Okay folks. This holiday greeting might be hard to beat. It’s a personalized greeting that includes a link to world class opera seasonal music which I just finished listening to. Here’s the message and link:
Season’s Greetings from Alltech
Dear Chuck and Cindy,
We thank you for your support in 2011 and wish you and your family the very best of health and happiness for the upcoming year.
Here’s what you’ll find:
In the spirit of the season we hope you enjoy this sample of our Alltech Vocal Scholars’ outstanding performances during the Alltech Holiday Celebration of Song.
Alltech believes in community involvement. The Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition is the largest competition of its kind in the world. Held each spring at the University of Kentucky in the United States, talented young singers from across the world compete for more than $400,000 in prizes and music scholarships. During the holiday season Alltech along with UK Opera Theatre puts on a community concert – the Alltech Holiday Celebration of Song which features these talented young artists.
The Alltech Ag Network is live again this morning from their Global 500. As we’ve reported before, the Alltech Ag Network is powered by iHigh.com and AgWired has just set up a channel with the intention of using it in the coming year when our clients want and need live streaming.
I’d love to know your thoughts on the Alltech Ag Network. Here’s a company that has taken a lead in utilizing new communication tools. They’ve been blogging and using social media for years. Now they have their own tv channel distributed via the internet and through mobile devices. Yes, you can watch this live on your smartphone! They have 600 people in the auditorium. How many do you think are watching all around the world?
Would your company want to provide more live streaming of your events? Got questions about how to make it happen? Give me a call and lets discuss it. For current and potential clients we would be happy to talk about how we can add this service to your plans.
Coming up next week in Lexington, Kentucky is an event that dairy and beef producers should not miss.
Since 2008, more than 800 of world’s most progressive dairy and beef producers have convened for the Alltech Global 500 to network and discuss the most relevant and challenging topics in the industry.
This year, the Global 500 explores the future landscape for the dairy and beef industries and provides a rare opportunity for global colleagues and friends to engage in open discussion on critical topics such as sustainable strategies and practices that can be implemented now and in the future.
I talked with Alltech Beef Division Manager Ty Yeast about the event, which will be held December 6-8. “Originally it started as a dairy event and with the success after the first two years in the dairy event, we expanded to the beef side as well,” Ty said. “Last year was our first ever addition of the beef event and we had over 125 participants from all over the world.” This year, Ty says they already have more than doubled last year’s registration.
Ty says the conference is really about looking at new ways of approaching a business that’s been around for a long time. “It’s innovation, it’s looking at new ways of doing things, and really breaking old paradigms on how to move forward and get to that next level of efficiency.”
Interested producers can still register for the event by going to the Global 500 website. You can be sure it will be worth your while.
The Alltech Ag Network is “the future of agriculture.” That’s according to Allie Hembree, pictured with Billy Frey during Trade Talk at the National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention.
Allie says the Network is a place where events can be live streamed and archived, using the services of iHigh. A recent example is the FFA Convention. You can find all the sessions in the archives. She says that they can help any company or organization set up there own page to do this for their events.
Some companies have been sponsors and Trade Talk exhibitors at the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention for years – even decades! – but this year was the first for AgLeader Technology, one of the nation’s leading precision farming technology innovators.
AgLeader’s Katie Monroe (center) says they were thrilled to join the companies and organizations who support the NAFB. “It’s a great opportunity to talk about our new products and how precision farming can help growers,” Katie said, noting that one of their main topics was AgLeader’s new Versa display which includes all of the most popular year-round precision tools in one small package.
AgLeader Technology also joined with Alltech to sponsor the NAFB Foundation Auction reception on Thursday night.
The FFA is taking advantage of the Alltech Ag Network to stream live from the convention in October. Here are (pictured left to right) Dwight Armstrong, CEO of the National FFA Organization, and Billy Frey, general manager of the Alltech Ag Network.
In a significant technological move forward for agriculture, the National FFA Organization will stream its 2011 National Convention in Indianapolis Oct. 19-22 live online via the newly launched Alltech Ag Network on iHigh.com. The televised convention will be accessible real time via computers, iPads and all iPhone, Android and BlackBerry mobile devices.
As FFA membership stands at more than a half-million students throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, iHigh.com expects this to be their largest telecast ever. Yet the significance of the convention broadcast goes beyond record-breaking metrics.
“Agriculture is taking the lead in communications, moving high tech to engage the world in its story,” said Billy Frey, general manager of the Alltech Ag Network. “iHigh.com’s unique platform enables it to, for example, on a recent Friday night, broadcast more than 170 high school football games simultaneously and live to mobile devices free of charge. This is a capability far beyond many major sports organizations and applications. FFA is now harnessing this power, broadening its reach at a time when our growing population is moving increasingly far away from the stories of the farm and the origins of their food.”
This is how you handle foreign relations. By raising a glass of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale for a toast. Pictured left to right are Deane Lin, chairman and director of Dxcel and Dr. Pearse Lyons, president of Alltech, owner of the Lexington Brewing and Distilling Company. They’re toasting Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale’s expansion into Shanghai and Beijing. Dxcel is handling distribution of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale in China.
Earlier this year, the beer made its initial debut in the Chinese market in Qingdao.
“Once the official beer of the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games and silver medal winner in the World Beer Cup, we now want to see Kentucky Ale expanding into the world’s largest beer market,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech.
Commenting on the partnership, Deane Lin, chairman and director of Dxcel, said, “Increases in product diversification and a greater demand for choice and taste have led to significant changes in the Chinese beer industry over the last few years. These shifts in consumer habits, partly due to a vast expatriate market preference for home comforts, are also a result of Chinese consumers’ thirst for new products and brands from the Western world. This is the perfect time for Kentucky Ale to make its debut in these two major Chinese markets.”
“What really distinguishes our beer is its touch of bourbon. Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale is aged for six weeks in freshly decanted bourbon barrels, infusing the beer with a hint of oak and vanilla,” said Dr. Lyons.
The IFAJ Boot Camp participants, seen here, heard from their sponsor during their pre-Congress program in Guelph. My good friend, Aidan Connolly, Alltech VP, was able to be with us for a while this week.
Aidan told our participants that “food and food policy has never been more critical, has never been more relevant, has never been more times on the front of a newspaper or indeed in the media in general.” That really makes it very important for good quality ag journalism at this time! When it comes to solutions to today’s food problems Aidan suggests there are a number of interventions needed, not just one. He has already seen some online reporting from the class participants so I applaud them for getting right to work.
Instead of competing with each other for a limited talent pool, agribusinesses need to work together to increase interest in agricultural careers.
Dan Rice, Strategic Analyst with Alltech, spoke on Raising the Bar for Student Recruitment in agriculture at the AgCareers.com 2011 North American Ag HR Roundtable on Tuesday morning. He says part of the issue is pubic perceptions of agriculture in general. “Everybody’s after the same resources so we’ve got to change the way we’re doing things in training our young people and getting them interested in agriculture,” Dan says.
Alltech used a venue at last year’s World Equestrian Games to reach out to the general public and educate them about careers in agriculture. The animal health company also sponsors a Young Scientist Program and offers students a chance to be involved in working on meetings Alltech holds around the country.
Disruptive change sounds disturbing. However, perhaps it’s more of a challenge. Mandi McLeod, System Insights, Ltd., New Zealand, talked about it and its impact on the dairy industry during the Alltech International Symposium. She’s seen here being interviewed by Ireland’s RTE voice Damien O’Reilly. I spoke with Mandi after Damien to learn what is going on with dairy farming in her country and how she coaches family business strategy.
Mandi says the New Zealand dairy model is still working but needs to evolve further in light of disruptive changes in the industry. She says that their level of productivity hasn’t kept up with the price of their product which makes them vulnerable at the moment. The current pricing of dairy products is just not financially sustainable and it looks like that isn’t going to improve soon. Mandi is a family business strategist and advises dairy farmers to take a look at their business and make sure they’re using resources wisely. Sounds like common sense advice for any business. She wants people to enjoy what they are doing by finding a balance in their life and business. Having a good plan would help a family business tremendously. Perhaps you should give Mandi a call if you need help. Mandi McLeod Interview
This week’s program features a conversation I had at last week’s Alltech International Symposium with Billy Frey, Digita Marketing Manager. Billy was on the program with a session titled, “Precision Marketing: Don’t “get what you pay for,” only pay for what you get. His session was part of a new educational track called the New Ag Network. This track was created to take a holistic approach to business and marketing. The symposium still has species targeted educational tracks. His session was part of an effort to provide attendees with tools to do better marketing of their business.
Of course we talk about social media mechanisms since they now allow companies like Alltech to do their own branding without being completely dependent on traditional media channels. Billy says his number one message is “we have to listen to the customer.” These new tools that allow companies to engage with their customers make that easier than ever. At the same time they allow for very targeted and streamlined advertising efforts. There are ag media representatives from many countries that attend the Alltech Symposium. I asked him if he thought they are “getting it” when it comes to social media. He thinks they are or that they are at least in the process of making changes necessary to survive in the new media world. He’s proud of the ag media for embracing new media. In the photo Billy (left) is chatting with Dave Russell, Brownfield Ag News in the Symposium press room.
Billy thinks that the new media mechanisms provide an opportunity and a challenge since the younger generations are starting out with them while the older generations are only just coming around to accepting them. He echoes a belief I’ve had since we got into new media and that is that it’s just an evolution of the best form of marketing – word of mouth.
We also talk about the new Alltech App which currently provides unique information for pork producers and markets and weather. Basically, this means that Alltech has created their own information channel for their customers who can choose to get it and use it how and where they want.
Learn how Alltech is using new communications elements in the company’s marketing program: Alltech and New Media
Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, Growmark, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.
The ZimmCast is the official weekly podcast of AgWired. Subscribe so you can listen when and where you want. Just go to our Subscribe page.
Alltech is a company that’s doing a lot of things. I’ve mentioned their Haiti aid project which includes Alltech Cafe Citadelle, 100% pure arabica shade-grown, hand-picked, Haitian Coffee. At this week’s Alltech Symposium I got an update on how that project is going from Chris Gayton, Project Development Manager. He says that Alltech wanted to do something that would have an almost immediate impact. So they import Haitian coffee, roast it, sell it and invest the income into their Sustainable Haiti Project. It’s a great cause and sales are going well.
I’ve sampled Cafe Citadelle coffee many times now. Chris describes it as having a “robust, organic, earthy flavor.” It’s a mild roast and if you buy some online I think you’ll enjoy it. Chris Gayton Interview
Alltech Café Citadelle is a high quality, mild, mountain-grown Arabica. It is naturally shade-grown and is fair-trade. The coffee’s name was derived from the Citadelle Laferrière, the largest fortress in the Americas, next to which Cacgava and its member farms are located.
Peter Kerr has worked with a lot of people in agriculture and he found that many are not prepared for a crisis and can’t afford to hire a public relations firm to help them deal with one when it happens. So what he’s doing is bringing together farmers and agribusinesses in a coalition to “help each other out.” He has formed the Crisis Management Coalition. You join with a $100 monthly fee for which you receive a monthly newsletter, access to quarterly webinars and free assistance to create a crisis management plan and an hour’s no-charge consultation if a crisis should actually happen. He says members will pay about ten percent of what they’d pay a PR firm for ninety percent of the services they would receive.
Steve says that Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech, is one of the inspirations for the effort. I visited with Steve at the Alltech Symposium this week where he was signing up new members. Steve has been a communications consultant and was a speaker at last year’s Symposium. Peter Kerr Interview
The Vice President of Corporate Accounts for Alltech is Aidan Connolly. He is just one of the team that I’ve had the pleasure to get to become friends with and always enjoy seeing. We joke about how often we run into each other at events around the country. This year Aidan moderated the Alltech Symposium Game Changers Debate once again. I spoke with him afterward.
This year was the first time that Alltech brought in debate participants that didn’t necessarily share viewpoints or experiences with the farm audience. He was fascinated with Ben Self, who was the founder of Blue State Digital, for his idea for using new media and the internet to tell your story to engage the general public. When it came to Hans Johr, Nestle, he was happy to hear how he felt strongly about sharing value with the farmers who supply them with products. Tom Standage, Bus. Editor, The Economist, put forth some viewpoints that challenged people, especially in the area of biofuels, while providing a positive outlook for dealing with the food challenges of today.
Aidan says that when it comes to the Symposium, “I think we have a winning formula.” He thinks the primary reason people get enthused to attend is that they deliver new concepts and new ideas for running their businesses. Like me, he was also very enthused by all the young people who attended this year’s Symposium. Aidan Connolly Interview
See more stories on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and on-demand recordings of certain sessions.
The 2011 Alltech International Animal Health & Nutrition Symposium has concluded and with a resounding message to dream the impossible dream. Dr. Pearse Lyons took the stage to summarize what we learned and to provide some takeaway ideas that included five things that should be on your business survival action list.
1. No fads, no fashions, just change
2. Don’t be first, don’t be the best, be different
3. Know where growth comes from and get to where it is
4. Don’t act now!
5. It is about you – and everything you do
You can hear him explain these in his closing remarks below. In addition to these action items he listed a number of “Game Changers” that included an announcement that Alltech will make the single biggest investment in the company ever within the next eighteen months. This includes building new plants and expanding others in several countries. He also announced that the National Horse Show will be moving to Lexington, KY with Alltech as the title sponsor and that Alltech will once again be the title sponsor for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games which will be held in Normandy, France in 2014.
As Dr. Lyons encouraged everyone to dream the impossible dream he was joined on stage by Dr. Everett McCorvey and University of Kentucky students opera singers. They launched into a wonderful rendition of the famous song.
I recorded Dr. Lyons closing remarks which include the beautiful voices we’ve come to love at an Alltech Symposium: Alltech Symposium Closing Remarks
Follow the action on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and there will be live streaming of certain sessions.
I thought Declan Coyle’s presentation here at the Alltech Symposium titled, “Get on the Green Platform: The Life Changing Game Changer” would be about recycling and saving the environment. Wrong. He talked about different outlooks on life. He used as examples the green platform or the red platform. Green is good and positive, red is bad and negative. So he then went through a variety of examples to show how you can change your whole outlook on life by re-thinking on the “green platform” instead of the red. It’s not easy, especially when you’re facing a really challenging situation in your personal or work life. Hopefully we’ll all leave here making sure we try to think green!
Follow the action on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and there will be live streaming of certain sessions.
The “younger” Dr. Lyons took the stage today at the Alltech International Symposium. He is Dr. Mark Lyons, director of North America for Alltech. He talked about “Game Changers: The 7th Step for the Health and Vitality of Mankind,” with a focus on future generations
One of the areas he spent some time on was obesity and he shared some startling figures like the fact that worldwide obesity has doubled since 1980 and it costs an average person $1429 per year in increased health costs. He emphasized, “There is a sea of change taking place in our industry. Food and healthcare are at odds and the cost of both is spiraling out of control.”
You can listen to an interview with Mark here that was done by Aly Rowell: Dr. Mark Lyons Interview
Follow the action on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and there will be live streaming of certain sessions.
The closing general session of the Alltech Symposium features a number of speakers. First up is Dr. Karl Dawson, Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition, Alltech. His theme is “Programmed Nutrition.” A very interesting concept. He was introduced by Dr. Pearse Lyons as Mr. Genomics since he has created or been involved in the creation of so many new words that end in genomics.
Dr. Dawson says he’s more optimistic about the future of animal health and human nutrition than he ever has been. He then walked us through many of the projects Alltech is working on in this area via the Center that he manages. Some quotes that really caught my attention from his talk include:
“Performance & product quality are not influenced by the genes but ultimately determined by gene expression.”
“You are what your mother ate.”
“It’s not just what we feed but when we feed it.”
Follow the action on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and there will be live streaming of certain sessions.
Discussion dinners on a variety of topics were held last night at the Alltech International Symposium. I attended the Communications dinner which had a focus on social media. Pictured are our discussion moderators (l-r) Damien O’Reilly and Billy Frey. I will be sharing an interview with Billy in next week’s ZimmCast.
Our dinner discussion provided an interesting insight into what people in agribusiness know, or think they know, about social media. Most of those in the room were either personally involved or professionally in their business. Some comments that caught my attention included:
A European participant said that not many farmers are involved in social media. I don’t know what the environment is across the pond but here in America I would disagree with that to a certain extent. So many farm companies and member organizations have been conducting training programs and encouraging farmers to get involved in the online discussion that I believe we have “a lot” of farmers involved in social media.
Another participant wanted to know how you “control” what people are saying about your company or products. Control is a red flag word to me. You have no control! No matter what your desire is, you can’t control what people are saying. However, Billy made a good point about how you can “manage” the conversation by being involved and engaging people even if they write something negative about you or your company. I always say that they’re going to talk about you whether you join the conversation or not.
A student participant startled everyone by telling us to “get off Facebook.” She said there’s no way you can believe anything you read on it and she didn’t like the idea that a company would check up on an applicant by looking at their Facebook page. Sorry, young lady. Facebook along with other social media channels are open to everyone and I highly encourage you to be careful about what you post anywhere. On the point of believing what you read, I agree to a certain extent. You need to be careful about what you read and that includes product reviews. One participant was sure that his competition was paying people to write negative comments about his products online. He didn’t have proof though. But I certainly believe it does happen. I’m just not sure how much.
It was a very good discussion but showed me that there is a long way to go when it comes to companies integrating social media into their marketing communications mix. One other comment that I appreciated was on the subject of ROI for social media expenses. He asked why it is that companies don’t have a clue what the return is on their advertising expenses for traditional media and yet want to know exactly how many widgets they sold by investing some dollars in social media. Good question. It’s kind of like a double standard. Several participants said that their use of social media had positive returns for their business.
Follow the action on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and there will be live streaming of certain sessions.
Alltech held their first ever Farming Film Festival this year with their Symposium theme of Game Changers. They invited people to tell their “game changing” story of an innovation that helped them on their farm. The first and second place winners were picked by a panel that included myself as well as Dale Miller of National Hog Farmer and Hoard’s Dairyman’s Lucas Sjostrom. Third place was determined by the highest number of online votes.
First place was awarded to Adam Dotson who submitted Good Shepherd Cheese, which told the story of a sheep farm in Kentucky. You can watch it below. Second place went to the video Cow Comfort, entered by Jonathan Klingenfus who explained how his family farm turned a crisis into an opportunity. Third place was awarded to Lauren Chase’s Telling The Montana Family Ranching Story.
I spoke with Allie Hembree, North American Public Relations Coordinator, Alltech, about the Farming Film Festival and other new technological features of this year’s Symposium. She says participation in the festival was great and they plan to do it again next year. Listen to my interview with her to hear what else is new from Alltech at this year’s event. Allie Hembree Interview
Follow the action on the Alltech Innovations Blog, including photos, interviews and there will be live streaming of certain sessions.
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
Chuck and Mike often wind up at the same events all over the country so it seemed like a good idea to do a little AgriTalking about the changes they've seen in the ag media landscape.
Okay folks. This holiday greeting might be hard to beat. It’s a personalized greeting that includes a link to world class opera seasonal music which I just finished listening to. Here’s the message and link:
Since 2008, more than 800 of world’s most progressive dairy and beef producers have convened for the 
Some companies have been sponsors and Trade Talk exhibitors at the annual National Association of Farm Broadcasting convention for years – even decades! – but this year was the first for 
Instead of competing with each other for a limited talent pool, agribusinesses need to work together to increase interest in agricultural careers.
Dan Rice, Strategic Analyst with 
Disruptive change sounds disturbing. However, perhaps it’s more of a challenge. Mandi McLeod, System Insights, Ltd., New Zealand, talked about it and its impact on the dairy industry during the Alltech International Symposium. She’s seen here being interviewed by Ireland’s RTE voice Damien O’Reilly. I spoke with Mandi after Damien to learn what is going on with dairy farming in her country and how she coaches family business strategy.
This week’s program features a conversation I had at last week’s 
The Vice President of Corporate Accounts for Alltech is Aidan Connolly. He is just one of the team that I’ve had the pleasure to get to become friends with and always enjoy seeing. We joke about how often we run into each other at events around the country. This year Aidan moderated the Alltech Symposium Game Changers Debate once again. I spoke with him afterward. 
The 2011 Alltech International Animal Health & Nutrition Symposium has concluded and with a resounding message to dream the impossible dream. Dr. Pearse Lyons took the stage to summarize what we learned and to provide some takeaway ideas that included five things that should be on your business survival action list.
As Dr. Lyons encouraged everyone to dream the impossible dream he was joined on stage by Dr. Everett McCorvey and University of Kentucky students opera singers. They launched into a wonderful rendition of the famous song.
I thought Declan Coyle’s presentation here at the Alltech Symposium titled, “Get on the Green Platform: The Life Changing Game Changer” would be about recycling and saving the environment. Wrong. He talked about different outlooks on life. He used as examples the green platform or the red platform. Green is good and positive, red is bad and negative. So he then went through a variety of examples to show how you can change your whole outlook on life by re-thinking on the “green platform” instead of the red. It’s not easy, especially when you’re facing a really challenging situation in your personal or work life. Hopefully we’ll all leave here making sure we try to think green!
The “younger” Dr. Lyons took the stage today at the Alltech International Symposium. He is Dr. Mark Lyons, director of North America for Alltech. He talked about “Game Changers: The 7th Step for the Health and Vitality of Mankind,” with a focus on future generations
The closing general session of the Alltech Symposium features a number of speakers. First up is Dr. Karl Dawson, 
Discussion dinners on a variety of topics were held last night at the Alltech International Symposium. I attended the Communications dinner which had a focus on social media. Pictured are our discussion moderators (l-r) Damien O’Reilly and Billy Frey. I will be sharing an interview with Billy in next week’s ZimmCast.
In this week's program Chuck talks with Mike Adams, AgriTalk.
