3 Latin American Poultry Hall of Famers we've lost in 2020

Three major pillars of the Latin American poultry industry have passed away in 2020: Enrique Robinson Bours, Arturo D. Melo and Richard Toledano.

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Enrique Robinson Bours, co-founder of the Mexican company Industrias Bachoco, Arturo Melo, founder of the Panamanian company Grupo Melo, and Richard Toledano, founder of the Panamanian company Productos Toledano, died in 2020, three great losses for the Latin American poultry industry. (Courtesy of Bachoco, Grupo Melo and Productos Toledano)
Enrique Robinson Bours, co-founder of the Mexican company Industrias Bachoco, Arturo Melo, founder of the Panamanian company Grupo Melo, and Richard Toledano, founder of the Panamanian company Productos Toledano, died in 2020, three great losses for the Latin American poultry industry. (Courtesy of Bachoco, Grupo Melo and Productos Toledano)

Enrique Robinson Bours, founder of Bachoco, Mexico's largest poultry company, passed away a few days ago.

Among his achievements, he started with 1,000 birds and led the company to eventually produce 622 million chickens and have 12.2 million laying hens in production in Mexico and expand production to the United States. Today, the Bachoco brand is widely known.

In addition, two other pillars of the poultry industry have died this year. Both are Panamanians: Arturo D. Melo, founder of Grupo Melo, and Richard Toledano, founder of Productos Toledano. Both are the two largest poultry companies in Panama and the two most well-known brands, fully integrated all the way to fast-food restaurant chains.

The common bond of these three poultry producers, in addition to being entrepreneurs of animal protein production, is that they are members of the Latin American Poultry Hall of Fame.

Melo entered the Hall of Fame in the first class in 1987 during the 10th Latin American Poultry Congress in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Toledano was inducted in 1991, at the 12th Congress, in Quito, Ecuador. Finally, Bours joined the hall of fame in Cancun, Mexico, during the 15th congress, in 1997.

The Latin American Poultry Hall of Fame Awards were instituted in 1987 to identify and reward those who have dedicated their lives to the advancement of the Latin American poultry industry. WATT Global Media and the Industria Avícola magazine are fully in charge of the process, together with the cooperation and support of the Latin American Poultry Association (ALA).

I wanted to write these brief lines to remember these three pillars and thank them for their efforts. At the same time, I would like to show the new generations that excellence in poultry production can be achieved, so I encourage them to keep going. The Latin American Poultry Hall of Fame is not only for producers, but for all professionals, both men and women, in the industry.

What do you think?

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