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

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

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

“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

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

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

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 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 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

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

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

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

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

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

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

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

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

2012 Alltech International Symposium Photo Album

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

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

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!

• 1. Food matters to everyone: Symposium will focus on exploring new strategies for food production and examine how current agricultural practices will need to change to feed the growing world population. Sessions will also explore topics related to new insights into the relationships between nutrition, genetics and health.
• 2. Symposium offers sessions ranging from broad-level topics to more specific scientific information, and with more than 150 presentations, there will be something to pique your interest and your audience’s.
• 3. It is a unique opportunity to network and interact with people from all over the world and find great stories.
• 4, Be among the first to hear news and announcements about what’s next for Alltech.
• 5. The registration fee is waived for the media.

So, for these reasons and more I’m heading to Lexington, KY again to cover the 2012 Symposium and learn more about Alltech’s vision for the future. The challenge is going to be to cover all the great presentations, take lots of photos, do lots of interviews and still find time to network with friends I’ve made over the years who come from many different countries. Of course we can’t forget the Alltech team led by Dr. Pearse Lyons. I’m looking forward to it!

The FFA Channel, which will be powered by Alltech and iHigh, will capitalize on the latest in Web technology to bring greater unity to their membership base, which is more than a half-million students strong throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The ability of a Web channel to provide such a platform was exemplified in the October live broadcast of 2011 National FFA Convention, which was attended by more than 53,000 attendees and joined live on the Internet by an additional 550,000 viewers who would have otherwise missed the experience.

In a nod to social Web trends, FFA has entered into a licensing agreement with Alltech, which will allow an element of personalization for state and local chapters. Each state chapter will have their own site, which may be used to highlight awards banquets and other special events. Likewise, each local chapter will be integrated into their high school’s site, creating a platform for the promotion of agriculture with a distinct community-focused tone. Because of the unique business model, all sites have the ability to generate revenue for their organization.

Entries must be received no later than 11:59 PM EST Tuesday March 27th, 2012.
Voting opens at 12:00 PM Wednesday March 28th, 2012.
Voting closes at 12:00 PM Tuesday April 10th, 2012. Winners will be contacted at that time.
Alltech reserves the right to reject posts.
Winners must attend Alltech’s 2012 Symposium to receive $500 for travel and lodging.

I think you’ve got to love a company that buys a brewery (Lexington Brewing & Distillery) and turns it into a major component of its overall marketing campaign. I think I’ve said this before!

The reception was part of the effort to acquaint cattle producers with the new Alltech Beef Advantage Program.

Please click here to enjoy a special seasonal musical performance.

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.

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.

Watch live here: Post Update: You can find the archived recording here.

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.

Listen to or download my interview with Ty here: Ty Yeast - Alltech Global 500

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.

Listen to my interview with Allie here: Interview with Allie Hembree

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

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.

Listen to by interview with Katie here: Katie Monroe with AgLeader

2011 NAFB Convention Photo Album

“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.”

You can find the broadcast schedule here.