broiler supply chain from the University of Alberta in 2004, while working at Alberta Agriculture as a Research Scientist. He joined the University of Alberta in 2009. Zuidhof has won many teaching awards, and currently teaches courses in Introductory Animal Science and Applied Poultry Research. In the past decade, Zuidhof’s research has focussed primarily on precision feeding of broiler breeders. His team developed and patented a precision feeding system for poultry. The system is designed to feed the right bird the right amount of the right feed at the right time. With it, broiler breeder flocks can be grown to a perfectly uniform weight; the system doubles as an excellent high resolution data acquisition tool for group housed individuals. The system automates tasks such as feed allocation, and even pair feeding. It has led to novel insights into metabolism, physiology, and behavior. Zuidhof has published 97 peer reviewed scientific papers, and has co-founded a company in support of his goal to revolutionize the way the world feeds and studies broiler breeders. Zuidhof has served as a PSA director from 2018-2021, as president of the World’s Poultry Science Association Canada Branch (2010-2014), and Academic Leader of the Poultry Research Centre and the Poultry Innovation Partnership since 2010 at the University of Alberta. His team has played an important role in finding new ways to conserve unique benchmark genetic resources. His hobbies include golf on long northern summer evenings, jamming and singing (acoustic guitar), and teaching his 2 grandsons practical implications of poultry science.