An Alltech View of China

Chuck Zimmerman

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

Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio, International

Agriculture.com® wins two MobileWebAwards

Melissa Sandfort

Less than one year after the re-launch of m.Agriculture.com, the site has been awarded two MobileWebAwards from the Web Marketing Association for Best Magazine Mobile Website and Best Magazine Mobile Application.

The two awards come shortly after the announcement of the industry-first Mobile Commerce Messaging suite of offerings. The new services include a unique [A] Deals feature that provides farmers with direct marketing promotions and discounted offers from advertisers.

After m.Agriculture.com was launched in 2010, its developers soon began testing new services most appropriate for mobile use. These services included dynamic, multimedia content like video, slideshows, and an “app tray.”

The mobile site helps farmers keep up with the latest markets, weather, news, technology, and now input buying opportunities.

Apps, Media

Monsanto Purchases Precision Planting, Inc.

Melissa Sandfort

In line with its vision of delivering yield to farmers sustainably, Monsanto Company announced it reached an agreement to purchase planting technology developer Precision Planting, Inc., a proven leader in improving yields through on-farm planting performance.

The Precision Planting team will become part of Monsanto’s Integrated Farming Systems unit, which utilizes advanced agronomic practices, seed genetics and innovative on-farm technology to deliver optimal yield to farmers while using fewer resources. Precision Planting has a long history of innovations that optimize planter performance and increase yield potential, including the new FieldView™ technology, which offers an application designed to monitor all critical aspects of planter performance and crop data analysis. That will complement Monsanto’s planned Integrated Farming Systems offering of science-based agronomic seed prescriptions combined with next-generation precision equipment to help farmers boost yields and reduce risk.

The Precision Planting operations will remain in Tremont and all Precision employees will be offered their continued jobs in Tremont. Monsanto agreed to pay $210 million for the business, plus a performance-based payment of up to $40 million.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close this summer.

Agribusiness, Precision Agriculture

Parents Should be Responsible for Child Nutrition

Chuck Zimmerman

Our latest ZimmPoll asked the question, “Who should be responsible for child nutrition?” I am all for good food nutrition for our children. But who is responsible? It seems like the government thinks it should have some control. I’ve heard and read lots of people saying we need more nutrition education. But don’t we have more than enough of that? How long has USDA made good nutrition information available? But we still see the problem of overeating. So, here’s what our poll found. 72% said Parents! I say, amen to that. Of course then you might ask why aren’t parents doing a better job of controlling what their kids eat. 24% said All of the above and 4% said Schools and no one chose specifically Government or Nutritionists. Interesting results.

Our new ZimmPoll is now live and asks the question, “Which group should restaurants consider experts on animal care?” This past weekend many folks in agriculture participated in an online thank you campaign for Domino’s Pizza. Why? Because the restaurant chain made a decision based on good humane animal practices and did not give in to the demands of the animal activist group HSUS. So, let us know your thoughts on this question. We appreciate it.

ZimmPoll is sponsored by Rhea+Kaiser, a full-service advertising/public relations agency.

Food, ZimmPoll

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Merck Animal Health announces the U.S. approval of ZUPREVO (tildipirosin) – a new macrolide antibiotic for the management of bovine respiratory disease.
  • Miller Electric Mfg. Co. has announced the launch of its Miller Online Store, offering an engaging, customer-friendly shopping experience for the DIY segment.
  • Charleston|Orwig was recently voted Top Workplace in Wisconsin for the third year. This year the agency ranked 11th of 56 in the small business category.
  • Collegiate FFA is now accepting applications for its National Collegiate Agricultural Ambassador program.
    Zimfo Bytes

    Alltech’s FoodPrint Discussion Dinner

    Jamie Johansen

    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

    Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio

    2012 Alltech Smart Debate

    Chuck Zimmerman

    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

    Agribusiness, Alltech, Audio

    A UK Perspective on Improvement in the Food Chain

    Jamie Johansen

    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

    Agribusiness, Alltech, Food

    USDA Invests in Mississippi River Basin Water Quality

    Melissa Sandfort

    Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and its partners will invest nearly $32 million this year in financial and technical assistance for five water quality and wetlands improvement projects in seven Mississippi River Basin states. When fully implemented, the projects will prevent sediment and nutrients from entering waterways, decrease flooding and improve bird and fish habitat. NRCS estimates that this investment will restore 11,400 acres to wetland habitat.

    Landowners interested in applying for funding should contact their local NRCS office. Signup dates may vary based on the individual project.

    NRCS provides funding for these new projects through its Wetlands Reserve Enhancement Program, part of the agency’s Wetlands Reserve Program. Since 2010, NRCS has formalized WREP agreements under MRBI with 47 landowners in the Mississippi River Basin, investing $17.8 million in long-term conservation easements and wetland restoration projects.

    Note: Chuck will be covering the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) 2012 Conservation in Action Tour thanks to support from CTIC and AGROTAIN.

    Conservation, Farming, USDA

    Alltech Young Scientist Global Scholarship Winners

    Chuck Zimmerman

    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

    Agribusiness, Alltech, Education