The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine has established the committee to develop the 12^th Nutrient Requirements of Swine. The committee has already met in person twice and on-line three times with annual in-person and monthly on-line meetings scheduled for the future. NASEM’s charge to the committee is to “conduct an in-depth review of the scientific literature on the nutritional needs of swine and prepare a report that revises and updates the 11th edition of Nutrient Requirements of Swine.” The committee has its work cut out for it, as the 11^th committee set an enviable standard of excellence in completing their report in 2012; it was broader and more comprehensive than any swine report prepared by NASEM in the past.

To fulfill this ambitious task, NASEM has established a 12-member committee which is unique relative to past committees. For example, whereas past committees have tended to focus on senior members of faculty, this committee includes a broader cross-section of early- and mid-career scientists to complement the more senior members.

For the first time, a European scientist is included; two Canadians are members of this committee, whereas one Canadian has previously been the norm. As one would expect, however, the majority of committee members hail from the American Midwest, and also includes representation from both coasts. So, in sum, the committee brings together a cross section of the research community representing expertise in all areas needed to complete the task set forth by NASEM.

The committee consists of Tom Burkey, University of Nebraska, Laura Greiner, Iowa State University, Sung Woo Kim, North Carolina State University, Marie-Pierre Létourneau-Montminy, Laval University, Crystal Levesque, South Dakota State University, Yanhong Liu, University of California – Davis, Martin Nyachoti, University of Manitoba, John Patience, chair, Iowa State University, Amy Petry, University of Missouri, Jason Woodworth, Kansas State University, Pedro Urriola, University of Minnesota and Jaap Van Milgen, INRAE (France).

Each member was invited on the basis of their unique and high quality training, proficiency in a critical aspect of swine nutrition, an impressive publication record and a demonstrated commitment to excellence that will ensure the maintenance of the high standard of past nutrient requirement reports. It is exciting to bring together a group of individuals with proven track records, unique personalities, diverse perspectives on swine nutrition and different life experiences. It is this diversity of membership that will allow the committee to generate the best possible report that can be used by industry and academia with confidence.

As diverse as this group is, they all have one thing in common – a desire to work together to fulfill not only the expectations of NASEM, but also the expectations of swine nutritionists around the world who will utilize and depend on this report in the future to do their jobs as effectively as possible.

Most of the deliberations of the committee are required by NASEM to be completely confidential. And all of the information included in the final report must be based on the refereed literature to ensure a high standard of information.

However, the committee has already made one novel decision and that is to consider energy and nutrient values for ingredients generated by private labs. This has been discussed in the past, and this committee has decided that by carefully vetting such data, a broader base of information can be included in the report without compromising its quality. A request will soon be distributed and companies willing to share their data will be asked to contact Laura Greiner for further details.