Dr. Pearse Lyons Wraps Up Alltech Symposium

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Chuck

The 2012 Alltech International Symposium has concluded. The “Magic Man” as he was called more than once during the event is Dr. Pearse Lyons. Here he is on stage during the closing session this morning.

I was able to ask Pearse his thoughts in closing at the end of the session. He says “What a pity it’s over.” He’s ready for another three days! Looking to the future continued growth of Alltech his key word is “speed.” Not speed that compromises quality but speed that grows the company quickly and perhaps even bigger than they currently envision.

Listen to my closing interview with Dr. Lyons here: Interview with Dr. Pearse Lyons

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Tom and Anya’s Future

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Chuck

The 2012 Alltech International Symposium was all about the future and everywhere you looked the faces of Tom and Anya looked back at you. These young children represented all children and many of the presentations here focused on what their world will be like as they grow up. So, after seeing Tom and Anya in pictures we were treated to meeting them on stage at the end of the Symposium.

Here’s Dr. Pearse Lyons with little Tom and Anya. How cute is that? And when you see children like Tom and Anya how can you not help but want to make their future world even better than the one we’ve grown up in?

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

An Alltech View of China

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Chuck

His presentation was titled, “The Great Call of China.” Dr. Mark Lyons talked about what he has learned about the culture and opportunity represented by the China market. In fact, he’s learning the language right now and Alltech predicts that the country may represent 25% of their business in the future.

At the 2010 Symposium we got a glimpse at this market from Joaquin Pelaez is the Senior Vice President for Product Excellence at Yum! Brands, Inc. In this morning’s closing session Mark expanded greatly on some of those ideas from what he has found out from his time in China. For example, he says he conducted a survey in which the word Respect came up over and over. In his presentation you’ll learn from his observations and perhaps these will serve you well if you ever work in the China market. Mark concluded his remarks saying that it’s the perfect place for the aspiring CEO!

Listen to Dr. Mark Lyons talk about the China market here: Dr. Mark Lyons on China

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech’s FoodPrint Discussion Dinner

Posted on May 23, 2012 by Jamie

The Carbon FoodPrint was the topic of debate for one of the Discussion Dinners at the 2012 Alltech International Symposium. Moderator, Damien O’Reilly, Irish National Television and Radio Broadcaster, lead the dialogue on perception vs. reality. Delegates enjoyed a tasty chicken dinner while chatting about how much of the carbon footprint hype is branding and how much is changing operations.

“It is a very timely discussion because everybody in the world knows more or less what we we mean when we say your carbon footprint. It is a relatively new phenomenon I suppose, but people are becoming more conscious about it and their impact on it.”

“I hope we can provoke a debate here about the food industry and food companies and what they are doing. Some have signed up for the foodprint idea which is to say we have reduced our carbon footprint by 5 or 7%. But some questions asked are how can we monitor them?”

Listen to moderator, Damien O’Reilly’s interview here: Interview with Damien O'Reilly

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

2012 Alltech Smart Debate

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chuck

This year the Alltech debate session is titled Smart Debate. Topics include: feeding 9 billion people; is Africa now Brazil? What’s next for biofuels and more. Our panelists include Tom Arnold, CEO, Concern, Ireland; Sean Richard, Senior Lecturer in Business Economics, Cranfield University, UK; Dr. Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes, Former Minister of Agriculture and Food Supply of Brazil and Tom Dorr, CEO, U.S. Grains Council. Our moderator again this year is Aidan Conolly, Alltech.

Listen to my interview with Aidan in which he summarizes some take away points from the debate here: Interview with Aidan Conolly

To give you a flavor for the debate here’s each panelists answer to the question: What does the future hold for us?

Listen to Tom Arnold’s answer here: Tom Arnold Answer

Listen to Sean Rickard’s answer here: Sean Rickard Answer

Listen to Dr. Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes’s answer here: Dr. Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes Answer

Listen to Tom Dorr’s answer here: Tom Dorr Answer

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

A UK Perspective on Improvement in the Food Chain

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Jamie

The 2012 Alltech International Symposium was host to Keith Millar, Head of Animal Feed and Animal By-Products Unit at Food Standards Agency, UK. He shared his insights into control and improvement in the food/feed chain during the New Regulatory Landscape breakout session.

Mr. Millar was private secretary for two separate leaders of the House of Commons. He was a United Kingdom delegations leader in numerous international negotiations. He also worked at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the UK Food Standards Agency since its formation. He is currently secretary to the Independent Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs. And is also a member of the International Dairy Federation’s Task Force on Animal Feeding.

“The fundamental take home message I wanted to give was as a government regulator I can’t do my job without having a good working relationship with the industry. I get most of my facts and topical up-to-date information from the industry and thats why I was delighted to come across the Atlantic and speak at this global conference in Lexington, KY.”

Listen to the complete interview with Keith here: Interview with Keith Millar

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Young Scientist Global Scholarship Winners

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chuck

Alltech announced the winners of their Young Scientist competition during today’s afternoon session. In addition to regional winners there are two global winners (graduate and undergraduate). Altogether there were 8,000 entries in the competition! Presenting the awards were Dr. Mark Lyons and Dr. Inge Russell.

The Global Undergraduate winner is Gisele Greghi, Universidade Sao Paulo, Brazil. Listen to Jamie’s interview with Gisele here: Interview with Gisele Greghi

The Global Graduate winner is Qian Wang, University of California-Davis, USA.

The Alltech Young Scientist Award brings together the world’s brightest scientific thinkers from colleges and universities across the globe. To compete for the top prizes, undergraduate and graduate students are asked to register and submit a scientific paper on an agricultural topic such as veterinary science, animal feed technology, agricultural developments or agriculture management.

Listen to Jamie’s interview with Qian here: Interview with Qian Wang

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

The Farmer of the Future

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Jamie

During the Marketing Forum at the 2012 Alltech International Symposium, Dr. Dwight Armstrong, Chief Executive Officer for the National FFA Organization, answered the question, “Who is the farmer of the future?” The FFA works with 500,000 potential youth farmers to help fill the need for young agriculturalists.

The National FFA Organization is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.

Dr. Armstrong highlighted the FFA’s efforts to make career success a priority for its future members, current members and alumni.

“The farmer of the future is an individual who can step forward and supply technology, business and science into farming because farming is far more complicated and complex then it has been in the past, but certainly we hope the 500,000 FFA members that are involved in agriculture education and FFA will be the farmer of the future.”

Dr. Armstrong is a former FFA member from Kentucky and served as the 2005 chairman of the National FFA Foundation Sponsors’ Board. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Murray State University and his master’s degree and Ph.D from Purdue University.

Listen to the complete interview with Dwight Armstrong here: Interview with Dwight Armstrong

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Launches Crop Science Business

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chuck

Alltech launched their Crop Science business during the 2012 International Symposium. During a lunch time press conference we heard from (r-l) Geoff Frank, CEO of Alltech Crop Science; Robbie Walker, Regional Director of Europe and the Middle East for Alltech Crop Science and Jon Carloftis, award-winning garden designer, garden writer, television guest, author, and lecturer.

Alltech has actually been in the plant science business for a number of years but has just pulled the business into the Alltech brand. The company is making all natural products that can be used on a wide variety of plants from grains to gardens. The products are especially helpful to plants that experience stressful conditions. They promote more stable growth and greater yields. I asked about the grain market for midwest U.S. growers and they told me that they are conducting trials right now in Iowa. With higher corn prices growers now have a new alternative application to get the most out of their crop.

Listen to the full press conference here: Alltech Crop Science Press Conference

Listen to Geoff’s opening remarks here: Geoff Frank Opening Remarks

Listen to Robbie’s opening remarks here: Robbie Walker Opening Remarks

Listen to Jon’s opening remarks here: Jon Carloftis Opening Remarks

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Food Styling at Alltech

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chuck

I’m borrowing from the Alltech blog here. I thought it was interesting to hear a food stylist talk about her craft.

Erica Ryan, a food stylist from Dublin, Ireland has spent the last 20 years styling food for TV and film and photography for food packaging and cookery books. Erica is over in Lexington this week helping to put the finishes touches on the display food at ‘The World’s Market’ at Alltech’s Symposium. Erika’s skills require her to maintain the color, texture, composition and quality of the display food that best represents the product.

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Tweetup

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chuck

During the 2012 Alltech International Symposium we held a tweetup. Here’s our happy group. Thanks to Jamie for taking our photo.

Tweetups provide a great opportunity to meet people in person whom you follow or interact with on Twitter. We got together for a few minutes prior to the Kentucky Night dinner celebration at Kentucky Horse Park last night. Most of these folks were on their smartphones tweeting before, during and after the tweetup.

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech’s Nutrition Revolution

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Chuck

He’s a revolutionary in the area of nutrition. Dr. Karl Dawson, Chief Scientific Officer, Alltech, took the stage the opening session of the 2012 International Symposium. The company is doing breakthrough research in nutrigenomics to find new ways to feed our animals to enhance their performance, health and longevity and enhance the consumer experience. Dr. Dawson also talks about how Alltech is branching out into new research strategies for addressing human health and wellness. I interviewed Dr. Dawson during the press conference held after the opening session and have included it as well as Dr. Dawson’s remarks on stage this morning.

Listen to my interview with Dr. Dawson here: Interview with Dr. Karl Dawson

Listen to Dr. Dawson’s remarks here: Dr. Karl Dawson Remarks

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Kentucky Night

Posted on May 22, 2012 by Jamie

Alltech’s Kentucky Night was full of down-home country music, mouth watering good food and even better company. The event was held at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park, home of the Alltech Arena and the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and the Alltech National Horse Show. Everyone came decked out in their boots, denim and cowboy hats. A evening full of fun and fellowship where storying were told and new friends were met.

Check out photos from the event here: 2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Symposium Press Conference

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Jamie

A press conference was held following the morning session of the 2012 Alltech International Symposium. Panelists included Dr. Pearse Lyons, President/CEO of Alltech, Governor John Y. Brown Jr., Dr. Mark Lyons, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Alltech, Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech’s Chief Scientific Officer & Tim Gannon, Co-Founder Outback Steakhouse. Catch a recap of the question and answer session as these panelists share the importance of Alltech’s efforts to preserve the future of agribusiness and food production.

Listen to the complete Alltech International Symposium press conference here: Alltech Press Conference

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

The Alltech Incredible Journey

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Chuck

Alltech Founder and President, Dr. T. Pearse Lyons welcomed all the attendees to the 2012 Alltech International Symposium. I’ve heard that we have over 3,000 here this year! That’s a big jump up from last year. The Symposium just keeps getting bigger and bigger.

I’ll add opening remarks from Dr. Lyons here as soon as I can. He is talking about the “Incredible Journey.” The Incredible Journey was Dr. Lyons opportunity to describe the history of Alltech which included his personal business philosophy. In it he outlines ten initiatives for the company which has plans to quadruple in size in coming years. The goal is to be a four billion dollar company!

Post Update: Listen to Dr. Lyon’s remarks here: Dr. Pearse Lyons Incredible Journey

After the morning session Alltech held a press conference and I conducted a short interview with Dr. Lyons to get his outlook on the 2012 record breaking Symposium and his vision for the future of the company. You’ll hear him say, “I love my life and it’s the only life I have to live.” He says he’s surrounded by fantastic people who are making things happen that are astounding. He says, “It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Listen to my interview with Dr. Lyons here: Interview with Dr. Pearse Lyons

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Medal of Excellence

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Chuck

During the opening general session here at the 2012 Alltech International Symposium Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr. received a very special award. Here’s Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech, presenting the 22nd Alltech Medal of Excellence to the Governor.

I’ll have comments from Gov. Brown to add a little later today. He bought Kentucky Fried Chicken from Colonel Harland Sanders when he was 29 years old and is considered one of the pioneers of the fast food franchise industry.

Post Update: Listen to Gov. Brown’s remarks here: Gov. John Y. Brown, Jr. Remarks

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Ag Network Live

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Chuck

Use the list in this box to view the live presentations being streamed at the 2012 Alltech International Symposium.

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2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech Fun Run

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Chuck

It may seem a little early in the morning for a run. Well, it is a little early in the morning! The 2012 Alltech International Symposium Fun Run had beautiful weather this year and a big crowd. We’re pumped up! I did not win since it is not a “race.” But I did make it without stopping. My first run in over a month and a half. Guess I’m healed enough now from the bicycle wreck. No more excuses . . .

The opening general session will be next on the agenda and we’ll be live tweeting and providing photos, audio and interviews throughout the day. Now it’s time to get ready after a little Starbucks on the way back from Transylvania University, site of the Fun Run.

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Alltech International Dinner

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Chuck

Since the first time I saw Dr. Ronan Tynan sing I was hooked. I can’t say how glad I was to see him on the program again here at the 2012 Alltech International Symposium. Tonight at the International Dinner Dr. Tynan sang one of Dr. Pearse Lyons favorites, Danny Boy. I recorded it so you can hear this great tenor voice.

We also heard songs tonight from Dr. Everett McCorvey, University of Kentucky, and his students. There were many standing ovations. These are world class voices and a real highlight to the start of an Alltech Symposium. I’ve got photos from all of them in the photo album. I’ll add a link to them later after they finish uploading.

Listen to Ronan sing here: Ronan Tynan Sings Danny Boy

Post Update: Here are photos from the conference, including the International Dinner: 2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Communicating With Alltech

Posted on May 20, 2012 by Chuck

Here’s the Alltech Communications team welcoming the media arriving early to check in for the 2012 Alltech International Symposium. It’s hard to see but they’re promoting the Symposium Twitter hashtag, #AgFuture. It’s a beautiful day in Lexington. Things will get started this evening with the International Dinner which will once again feature world class opera voices. I will have photos and hopefully some audio for you later this evening.

Then tomorrow morning we start very early if the weather cooperates with the Fun Run. I haven’t run since my little bicycle accident but I think I can do it. I know I need it. It’s a great way to get the day started before we get to the opening general session.

Some things to keep in mind for the next several days include:

Alltech Symposium Twitter hashtag is #AgFuture.
Live streaming via the Alltech Ag Network.
Get the Alltech Symposium App.

Also, remember you can follow me on Twitter @AgriBlogger and Jamie Johansen @MyLifeNTheHills. This is Jamie’s first ZimmComm adventure so expect to see/hear a lot more from her starting this week!