It was tweetup time at the Alltech International Symposium last night at the Lexington Brewing location downtown. We had a big crowd show up to meet each other in person and enjoy some fun and fellowship.

Alltech played a lot of what I would call farmer agvocacy film clips, many of which I had never seen. Most were funny and it ended with a few of the past winners of the Alltech Farming Film Festival competition winners. There’s a new competition by the way so get your creative juices flowing and consider entering your own video.

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

At the end of the second day’s program here at the 2013 Alltech International Symposium a series of discussion dinners are held on a variety of topics. I chose Crisis Management which ties in to a full session on the topic that I participated in earlier in the day. I’ll have more on that in a later post.

Our dinner on Crisis Management used the “Horsegate” problem as the example to stimulate discussion. We had quite a bit of disagreement in the room which did make it interesting.

Each table was given a few questions to talk about and then share with the rest of the room under the direction of a moderator. Then we had open discussion in which anyone could speak up. One of our attendees (Trent Loos) made a comment that Horsegate was not a crisis but an opportunity as evidenced by the fact that both horse meat sales/consumption and beef increased significantly since this alleged crisis started. So if I understood him correctly, the industry shouldn’t consider this a crisis. The perpetrators of the crime that was committed are no longer in business and no one died or even got sick. On the other side of that idea there were a number of people who talked about damage to the reputation of the industry and that it is a serious matter or crisis situation. This is just one of several ideas debated in the session. It is what makes this such a great idea!

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

The emerging change in the culture of nutrition was one of the topics of discussion in the afternoon session of the Alltech International Symposium. The session featured areas of research that are revolutionizing the world of nutrition. Among the interesting topics discussed were the use of enzymes as a feed additive for beef, neonatal nutritive programming in chickens and feeding of trace minerals to swine. Dr. Jules Taylor-Pickard told attendees that they should expect the entire blueprint of nutrition to shift by 2020.

Dr. Karl Dawson, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Alltech, was the host of the session. I caught up with him after the session and asked him what producers should consider when evaluating their nutrition strategies. When discussing what producers should do, he said, “They need to get ready to understand those changes, and nutritionist are going to be challenged to take those into account and produce better animals.”

Listen to the whole interview with Dr. Karl Dawson here: Nutrition Changing

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

One of the Tuesday morning sessions at the Alltech International Symposium included a Food Branding Panel. The panel was made up of individuals with experience in the restaurant business, retail, local foods, social media, and science. According to Dr. Mark Lyons, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for Alltech, the panel was a really good opportunity to talk about miscommunications and issues with sharing information about a company’s product with consumers.

While discussing the problems surrounding food branding by companies, Lyons said, “We are not really engaged. We are scared. We’re concerned. We jump to a lot of conclusions that actually are incorrect.”

The panel talked a lot about the miscommunications and mistakes that are made when communicating between brands and consumers. David Wescott, Vice President of APCO Worldwide and the social media panelist, left the audience with a message for 2020. He said companies must break out of their communities and embrace their customers in order to survive.

Listen to the full interview with Dr. Mark Lyons here: Dr. Mark Lyons's Remarks

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

Last night at Kentucky night, I had the opportunity to catch up with a few of this year’s symposium attendees and ask them why they chose to come.

The first person I caught up with was Clark Springfield division manager with O.H. Kruse Grain and Milling. Springfield is attending the Agribusiness Summit at symposium. The summit is a discussion opportunity for agriculture business people to talk about issues they have witnessed and how to solve them. Springfield said, “It sends me home ready to tackle problems in my own company.”

Listen to the full interview with Springfield here: Springfield's Remarks

Ryan Goodman is an agricultural blogger for agricultureproud.com and Master’s student at the University of Tennessee. He came to symposium to learn more about research being done in his area of interest, which is nutrition.

Goodman said he enjoys getting to “interact with a lot of the folks in a similar field across the country and across the world.”

Listen to the full interview with Goodman here: Goodman's Remarks

Dr. Pearse Lyons hosts the Alltech International Symposium as the founder and owner of Alltech. He sees symposium as an opportunity to come together as an industry to learn from one another.
Lyons said, “It’s a regeneration. It’s a recharging of the batteries. It’s realizing lots of people have the same challenges you do.”

Listen to the full interview with Lyons here: Lyons's Remarks

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

A highlight of the Alltech International Symposium is the Kentucky Night dinner at the Kentucky Horse Park in the Alltech Arena. After a busy day of conducting business and attending sessions we get casual and relaxed with good food and good friends. There’s also a band and dancing. You can see it in our photos!

We’re now on day two of this year’s Symposium. Maggie has just learned how to edit audio files and will be posting several interviews she did during Kentucky Night. We’ll be attending a number of breakout sessions today and will have lots more to share.

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

It was not easy but it was worth it. It was getting up early this morning for the annual Alltech Fun Run which is very much a part of the Alltech International Symposium experience. Here’s Dr. Pearse Lyons coming across the finish line. I’m proud to say I beat Pearse and was able to get my iPhone up in time for this photo. The Fun Run is two laps around Transylvania University.

We had a big crowd today as you’ll be able to see from this video clip.

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

The 2013 Alltech International Symposium is getting into full swing here in Lexington, Ky. The Alltech Ag Network is streaming live starting with commentary from Trent Loos and Damien O’Reilly. You can find the live stream here.

Maggie and I are all set up in the press room and this morning at the plenary session room to provide you coverage of all the activities as we experience them.

2013 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

It’s time for one of the best shows of the year, the 2013 Alltech International Symposium. Maggie Seiler, ZimmComm summer intern, and I are on our way. This is a fantastic event for a (perhaps) future agriblogger to jump right into the waters.

We’ll kick off our Symposium adventure this evening at the International Welcome Reception and Dinner, featuring world class entertainment. It’s a social activity where many people now catch up since the last Symposium. I’ve made many international friends at this event and hope to see them in Lexington, KY.

If you’re attending the Symposium then you should consider downloading the Symposium App. Just scan the QR code to get started. Here’s what it will let you do.

During the Symposium

Use the app to manage your schedule, find meeting rooms, get updates on sessions, research speakers, and exchange contact information with other attendees.

After the Symposium

Use the app to stay connected with people you meet and to review session papers and product information.

To follow the Symposium action on Twitter we’re using the hashtag #Glimpse.