This month, the World’s largest book fair, the Frankfurter Buchmesse, brought together more than 250,000 people – publishers, authors, teachers and interested readers – to update information on recent publications and monitor trends in the global business of information and entertainment. While the number of publications continues to grow, the competition is getting tougher. The growing share of E-books offers new opportunities for buyers and sellers. ...

Almost 50 years ago, when I was close to finishing my PhD thesis and reading every new issue of “Dairy Science” and other journals in search of the latest publications related to my topic of bull dam selection, my Major professor advised me: if you want to finish, you have to decide whether you want to read or write – in other words: stop reading and hand in your thesis! Since then, I have learned to meet deadlines, and I am happy to acknowledge the help of all authors who submitted their invited ...

While writing this editorial, I am wondering whether YOU are finding this publication useful. Since 2006, when we started publishing Lohmann Information on-line, the address file for direct mailing has grown to over 2700 “readers” in 129 countries, and the number of “visits” of individual articles gives us a general idea which topics and which authors are of most interest. You can help us to make Lohmann Information even better in the future by suggesting topics and authors for future papers. ...

Whether you are a graduate student trying to finish your thesis and publications from it, busy with a demanding job, or already retired: we all have the same 24 hours a day and it is up to us to find a balance between essential work and regeneration of our energy. More than 7 billion People in the world offer unlimited opportunities to assist them in getting a balanced diet at a price which leaves some purchasing power for other goods and services to improve the quality of their lives. ...

People in affluent countries may feel better if they reduce their own Food intake and/or throw away less food with marginal “best before date”, but this will not help people in Third World countries, where poor education and limited job opportunities encourage people to migrate from villages to cities, hoping to find a better life. After reading the book “Poor Economics – A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty”*), you will probably agree with the authors that better education of boys and girls will be necessary to fight hunger due to poverty. ...

The recent tsunami in Japan with resulting damage of atomic reactors in Fukushima sent a shock wave around the world, forcing not only responsible people in politics, society and industry, but all of us to Review priorities. Meanwhile the world population continues to grow, in many countries at higher rates than local agriculture can feed. This year, the world population will reach 7 billion, and the challenge to find better Solutions to assure adequate nutrition for more people will intensify, especially if more energy is produced from feed grain to facilitate an early exit from atomic energy. ...

I am writing this editorial on World Food Day, 16th October 2010. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reminds us that an estimated 1 billion people suffer from hunger. The growing world population with increasing per-capita demand for animal products appears to be a good business opportunity for the global animal agriculture, but we have to be aware of the increasing pressure of our society to develop more animal-friendly systems of production and to reduce the impact of green house gas emissions. ...

The editorial board of Lohmann Information meets every six months Close to the time when the current issue is being published. Typically, several topics are suggested from Lohmann Tierzucht and Lohmann Animal Health colleagues for the next issue, based on recent symposia or internal developments. It is then the pleasure of the editor to persuade authors to translate excellent power point slide presentations into publishable text versions. In 2009, Lohmann Tierzucht celebrated “50 years layer breeding in Cuxhaven” and the Solutions Department of Lohmann Animal Health organized a workshop „Water supply in poultry farming – a key factor for health and performance“. ...

Most of us are directly or indirectly affected by global issues like the recent financial crisis, rising energy prices or attempts to reduce CO2 emissions. Obviously, the burden to carry is not equally distributed and differs greatly between countries and individuals within a country, depending on the Level of education and opportunities for productive employment. Each of us can contribute at least symbolically, e.g. by reducing energy waste and giving a good example for others. Major contributions have to come from innovations in industry and agriculture. ...

Three years after changing to the online format of Lohmann Information, we are encouraged by the growing number of recipients: after deleting all incomplete addresses with unidentified country of residence, this issue will be mailed to 2247 readers in 124 countries. The cumulative number of visits on the website for specific papers confirms our expectation that many people also appreciate access to earlier publications when certain questions come up. We have therefore expanded the archive to include a list of all publications in "Lohmann Information International" 1/1979 to 25/2005; the complete papers may still be found in libraries. ...

While people across the world are worried about the financial crisis and trying to cope with rising food and energy prices, we should not forget the remarkable contributions of science to modern agriculture without which the increasing demand for animal protein of a growing world population could not be met. Public funding of research dedicated to efficient food production has been declining for years, and universities depend increasingly on donations from private individuals and/or the industry to continue adequate education and research progams so that today’s students are prepared to develop better solutions to our current problems. ...

Two years ago, when LAH and LTZ decided to discontinue the hard copy edition in German and English and change to a bi-annual online publication in English with German summaries, there were some questions whether the majority of our traditional readers would accept this change or cancel subscription. Actually, the number of subscriptions is increasing steadily and reached 2222 addresses in 120 countries for this issue. A preliminary analysis of the number of downloads of individual papers reflects the interests of our readers and will be used to plan future issues. ...

The Nobel Peace Prize for Al Gore is likely to put additional pressure on politicians around the world to take the prospect of global warming seriously and to develop effective guidelines to limit the rate of an ongoing trend. As everybody in feed and food production is noticing, the use of grain for bio-fuel production has increased food prices significantly, and experts are expressing serious doubts that goals announced by politicians can be achieved with conventional methods of land use. For animal agriculture this means the pressure to increase the productivity per animal and the efficiency of feed conversion will continue, while consumers realize that the years of unlimited food upply at low Prices are over. ...

Since we started publishing Lohmann Information in its new online format, the number of subscriptions has steadily grown. This issue will be mailed to more than 2100 addresses in 107 countries. We trust the topics chosen as "food for thought" will find your interest and appreciate your comments. You are also welcome to send us addresses of colleagues who like to receive future issues of our publication. ...

The first edition of Lohmann Information in its new online format was mailed 25 October 2006 to 922 addresses in 53 countries. We continue to update the address list and are sending this second issue to more than 2000 recipients in 84 countries, with best wishes for personal health and happiness for our readers and successful business in 2007! ...

Thank you for expressing interest to receive the publication Lohmann Information in its new format – online and in English. As you know, it was decided last year to terminate the printed version, which appeared since 1956 with up to 4 issues per year in German and a total of 28 International editions between 1980 and 2003. Only older readers will remember under which conditions the first issues of Lohmann Information were published ...