"We have a lot of opportunity and potential going forward, and at the end of the day, we have to feed the world. We have to provide more protein to consumers, and I think poultry is well positioned to become the number one source of protein by 2023," Baudon said. "Poultry is affordable; it's ready to eat and ready to prepare. It has some very good characteristics in terms of health. Everybody in the world eats poultry meat and eggs. There are no religious barriers; there are no cultural barriers. We believe at Boehringer Ingelheim that we have tremendous opportunities going forward."

Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to providing preventive solutions through their program Prevention Works. Baudon said customers around the world in emerging and mature markets are moving from treatment solutions to prevention solutions.

"We're in the United States, one of the largest poultry markets, and today you go anywhere in any supermarket, and you'll notice that people want to have antibiotic-free chicken," he said. "We have to respond as a leading poultry health company with solutions for our customers and key accounts."

Another trend is vaccination is shifting from the chicken house to the hatchery. Customers seek convenience and reduced labor, and they want to substitute labor with capital investment by automation. Boehringer Ingelheim is helping customers to improve the productivity and performance of their flock by offering innovation, technology and by trying to simplify their vaccination program.

Looking at the global trend, avian influenza remains a significant threat for the industry as seen in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe.

"Avian influenza is really putting a big threat to the future growth of the poultry industry going forward, and we have to respond to that. This is the reason why our research and development pipeline - we are investing continuously in finding solution against avian influenza for our customers," Baudon said.

A final global trend is food safety - providing safe, affordable, abundant, and high quality poultry meat and eggs for customers and consumers. For Boehringer Ingelheim, food safety in the poultry sector is focused on salmonella control as well as campylobacter. Baudon said these are both areas of heavy R&D investment as the team looks to provide new solutions in terms of product portfolio for poultry meat and egg producers around the world.

"These are the main four trends that we see going forward. Obviously, I don't want to get into much more detail, but we bring a very positive outlook for this industry," he said. "We have a long way ahead of us, because as I said in my introduction, people won't stop eating eggs and poultry meat, which I think is good for all of us."