North America
Europe
Latin America
Asia Pacific
Africa
Middle East
To create a growth culture in a business, companies must foster “business builders,” according to Damien P. McLoughlin, professor of marketing at the UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in Ireland, who spoke at ONE18: The Alltech Ideas Conference in Lexington, Kentucky, in May.
Click here to view the full article.
Calcium is considered a macronutrient for the citrus crop because it is demanded in higher quantities for both structural and physiological functions of the plants. A calcium deficiency can result in leaf and fruit loss and cause cracking of the fruit peel, directly impacting the fruit’s market value for the producer. To ensure proper development, it is fundamental to be vigilant of the citrus plant’s calcium needs.
Marcos Revoredo, an Alltech Crop Science technical manager who specializes in fruits and vegetables, notes that, in addition to using calcium when performing soil management, it is important for the citrus grower to make foliar applications of the nutrient.
“We know that calcium has a very low rate of translocation,” said Revoredo. “That is why when it is foliarly applied, whether during the vegetative, reproductive or fructification phases, we can maintain the necessary quantities for improved plant development.”
This practice has already been adopted by Miltom Boveloni, an orange grower in Mogi Mirim in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. According to the grower, when you’re looking for productivity, calcium is one nutrient that cannot be forgotten.
“In citriculture, we use a lot of calcium, and we always need to make those corrections,” said Boveloni. “I have noticed greater plant development and fruit set, as well as an increase in production.”
Revoredo also notes that the macronutrient is a part of various plant structures, which makes it extremely important for foliar growth, pollination and fructification.
“Calcium is present in the cell wall of various plant tissues such as leaves, pollen tubes and even in the fruit. It is used in the formation of these structures,” said Revoredo. “It is important to maintain the necessary quantities for the leaves, stem, flowers and fruit to develop.”
Physiologically, calcium is linked to metabolism and aids in stress reduction for the plant. Because calcium favors constant photosynthetic activity, the leaf can generate more energy to sustain the flower and, consequently, the future fruit.
Find out how calcium impacts structural and physiological function in citrus plants.
El recientemente fallecido emprendedor y científico irlandés afincado en EE. UU., el Dr. Pearse Lyons, recibe la medalla Kennedy-Lemass de 2018
La Cámara de Comercio Americana en Irlanda homenajea la vida del fundador de Alltech
El fundador de Alltech, el recientemente fallecido Dr. Pearse Lyons, ha sido distinguido con la medalla Kennedy-Lemass que otorga la Cámara de Comercio Americana en Irlanda.
Barry O'Sullivan, presidente de la Cámara Americana de Comercio, anunció en el marco de las celebraciones del 4 de julio que el merecedor de la medalla Kennedy-Lemass de este 2018 era el Dr. Lyons, emprendedor y científico irlandés afincado en EE. UU. fallecido este mismo año. El premio distingue a los líderes estadounidenses de raíces irlandesas que han contribuido a reforzar las relaciones entre Irlanda y los Estados Unidos.
Refiriéndose a sus logros, Barry O'Sullivan describió al Dr. Lyons como alguien que "realmente vivió el sueño americano" y "cuyo legado seguirá sirviéndonos de inspiración, pues tuvo el coraje y las herramientas necesarias para convertir en realidad una visión".
Al final de la década de los 70 del siglo pasado, el Dr. Lyons, irlandés nacido en Dundalk, emigró a los Estados Unidos y fundó, en su garaje de Kentucky y con una inversión inicial de 10 000$, la empresa Alltech. Con un claro enfoque a la mejora del rendimiento y la salud de los animales, las plantas y el ser humano, Alltech cuenta hoy en día con un equipo de más de 6000 personas a escala mundial. En Irlanda, Alltech opera su centro europeo de Biociencia en el condado de Meath, la destilería "Pearse Lyons Distillery" en el barrio de The Liberties de Dublín y la fábrica de cerveza artesanal "Station Works Brewery" en Dundalk (condado de Louth), ciudad natal del Dr. Lyons.
"Mi padre era un enamorado de Irlanda y de los EE. UU. y consagró toda su vida a ser el mejor de los embajadores de ambos países por todo el mundo", señaló el Dr. Mark Lyons, presidente de Alltech. "Tenía un talento especial para reunir a personas de los ámbitos más diversos y lograr así marcar la diferencia en el mundo; esta habilidad era especialmente notable cuando se trataba de fomentar y apoyar iniciativas entre los EE. UU. e Irlanda en el sector científico, agrotecnológico y agropecuario".
A lo largo de su vida, el Dr. Lyons recibió numerosos reconocimientos, como el premio del Consejo Irlanda-EE.UU. por sus excepcionales logros o, en 2017, la medalla "St. Patrick's Day Science" por crear un negocio global basado en la investigación científica. El Dr. Lyons también fue merecedor de la "Gold Medal Award for Enterprise" de la Royal Dublin Society por su contribución a los negocios irlandeses.
"Pearse estaba muy orgulloso de sus raíces y era un firme defensor de la importancia de marcar la diferencia en el mundo", recalcó Deirdre Lyons, cofundadora y directora de diseño corporativo de Alltech. "Recurrió a su inagotable espíritu filantrópico para inspirar a todos los que le rodeaban. Tanto para Pearse como para mí, marcar la diferencia en el mundo empoderando a los demás ha sido siempre una realidad diaria en nuestras vidas personales y profesionales".
El frenesí por el blockchain o la cadena de bloques se ejemplifica con la empresa Long Island Iced Tea Corporation cuyas acciones aumentaron seis veces de la noche a la mañana cuando simplemente cambió su nombre para incluir la palabra "blockchain". Incluso la bolsa de valores china está experimentando un auge en todo lo relacionado a cadena de bloques. Si bien se ha escrito mucho al respecto, una descripción concisa sigue siendo eludida. Básicamente, blockchain es un sistema de documentación en línea que registra la transacción en cada punto de la cadena de suministro a través de un bloque cifrado utilizando la tecnología de registro distribuido (DLT). El sistema garantiza la confidencialidad y la trazabilidad para cada socio comercial involucrado en la cadena de suministro.
Por lo tanto, ¿por qué la cadena de bloques está generando tanta emoción en la agricultura? El sector agrícola generalmente tiene márgenes muy ajustados, y el éxito se deriva aprovechando el conocimiento del mercado y las estrategias de abastecimiento a fin de ofrecer un mejor acceso y mejores precios en comparación con los competidores. Inevitablemente, algunos participantes intentan manipular el mercado o realizar prácticas comerciales inaceptables. Sin transparencia genuina en la cadena alimentaria, los retiros de alimentos o insumos son ineficaces, sin embargo, es fundamental para garantizar la salud de los que están al final de la cadena: las personas que consumen los productos agrícolas producidos. En otras palabras, todos nosotros.
Saber lo que usted está comprando ha sido problemático desde que se iniciaron las primeras transacciones a lo largo de la cadena de suministro de alimentos (los ejemplos más antiguos de escritura son los registros de transacciones agrícolas de Sumeria, aproximadamente del año 3000 a. C.). Ya que la cadena de suministro de alimentos es global, una red con una trazabilidad real es esencial para que las personas puedan confiar en lo que están comprando. Blockchain es una forma efectiva de equilibrar la necesidad de confidencialidad con la necesidad de transparencia. Una cadena de suministro basada en cadenas de bloques debería ofrecer alimentos seguros y trazables a la vez que se reducen los desperdicios y se crean beneficios económicos para todas las partes interesadas en la cadena de suministro de alimentos. Particularmente, para el sector agrícola los beneficios son los menores costos y el valor agregado (Rabobank).
Los costos más bajos se logran a través de una mayor eficiencia, menores costos de transacción y un mejor acceso a la información. Debido a que la información proporcionada a través de la cadena de bloques es confiable, se puede confiar en los documentos y certificados, y muchos procesos administrativos pueden ser automatizados. A medida que disminuye la necesidad de verificación manual o repetida, los plazos de entrega pueden ser más cortos y rápidos. La seguridad del sistema significa que los pagos se pueden ejecutar de forma rápida y segura, lo cual elimina la necesidad de procesamiento en los pagos a terceros. Además, la visibilidad del blockchain mejora la transparencia de los precios, particularmente para las pequeñas empresas agropecuarias y los productores en las regiones que no han tenido acceso a los precios globales.
Logísticamente, la cadena de bloques puede acelerar el movimiento de los alimentos a través de la red de la cadena de suministro (siendo fundamental para los productos perecederos) y también permite la eliminación rápida y específica de productos que no son aptos para el consumo. En ambos sentidos, se reduce el desperdicio de alimentos. Un análisis más rápido y la interpretación de los deseos del consumidor (el objetivo de INS Ecosystem) puede reducir aún más los errores y el desperdicio, y una mayor transparencia a lo largo de la cadena permite una mejor predicción. La precisión se mejora al reducir los puntos donde el error humano puede ingresar al sistema.
Esto no quiere decir que la tecnología blockchain sea completamente inmune al error. La información contenida en la red, aunque sea incorruptible una vez documentada, podría ingresarse de manera incorrecta o fraudulenta. La cadena de bloques lo que ofrece es un medio para identificar el error o la entrada fraudulenta. Además, todos los miembros de la cadena de suministro deben estar presentes. Si falta una pieza, falta transparencia y trazabilidad; la cadena de bloques ideal comienza desde la semilla o la alimentación animal y sigue todo el trayecto hasta la compra del consumidor.
El potencial de valor agregado proviene de un mejor acceso a la información en cuanto a los precios, mercados y productos. El análisis de datos actualizados y confiables ayudará a identificar nuevas oportunidades a nivel regional o mundial y permitirá la adaptación de las cadenas de suministro para ajustarse mejor a las necesidades del consumidor. Con una mayor transparencia y datos más confiables, se pueden desarrollar mejores opciones de financiamiento. Y, con la cooperación de los gobiernos, una mayor armonización regulatoria puede mejorar la eficiencia en todo el sector agropecuario.
Muchos de estos beneficios actuales y potenciales de la cadena de bloques se pueden ejemplificar con un buen ejemplo: la crisis de la espinaca del 2006. El 14 de septiembre de 2006, basándose en las quejas de 19 estados, la Administración de Alimentos y Medicamentos de los Estados Unidos (FDA) aconsejó a los consumidores no comer espinacas empacada. La región tardó dos semanas en identificar la procedencia de la espinaca, y no fue hasta el 12 de octubre, con la suma de cinco personas muertas y 200 enfermas, que se identificó la fuente específica de la contaminación. Mientras tanto, todos los productos de espinacas y las espinacas frescas fueron retirados de las tiendas con un costo total de más de $175 millones. Compare esto con un reciente estudio entre Walmart e IBM basado en cadenas de bloques para la cadena de suministro global en el cual se rastreó en segundos un alimento a través de cada parte involucrada hasta sus orígenes (2,2 segundos, para ser exactos). En cualquier punto de la cadena, se podrían identificar todas las otras posibles contaminaciones cruzadas. La ubicación de cualquier alimento contaminado podría rastrearse y sacarse de los estantes o tratarse de inmediato, protegiendo a los consumidores, reduciendo el desperdicio y apoyando también a los productores de pérdidas innecesarias a lo largo del camino.
Si bien la cadena de bloques todavía es un concepto relativamente nuevo, ya se pueden encontrar los primeros usuarios en todo el sector agropecuario, incluyendo el sector avícola, lechero, vacuno, acuícola y de cultivos. Las aplicaciones más comunes son simplemente la confirmación de la fuente de un producto (como por ejemplo el rastreo de los pavos de Acción de Gracias de Honeysuckle, visitando el sitio web de la compañía se puede ingresar un código e inmediatamente saber de qué granja se originó el ave), pero blockchain también se utiliza para garantizar la disponibilidad de los datos de producción, evitar el fraude alimentario, proporcionar seguridad de pago, garantizar el cumplimiento normativo y proporcionar acceso seguro a los agricultores pequeños y remotos para ingresar a los mercados.
Información de producción
Actualmente existen varias empresas que ofrecen al agronegocio tecnologías basadas en blockchain para las cadenas de suministro, pero OriginTrail fue la pionera. Iniciando en el 2013 con una prueba beta para el sector del ganado vacuno, y desde entonces se ha expandido a la lechería, la avicultura y los cultivos de vegetales. Otro ejemplo en el sector avícola es el productor Perutnina Ptuj, quienes proporcionan a sus clientes información completa sobre los orígenes de la carne que compran a través de una aplicación de teléfono inteligente. Incluso las verduras se pueden rastrear hasta sus orígenes: Natureta, una empresa con sede en Eslovenia, utiliza una plataforma de cadena de bloques para ofrecer a los clientes acceso a la información de compra de alimentos y pueden ver al instante dónde se cultivó el alimento con el que están cocinando.
Otra plataforma blockchain es Provenance, una empresa del Reino Unido que trabaja actualmente con más de 200 empresas de alimentos, rastreando los alimentos (incluyendo las hortalizas) desde el punto de origen hasta el supermercado, documentando cada paso del proceso y permitiendo a las empresas asegurar el seguimiento de los reclamos y las garantías de sus productos. Ellos se asociaron con la Cooperativa Grass Roots Farmers con sede en Arkansas para permitirles a los clientes rastrear sus alimentos mediante el uso de códigos QR, incluyen información sobre calidad y origen de la carne, cómo se crió el animal y cualquier otra información sobre las empresas involucradas en el proceso. Provenance también ha llegado a la industria acuícola para ejecutar un programa piloto diseñado para rastrear la producción de atún aleta amarilla y barrilete en la industria pesquera del sudeste asiático. A través de mensajes de texto, los pescadores han estado ayudando a las organizaciones no gubernamentales a seguir el proceso desde el registro inicial del pescado capturado y la verificación de datos hasta el consumidor, asegurando que los peces se hayan obtenido de manera social y ambientalmente racional.
Otras plataformas blockchain para la cadena de suministro de alimentos o el agronegocio incluyen:
Anti-falsificación adulteración
La capacidad de rastrear la procedencia de los productos es un beneficio clave en muchos sectores agropecuarios. Por ejemplo, las grandes empresas de productos lácteos comerciales tienen el desafío de rastrear la procedencia de su leche, ya que normalmente se abastecen de múltiples productores lecheros. La marca eslovena Zelene Doline realiza un seguimiento de sus productos y conecta a más de 1.000 granjas lecheras eslovenas que le proporcionan la leche. El sistema de trazabilidad permite a los consumidores iniciar sesión en el sitio web de la empresa, ingresar el código de barras del producto y la fecha de "uso" para obtener información sobre los orígenes del producto.
La industria lechera de Rusia también está incorporando cadena de bloques para combatir los productos lácteos falsificados. Según los investigadores, Rusia produce un 40 por ciento menos de leche que la cantidad vendida, y se especula que las grasas vegetales o los aceites de palma se utilizan para diluir la leche para luego venderla al consumidor, lo que compromete su autenticidad. Blockchain proporciona un mecanismo objetivo para garantizar que lo que se vende como leche sea en realidad leche. Del mismo modo, Ambrosus, una firma suiza, utiliza sensores y tecnología blockchain para proporcionar auditorías en tiempo real de la cadena de suministro de alimentos, para garantizar que sus productos de alta calidad vendidos en China no sean falsificados. El fraude alimentario es un enfoque particular de la plataforma de cadena de bloques, arc-net de Irlanda utiliza códigos de identificación universal únicos (UUID) a través del ADN digital para ofrecer una plataforma basada en la nube y trazabilidad a las industrias de alimento y alimentación animal.
Seguridad de transacciones y pagos
BeefLedger ha creado una plataforma de pago segura utilizando cadena de bloques y criptomonedas. Se enfoca en la clase media asiática en rápido crecimiento, para quienes la carne australiana tiene una gran demanda. Los clientes reciben datos de procedencia al comprar carne, incluyendo el origen y las características, por otra parte los productores obtienen acceso a los datos y comentarios de los clientes. Otros ejemplos incluyen:
Cumplimiento normativo
Dada su naturaleza remota, la industria acuícola tiene desafíos únicos en cuanto a control y supervisión. El maltrato a los trabajadores, el etiquetado incorrecto del pescado y los métodos de pesca destructivos son cada vez más inaceptables para los consumidores. Una colaboración entre Earth Twine (que se enfoca en cumplimiento regulatorio en la industria acuícola) y Stratis (una compañía de tecnología blockchain) ha generado The Earth Twine-Stratis Platform, una plataforma que busca brindar una solución a la trazabilidad de los productos acuícolas para combatir la pesca ilegal, no declarada y no regulada.
Paralelamente, ConsenSys se asoció con World Wildlife Fund y con TraSeable (una empresa de implementación de tecnología de comunicaciones) para poner fin a los abusos contra los derechos humanos en la industria pesquera de las Islas del Pacífico. Trabajando con la empresa pesquera y de procesamiento de atún Sea Quest Fiji, el objetivo es que cada lata de atún tenga un código QR para que los consumidores verifiquen que el atún se haya obtenido de manera ética y sostenible.
Acceso a los mercados
El acceso a los compradores y negociaciones a precios justos con seguridad de pago son algunos de los desafíos que enfrentan los pequeños agricultores en los mercados en desarrollo, pero su éxito es una de las claves para alimentar a los 9 mil millones de personas que se estima vivirán en la tierra en el 2050. AgriLedger trabaja con ONG para ofrecer una plataforma de cadena de bloques a través de la aplicación Agunity. La plataforma permite a los productores recibir precios más justos y tener una mejor conexión con los mercados, así como el acceso a seguros, servicios bancarios u otros servicios financieros. También permite que compradores de otros mercados compren a pequeños productores con mayor confianza.
FarmShare está diseñado para conectar a los pequeños productores con los compradores locales y es similar a un modelo CSA (agricultura respaldada por la comunidad), las personas pueden recolectar alimentos frescos directamente del agricultor, eliminando completamente la tienda de comestibles.
Blockchain es una herramienta muy poderosa para todos en el sistema de producción de alimentos, desde los productores hasta el consumidor final. La investigación ha indicado que el mercado de trazabilidad de alimentos tendrá un valor de $14 mil millones para el próximo año y las empresas de blockchain relacionadas con los alimentos están creciendo rápidamente. Estas brindan visibilidad, ya que la información se comparte y replica simultáneamente, aumentando la confianza, la responsabilidad y la transparencia. Asimismo, alterará la forma en que la industria agrícola funciona tanto internamente como con los clientes, y nos ayudará a alimentar a 9 mil millones de personas.
Por supuesto, existen desafíos. Al igual que con cualquier tecnología innovadora, existen costos de implementación y los estándares aún están evolucionando. Es necesaria cierta autoridad general para garantizar la confianza en el sistema. Administrar el proceso de cambio tomará tiempo. Y, como ocurre con cualquier proceso en la cadena de suministro, los mejores resultados se obtienen cuando participan todos los involucrados. Si trabajamos juntos para superar estos desafíos, podremos todos obtener los beneficios de la cadena de bloques para una mejor seguridad alimentaria y trazabilidad, y aprovecharemos el potencial que tiene para mejorar la transparencia y fiabilidad de la cadena alimentaria, mejorar el acceso al mercado y reducir el desperdicio de alimentos.
Para una demostración simple de la tecnología blockchain, vea este breve video de la BBC. Si bien se centra en el concepto de bitcoin, muestra claramente cómo se puede salvaguardar cualquier dato destinado a ser almacenado de forma confidencial en un sistema de registro descentralizado.
Las nuevas tecnologías, incluyendo blockchain, fueron el enfoque en ONE: La Conferencia de Ideas de Alltech. Más de 3.500 personas de 76 países y una lista de conferencistas destacados discutieron sobre las tecnologías, las innovaciones y la ciencia que transforman nuestras vidas. Suscríbase a Alltech Idea Lab para vivir nuevamente ONE18.
The following is an edited transcript of Nicole Erwin's interview with Bill Northey, the USDA under secretary of agriculture. Click below to hear the full interview:
Nicole: I'm speaking with Bill Northey, under secretary of agriculture for the Farm Production and Conservation mission area. Bill, thank you so much for joining us.
Bill: Great to be with you.
Nicole: Your role at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is still fairly new, but your history with agriculture is quite extensive. Can you talk a little bit about the role the USDA played as a partner for you over the years — as a farmer, and as Iowa Secretary of Agriculture?
Bill: Sure. I farm up in Northwest Iowa and have always participated in the farm programs. Farmers in the audience will know Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) — lots of acronyms in government agencies — but these are programs that help support farmers when prices break significantly lower.
I've been a participant in the crop insurance program, which is a program that is offered by the USDA through private insurers. I have always had crop insurance on our farm. Most events don’t trigger a loss, but when we do have one — and we've had a couple disaster years — it was critically important to allow me to have enough resources to be able to farm again the next year.
The conservation side of the USDA has been important as well. We do some cost-share programs, whether it's incentives for cover crops or other kinds of programs. I had the 10-year Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) on a grass waterway that goes through one of our fields.
So, there are several different pieces that I've been able to use. The last 11 years that I was secretary of agriculture in Iowa, we partnered extensively with the USDA. Half of the Department of Agriculture in Iowa is focused on conservation programs — soil conservation and water quality programs. We have 99 counties in Iowa, and we have offices in each county. Those county offices were shared with Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), with our state conservation folks and with local conservation folks.
We partnered well, and as technology changes, we talk about the kinds of things that will work on the new water quality programs. In fact, we changed the title of our Division of Soil Conservation to the Division of Soil Conservation and Water Quality as we increased efforts to look at reducing nitrate and phosphorous in our water, both in urban and rural areas. So, there are lots of opportunities to partner with USDA programs, and now we get the chance to look at some of those programs from the USDA point of view.
Nicole: Right. Where do you hope to take this new department as a future partner for farmers in the ag industry?
Bill: Well, certainly our charge from the secretary is a very customer-oriented USDA. My piece is the (USDA) Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Risk Management Agency. Those are the most customer-facing parts of the USDA. So, that's where farm programs, conservation programs and crop insurance are.
The secretary charged us with finding out what is working for producers out there or what needs to change. How do we be efficient, effective and customer-focused in what we're doing? We're going to be measuring customers’ attitudes toward the things that are happening at the office. We are already measuring workload analysis as we look to place people around the country in the 4,500 offices so that we understand the right places to put people.
We're looking at technology. We have a website called farmers.gov where we offer information. As time goes on, that will become a portal where users will be able to apply for or check up on programs as well. There are opportunities for folks to use our county office, but if they're sitting in a tractor waiting for a truck to come and pick up a load, they can also possibly report on the program activities or check out activities with USDA programs.
There are lots of opportunities to be more customer-focused — to be more customer-oriented. We've got to discover what that means, and that's going to be different between Maine and New Mexico, between Mississippi and Montana. We have to understand the most needed services and how we're doing.
Nicole: The customer experience feels like a new concept with the ag department. Did you ever feel, as a farmer, like a customer? How do you tie those two together?
Bill: You always do, somewhat. I think the engagement, to the degree that there is now, is certainly a step up. I'd argue, as you look at our county offices, those are the folks that people think of when they think of the USDA. They don't think of some under secretary who’s a thousand miles away.
They think of the folks in their county office. They know the operation. They know which programs work for them. Maybe we didn't define or measure customer service at that time, but everybody knew that you could depend on your staff there in those county offices.
As time has gone on, we burdened them with a lot of paperwork as we “dumped” new programs on them and have given them lots of opportunities to find other programs that will help people. It creates a complexity that takes them away from some of that customer service.
We're trying to understand the approach that business has taken toward customer service. A lot of folks say that banks, a long time ago, understood that there was a customer service aspect, and then some lost that. Now they're refocusing. Government hasn't always focused on it, either. Certainly, that's a desire of United States Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue and especially for the mission area that I have responsibilities for.
Nicole: Innovation and being wirelessly connected is also critical to this industry. How do rural farmers fare with staying connected, and what are some of their barriers? Any idea how the U.S. compares to other countries in this arena?
Bill: Certainly, we have some areas with a lot of connectivity, and folks are able to use their GPS on their tractors and have high-speed internet at their farms. We have a lot of areas that don't. Others have better numbers of exactly how we sort out what those speeds are and how we compare to some other places, but we can drive across this country and you can be in a fairly populated area where your cell phone coverage drops off — where there isn’t good high-speed internet.
That is, as you say, increasingly important because so much of the technology we use now needs to be able to connect. We have livestock buildings that constantly report to farmers via their phones what the temperature is, whether the feeders are full, whether the water is working or the fans are working.
I just had somebody send me a Snapchat last night of him on his planter. Seven monitors in that planter cab are all doing different things. Of course, his feet were up because the tractor was driving itself across the field. He was able to Snapchat me in his field, planting soybeans — he has to have a signal to do that, and that information is likely being constantly uploaded to a computer back home, or maybe even to a report showing his planting progress to his crop insurance agent or, eventually, to his Farm Service Agency (FSA) office as well.
We have some real needs in broadband. That's a focus of some parts of the USDA. The secretary has been very engaged in that. Rural development is the arm of the USDA that probably focuses the most on that, but it's going to be increasingly important, and we have a long way to go to catch up to where we need to be.
Nicole: Crop insurance is also a vital safety net. You mentioned that, using it as a farmer yourself and operating in an increasingly unpredictable environment. From what I hear during my interviews with farmers, current payouts don't account for conservation practices and risk management. How does the lack of data and ability to connect with Wi-Fi and be wirelessly connected affect the ability for insurance to account for the effectiveness of risk reduction?
Bill: It's a challenge to rate risks appropriately. If you have a large amount of crops and they're all treated the same way, it's pretty easy to do it. For the most part, we're able to do that with our larger crops very easily. When you have smaller acreages, when you have a lot of variability in value, particularly with specialty crops — you look at an apple crop, and some of it goes to a fresh market and some of it goes to a processed market, and the production techniques vary — to make sure folks are doing things that raise a crop appropriately and not trying to abuse the crop insurance program, you've got to be able to have some oversight in what's going on. You've got to be able to rate it all properly.
With the technology changes in conservation right now — cover crops or other kinds of good conservation practices — if not done right, can actually put the crop production at risk. For example, can cover crops increase yields? I believe they can. I use cover crops on my farm, and I know a lot of folks that do. It can also add risk if you use cover crops in a dry production area and you don't get them terminated in time before that next crop; you take moisture away. How crop insurance is able to get the information that best represents what's happening and can show that good practices were used — to say, “Yes, there was a loss, but good practices were used” — and able to test all those practices over time is a challenge.
I believe technology is going to help us as we report more of those practices and we're able to rate those to a greater degree and compare those with yields as well. It's a challenging time, but we have more and more tools to address those challenges as well.
Nicole: Do you feel like cover crops became less of a conventional method in agriculture, and is that kind of coming back now?
Bill: There probably was a time, certainly before we had some of the tools we have today, that cover crops were generally used. We went away from that, and we do see it coming back. In Iowa, we encourage cover crops to a large degree because of water quality, and there's a significant improvement to water quality. You don't lose as much soil to erosion — phosphorous issues.
Also, nitrate is held in the soil longer during that time when the crop is not growing in the spring. Farmers are really adapting them because of control in erosion — being able to build soil health, feel of tilth, and being able to build organic matter as well. In Iowa, we have grown in the last six or seven years from about 50,000 acres of cover crops to over 600,000 acres of cover crops. We do see some real advancement of cover crops in some areas, certainly in the Midwest and in places that were previously low on cover crops.
We see it in lots of other areas as well. People are innovative. We're getting some new genetics in some of those cover crops — letting them grow a little bit better in cold weather, which allows them to not be so competitive against the crop but very competitive against the weeds. There are a lot of opportunities to increase the amount of cover crops with all the benefits that creates, not only for production, but the off-site benefits as well.
Nicole: Where do you see public-private partnerships playing a role in programs like the Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP)?
Bill: It's a great program. Not only as the (former) Iowa secretary of ag, but also within USDA as well, we look at it as the only way we're really going to scale up the amount of conservation that is needed is not with a larger amount of new public dollars. It is by engaging folks the right way so that we can bring those private partners into the mix as well.
The Regional Conservation Partnership Program is a program that helps encourage partners to work with a program that generates federal dollars and brings partners to the programs. We have them all over the country. I visited several in other places besides the ones that I'm very familiar with in Iowa. It has brought thousands of partners across the country together. It has brought tens, maybe even hundreds, of millions of non-federal government dollars into those partnerships — private dollars. Organizations — farm organizations, non-farm organizations — have been a part of it. Certainly, state governments and local water conservation and water quality agencies have been a part of it. It is a great program.
There are some things that Congress is looking to adjust. RCPP came out of a program called the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Because it came out of EQIP, RCPP requires a certain amount of paperwork to make sure that you prove folks are spending the money the right way.
We can have more flexibility if it's funded on its own. It will still be oriented toward the right kinds of projects. It will still bring partners, but it will actually allow for more efficient management of those dollars, as the reporting requirement can be better. Congress is trying to address that, and I think that will be very helpful. I think that program will absolutely grow in the future.
Nicole: There are a lot of people watching the EQIP program.
Bill: There are, absolutely. It's a great program — our most popular program. RCPP, as a spinoff from that, is probably one of the other most popular programs.
Nicole: Big data in farming is also growing. I dare say that there isn't a John Deere tractor or any other major distributor with a machine coming off a line that isn't readily connected to the cloud. While the information that can be shared offers greater weather predictability, precision and pesticide and fertilizer application, it also tracks productivity.
There have been reports that farmable land is getting sold off in lieu of sprawl. How does value-added information help farmers argue that land is more valuable in production than out, and what scenarios could you see where this might play out in the future?
Bill: I think we are able to capture some of that transition. We're not always able to capture it, but we can capture it in several different ways. One way is through the technology in tractors. The other way is measuring program sign-up and whether people have crop insurance. Once you convert land to housing, you don't have crop insurance anymore. We're able to look at some of that participation rate in some of these programs.
We do have to try to keep good land around our cities. In fact, many of our cities are built on the easiest land to build houses, which is often highly productive farmland. We need to protect that. We have programs at the USDA in which some of our states or private entities will partner. They have easements in which a farmer who is in the path of development will sell off development rights and continue to farm the land. The farmer is paid a portion of the difference between development rights and farming, and the property is guaranteed not to be developed. We keep those areas in open spaces — we keep that agricultural initiative going in that area, and most of the time, the folks that are in the development around that space really appreciate having it. It's important productivity-wise. It's important for the viewscape that folks have. It's important, in many cases, for water quality. Although we have challenges in our ag land, we have more challenges in our urban areas with water quality issues as well. So, the right mix is important to retain.
Nicole: For a farmer who might be up against something like development, what program would you advise them to look into?
Bill: The easiest place to start is with their county service center. There is a USDA Service Center in every county. The program is called the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). We offer it out of the USDA, and not every state participates, and every region has the local dollars that are required for matches, but the folks in your county service center would know.
There are probably some programs outside the USDA that allow folks to address that ability to keep land in agricultural production, even though they would like to get some of that extra value — sometimes it's because of farm heirs or sometimes it's the transition from one generation to another, or other reasons you need to generate some dollars — you just don't want to lose the fact that it's a farm.
Nicole: A farmer who has this technology compared to a farmer who doesn't has a significant upper hand when it comes to negotiating sharecropping or renting land. For instance, the farmer who has the tech can go to the landowner and say, "I can produce X amount on this land and for this profit," whereas the farmer who hasn't tapped into the cloud might not be able to argue production rates as well. How do you balance some of these larger farmers who can afford the tech with the owners who aren't tapped into cloud technology?
Bill: Technology comes at us lots of different ways. Some of it is very size-oriented, so it's much easier to afford on a planter tractor covering 4,000 acres than one covering 400 acres because the cost is nearly the same to put the technology on a tractor. There are some non-size neutral impacts. Now, buying seed that has some technology on it is often just as easy for a smaller producer as it is for a larger producer. Some of our technologies are not as size-sensitive.
There are lots of reasons folks decide to rent to different farmers. We have some farmers who are smaller producers. They will talk about their ability to respond much more specifically to the land, to increase organic matter and maybe longer rotations. There are landlords who will say, "I'll take that even over a higher annual return from somebody else because I believe you're going to protect the land and you're going to do some positive things that are not only good for our neighbors that I can be really proud of, but also build the value of the land."
There are lots of decisions that go into deciding who you're going to rent to and who you're going to rent from. Technology plays into it. Not all technology is going to make a producer money. There's a lot of whiz-bang kind of technology that’s interesting to see, but does it create value? Boy, a lot of folks have figured out how to create value out of some of that technology.
We’re seeing it on smaller and smaller farms now as well — the ability to turn a planter on and off as it goes across point rows and angled fields. That is showing up on farms of 500 or 600 acres instead of just farms of 5,000 or 6,000 acres.
Nicole: As these farmers are putting this information in the cloud, there's debate on who has access to that and who doesn't, and being able to protect that. But who's to say that ag companies using a compilation of this data won't one day decide to farm themselves?
Bill: That could happen. There's a lot of tension out there over how much information is accessible. Most farmers are going to say they know some things that are not in that data, which will still limit the ability of somebody else to farm it. When it comes to caring for a farm with livestock or crop operations, there is nothing like the person living on the farm — the person who knows it.
They can wake up in the middle of the night and decide, "We're going to get some planting done tomorrow." Some of these farms don't operate really efficiently in a corporate structure where somebody is external or doesn't have the love of that land and grandpa's advice in the back of their head as they care for that land. I'm not sure how that's all going to play out.
We see some parts of agriculture that have really gravitated toward larger operations. The bulk of the operations across the country are still family-owned. Some of them are corporations. They'd look to transfer farming operations between generations, but for the families who are operating these farms, the decisions are made around kitchen tables. These are folks who feel that weight of earlier generations — that hope of younger generations and walking with them across that farm.
I tell you, they're going to be pretty competitive against any company out there that thinks there's a push-button that can operate from a thousand miles away and farm.
Nicole: Just to switch gears a little bit here, China has reopened its market to U.S. beef. What direction is the USDA taking toward helping farmers implement traceability and systems that support hormone-free production, which is a requirement for U.S. export beef to China?
Bill: We see some different criteria. For example, there have been changes in the soybean criteria — the amount of damaged crops that can go along with the soybean seed, or non-crop that can go along with the soybeans that we export. There's a constant effort that really happens in a different part of the USDA — and I'm not up to speed on all the other pieces — but there are constant efforts to come up with ways that help us increase exports. In some cases, there are extra requirements to do that.
Now, we also have a piece of the USDA saying the places where those requirements are not necessary will challenge those trade rules as well. We’ve certainly seen some of those from China from time to time or other places. We'll get into our discussions about whether those are fair trade rules or unfair trade rules, and we'll push back on those unfair trade rules.
In the meantime, you operate with the rules that you have for us to get more exports into China. There probably needs to be some traceability; certainly, we're seeing some of that finally grow again after not having access into China for way too long.
We had a few cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) over 15 years ago, and that kept beef out of the Chinese market for 15 years when everybody else had come back. It took way too long. We need open markets to be able to do it. They’re going to love the beef the U.S. producers produce if they get a taste of it. I think, in the long run, it will play out and we'll have our increases that we should have.
Nicole: We have just a little bit more time, so I'm going to touch on a couple more things. Let's talk about the dairy crisis, which groups like Farm Aid are saying is a reminder of what happened during the 1980 farm crisis when as many as 2,100 farms closed a week. In Wisconsin, they're saying a farm closes every day and a half because of oversupply and low milk prices.
On the flipside, some economists would say that the U.S. open market system has allowed more efficient farms to succeed — those that have grown in size and adopted a more technical approach to the operation. Is that the future? Bigger, better and those that are more innovative will succeed, or can systems like Canada’s supply management offer a market alternative?
Bill: It's a really challenging time right now in the dairy market. One of the challenges with milk is that you have to move it — cows produce milk two or three times a day and it needs to get on the road to a processing plant, either for milk, cheese, yogurts or other kinds of things. We're seeing some increase in exports, which helps take a little bit of that supply. We have some places where we do not have enough processing capacity right now, and we see some dumping of milk going on. Part of it is our producers of all sizes have gotten more efficient. Our smaller producers are producing more than they used to, and, certainly, our larger ones are as well.
It's a real challenge trying to get that right. For folks to quit that business, it has to be very unprofitable. They work so hard — you think it'd be a lot easier to drive them out of business — but these are folks who plan to be in this business, have the commitment to it, and take some real losses before they'll get out. It's a real challenge to not have so much pain for everybody out here.
I do believe they will continue to get more efficient at all sizes. We see technology helping some of our smaller producers where they're using robotic milkers and other kinds of things that allow them to be competitive against the labor cost of larger producers.
We have a margin protection program that was used a little bit by producers previously that just wasn't working, and Congress changed it. We're in the process of sign-up right now for those producers of a newer, improved margin protection program. Is that going to be the answer to all the problems? It is not. It's going to take a little bit of the edge off, but we do have to look at rebalancing the production and the demand.
It’s really up to Congress and others, but I doubt that we'll see a supply management program like Canada’s — although their producers might feel very good about it right now — they're abusing that program and dumping milk into markets that we used to have and that we would be competitive in if they weren't subsidizing that by charging their consumers a higher rate.
That's one of the issues out there in the trade discussions between the U.S. and Canada. Certainly, that has created some problems. If you're going to expand in Canada, you've got to buy quota. That means it's going to cost you more to buy quota than it will to buy the cows and build the barn. That's not a painless system, especially as young people try to get involved in the business.
There hasn’t been a magic solution. It's hard. Hopefully, more demand will be a part of that solution and then we won't have to lose many more producers, but some producers are at the place where it's just been too much too long. They don't have another generation coming in, and it's really hard to see. In some cases, some of those cows are going down the road and not going to another dairy.
Nicole: You're talking about technology helping with some of these things, and gene editing — we’re hearing so much about that and the future of CRISPR technology in ag, from the Arctic apple to gene editing pigs for disease resistance. Did you ever imagine as a young boy on the farm that this would be the future of agriculture? Does this kind of science excite you or remind you of the precautionary principle?
Bill: It excites me. I did not imagine it, not at all. When you look at some of the conversation around CRISPR — and I'm sure most of the listeners understand we’re talking about biotechnology. Being transgenic — actually taking a gene from another species and putting it into this species — is a different kind of technology than CRISPR, which is actually editing genes that are already there so that you can prevent an apple from browning, or allow an animal to be healthier, to avoid a disease or food safety issues.
It's almost mind-blowing to think of all the possibilities here, but an awful lot of those possibilities are ways that will make food safer, ways that we can care for our animals, our land and our plants to a better degree. We will be more productive with all the challenges that that brings as we talk about productivity. In a world that's growing and a world that expects us to care for our land and our animals in a better way, this technology is going to be very important to address some of those concerns.
It's also very democratic. It doesn't take a billion-dollar or million-dollar operation to make changes that will create improvements. So, rather than just being for our big crops, it will be available for smaller crops. It's kind of mind-blowing, again, to think about how it can all be used, but it certainly is a technology that we want to figure out how to use appropriately because it's going to be an important part of our future.
Nicole: We've covered a lot, but nowhere near all the areas that ag touches. To wrap things up, what would you say you're most interested in seeing develop with the future of ag, from biofuels to biostimulant technology? What is the priority for you in your new role?
Bill: The priority in my role is the customer orientation that we need to take the USDA in my farm production and conservation area — the ability to respond in a way that works for each producer no matter what their crop or livestock is; we need to be relevant. We need to be able to be responsive, but we also need to be efficient with taxpayer dollars when we do that.
I'm excited about the time that we're in, the opportunity for innovation, the entrepreneurship that there is in agriculture. Yes, we see growth in some of our larger farms, but we see brand new operations that are smaller: vegetable, specialty cheese operations, mushroom operations — there are just so many creative activities out there. They have always had challenges, and still do, but there are opportunities because we're able to market those products across a wider area – to produce those in a way that adds technology and uniqueness.
So, the specialty side of agriculture continues to grow with lots of opportunities for farms of all different sizes, different places, different families and different jobs, and whether they're part-time or full-time farming to find their place in agriculture. That also, hopefully, allows us to tell that story of how food gets to the plate and have folks appreciate agriculture and all the folks who help make it happen to be able to feed everybody every day.
Nicole: Bill Northey is the under secretary of agriculture for the Farm Production and Conservation mission area. Thank you so much.
Bill: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Bill Northey spoke at ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference(ONE18). All presentations from ONE18 are now LIVE on the Alltech Idea Lab! Click the button below to view presentations for FREE after sign-up.
Amid today's agriculture challenges, what programs offered by the United States Department of Agriculture could provide farmers with a valuable resource?
Australis Vietnam es el mayor productor de barramundi en Asia y ha introducido un nuevo superalimento al mercado: The Sustainable Seabass®. Este barramundi es libre de antibióticos, libre de mercurio, libre de hormonas y alto en omega-3. Ubicados en Van Phong Bay, Vietnam, esta marca premium tiene como objetivo producir 10.000 toneladas de pescado al año, buscando alcanzar la capacidad máxima de producción.
Galardonados con el prestigioso premio Seafood Champion de la Seafood Choices Alliance, Australis trajo su enfoque innovador de acuicultura oceánica desde los EE. UU. hasta el centro de Vietnam. Ellos emplean un sistema híbrido de jaulas marinas y tanques cerrados con base terrestre que utilizan sistemas de recirculación acuícola (SRA). Estos sistemas de recirculación proporcionan una tecnología sostenible que ha modernizado la acuicultura, reduce drásticamente la cantidad de agua y el espacio necesarios para producir intensamente productos del mar.
Para asegurar el crecimiento eficiente de sus peces, desde el año 2013, Australis Vietnam ha estado utilizando Bio-Mos® de Alltech. Bio-Mos se incorpora a las dietas acuícolas para apoyar la integridad intestinal y el rendimiento general de los animales. Es efectivo durante todas las fases de crecimiento.
"Bio-Mos cumple con nuestras exigencias de rendimiento del alimento y nuestros objetivos de conversión", expresó Bao Nguyen, gerente de producción de Australis Vietnam. "Estoy satisfecho con el producto. Es irremplazable".
Australis y Alltech están alineados en sus valores centrales. Si bien la misión de Australis es ser pioneros en la acuicultura oceánica climáticamente inteligente con el concepto de The Better Fish®, Alltech busca ofrecer soluciones más inteligentes para la agricultura a través de su principio ACE. Garantizar la calidad y seguridad de los alimentos es una prioridad para ambas empresas.
"Alltech tiene una gran reputación y exposición de la marca en la industria de alimento balanceado, y me siento seguro cuando uso los productos de Alltech", señaló Nguyen. "Tienen competencia, pero preferimos Bio-Mos dado los resultados positivos. Además, la experiencia técnica del equipo de Alltech es increíble".
[DUNBOYNE, Ireland] – Alltech’s founder, the late Dr. Pearse Lyons, has been honored with the Kennedy-Lemass Medal by the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland.
During Fourth of July celebrations, Barry O'Sullivan, president of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland, announced that Irish-American entrepreneur and scientist Dr. Lyons is this year’s recipient of the Kennedy-Lemass Medal. The award honors U.S. leaders of Irish heritage who have helped strengthen the Irish-U.S. relationship.
Speaking on Dr. Lyons’ achievements, O'Sullivan described him as someone who “truly lived the American dream.” He said that “we will continue to be inspired by the legacy of individuals such as Dr. Lyons, who had the courage and skills to turn a vision into a reality.”
In the late 1970s, Dundalk-born Dr. Lyons immigrated to Kentucky with his young family and established Alltech in his garage with an initial investment of $10,000. Today, Alltech has a global team of more than 6,000 people in over 120 countries. The company is focused on improving animal, crop and human health and performance, and stays true to Dr. Lyons’ distilling roots. In Ireland, Alltech has its European Bioscience Centre in Dunboyne, County Meath, the Pearse Lyons Distillery at St. James in the Liberties, County Dublin, and Station Works Brewery in Dr. Lyons’ hometown of Dundalk, County Louth. In the U.S., Kentucky is home to Alltech’s headquarters in Nicholasville, the Alltech Center for Animal Nutrigenomics and Applied Animal Nutrition, and seven production facilities, including Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co., which produces Town Branch® Bourbon and the Kentucky Ale® line of craft beers, and the newly opened Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery in Pikeville, which celebrates Eastern Kentucky’s connection to Ireland. In 2015, Pikeville and Dundalk signed a historic sister-city agreement at the suggestion of Dr. Lyons.
“My father was passionate about Ireland and the United States, and he spent his life promoting both countries around the world,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president of Alltech. “He had an extraordinary ability to bring people from all walks of life together to make a difference in the world. This was especially true when it came to cultivating and supporting scientific, ag-tech and agricultural endeavors between the U.S. and Ireland.”
During his lifetime, Dr. Lyons was awarded many honors, including the Ireland-U.S. Council Award for Outstanding Achievement and the 2017 St. Patrick’s Day Science Medal in recognition of the creation of a global business based on scientific research. Dr. Lyons also received the RDS Gold Medal Award for Enterprise for his contribution to Irish business.
“Pearse was passionate about his heritage and making a difference in the world,” said Mrs. Deirdre Lyons, Alltech co-founder and director of corporate image and design. “He used his boundless philanthropic spirit to inspire those around him. For Pearse and me, making a difference in the world by empowering others has been an everyday reality of our personal and professional lives.”
Image download: https://photos.alltech.com/pf.tlx/P-6PQkP-1Xf4l
The late Irish-American entrepreneur and scientist Dr. Pearse Lyons was this year’s recipient of the Kennedy-Lemass Medal. The award honors U.S. leaders of Irish heritage who have helped to strengthen the Irish-U.S. relationship. Pictured with the Kennedy-Lemass Medal are the wife and son of Dr. Pearse Lyons, Mrs. Deirdre Lyons and Dr. Mark Lyons. Photo credit: Conor McCabe Photography.
The late Irish-American entrepreneur and scientist Dr. Pearse Lyons was the 2018 recipient of the Kennedy-Lemass Medal. The award honors U.S. leaders of Irish heritage who have helped to strengthen the Irish-U.S. relationship. Pictured with the Kennedy-Lemass Medal are the wife and son of Dr. Pearse Lyons, Mrs. Deirdre Lyons and Dr. Mark Lyons. Photo credit: Conor McCabe Photography.
Los cerdos modernos han recorrido un largo trayecto en comparación a los de hace 20 años. Una mejor comprensión de la genética, la nutrición y la investigación sustancial ha jugado un papel importante en la mejora del desempeño, la reproducción y la salud general de los cerdos. Por lo tanto, nos surge la pregunta: ¿Las tecnologías de alojamiento y manejo porcino se han mantenido al ritmo de la modernización del cerdo actual?
Según Steve Toft, especialista porcino de Hubbard Feeds, estos factores también han evolucionado. Para conversar al respecto, nos sentamos con Steve durante World Pork Expo 2018.
En las instalaciones porcinas parece haber un mayor enfoque y nivel de cuidados intensivos durante las primeras semanas de vida del cerdo. Algunos ejemplos incluyen:
También se está utilizando, varias veces al día, el suministro de alimento a mano, como un esfuerzo para estimular a los lechones al inicio rápido de la alimentación. Las válvulas con boquillas en los bebederos tipo taza también ayudan a proporcionar agua abundante, fresca y limpia durante los primeros días.
Históricamente, la alimentación ad libitum para las cerdas —en la cual, como su nombre lo indica, la cerda puede manejar su propio consumo— durante el período de lactancia ha sido una herramienta exitosa para maximizar el desempeño de dichas cerdas. Los fabricantes están mejorando estos comederos para facilitar el manejo, e implementando sensores y controles electrónicos para supervisar el consumo de alimento.
Los pisos de las salas de parto también han recorrido un largo trayecto contando con opciones como el hierro fundido. El piso moderno presenta superficies planas, sólidas y más grandes (en comparación con el alambre tejido), lo cual proporcionan mejor confort para la cerda.
En los últimos años, las luces LED han mejorado notablemente la iluminación de las instalaciones porcinas, ahorrando electricidad y proporcionando un entorno seguro y bien iluminado tanto para los cerdos como para los productores.
Además, se han diseñado mejores unidades de transporte para los cerdos, lo que reduce el estrés durante la carga/descarga y traslado. Se han mejorado las rampas y puertas, tienen un mejor flujo de aire y pisos para la tracción, con buena iluminación y sistemas de enfriamiento.
Estos son solo algunos ejemplos de las muchas maneras en que los productores y los expertos de la industria están trabajando para mantener las prácticas de manejo porcino al día. Tal vez usted ya utiliza algunas prácticas en su granja o tal vez descubrió algunas ideas nuevas que podrían mejorar su operación. Lo cierto es que la producción animal está evolucionando rápidamente y seguramente esta tendencia continuará en los próximos años.
American Chamber gives Kennedy Lemass medal to visionary agriculture entrepreneur.
Click here to view the full article.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of Alltech in Canada. Celebrating the occasion at their headquarters in Guelph, Alltech President Mark Lyons called on dignitaries and guests to look forward to the next 30 years to continue to explore new opportunities.
Click here to view the full article.
KEENAN mixer wagon donated by Alltech South Dakota for auction raises $32,500
[BROOKINGS, S.D.] – The Prime Time Gala recently held its fifth annual event in support of Feeding South Dakota, which provides food assistance to hundreds of men, women and children across the state. The South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation, through support and donations from the agriculture community, including Alltech and Hubbard Feeds, raised $228,602.
Alltech South Dakota donated a KEENAN mixer wagon to the fundraising auction, which raised $32,500 and was sold to Mark and Darren Schmidt from Marietta, Minnesota.
“Alltech is proud to support the Prime Time Gala as the money raised for Feeding South Dakota will go back to the people in our communities who need it most,” said CJ Tanderup, Western U.S. business manager at Alltech.
The event, hosted by the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, welcomed 1,600 guests. In the past five years, the event has raised over $966,000 for Feeding South Dakota, which has helped purchase 543,624 pounds of beef for those in need across the state.
Five students attending South Dakota schools who are interested in improving beef production and promotion also received $15,000 in scholarships during the gala. In the past three years, $35,000 in scholarships have been awarded.
“As chair of the scholarship committee, I’m proud of these students and their passion and dedication to the future of the beef industry,” said Tyler Melroe, beef nutritionist for Hubbard Feeds.
For more information about the Prime Time Gala, please visit sdprimetimegala.com.
Tyler Melroe, beef nutritionist for Hubbard Feeds and scholarship chair, onstage at the Prime Time Gala with the 2018 scholarship award winners.
Aidan Connolly is Alltech's chief innovation officer who has a keen interest in developing innovative, nutrition-based technologies. The Pig Site spoke to Aidan to get his expert opinion on emerging technology in the swine industry.
Click here to view the full article.
Según Mark Twain, “El público es el único crítico cuya opinión vale la pena considerar”. Esto es cierto para muchos temas muy debatidos, y ciertamente los organismos genéticamente modificados (mejor conocidos como OGM), no son la excepción. Y, aunque hay muchos defensores que son claramente pro o anti-OGM, ambas partes parecen estar luchando por objetivos en común: alimentos seguros y abundantes para todos, menos productos químicos tóxicos utilizados a nivel mundial y un sistema alimentario más sostenible.
En la noche de clausura de ONE: La Conferencia de Ideas de Alltech 2018 (ONE18), los asistentes se reunieron en el histórico Kentucky Theatre para una presentación privada del documental "Food Evolution". El Instituto de Tecnólogos de Alimentos (IFT por sus siglas en inglés) financió la película en un esfuerzo para inspirar la discusión y el debate acerca de los desafíos a los cuales nos enfrentamos a nivel mundial relacionados con la alimentación, el papel instrumental que desempeñará la ciencia al abordar estos problemas y la percepción pública en torno a la ciencia de la alimentación.
Al concluir la película, se realizó una discusión dirigida por el locutor irlandés Damien O'Reilly de RTÉ Radio 1, con dos de nuestros conferencistas de ONE18 - Crystal Mackay, presidente del Centro Canadiense para la Integridad de los Alimentos, y Jack Bobo, vicepresidente y director de comunicaciones de Intrexon.
El panel y la audiencia tuvieron muchas ideas valiosas en ambos lados del debate.
Jack Bobo pasó 13 años trabajando en políticas alimentarias globales en el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos, y tres años trabajando con los productores de la película.
"De hecho, les dije que no hicieran una película sobre OGM porque sería demasiado provocativa", expresó.
Él cree firmemente que los valores superan a la ciencia cuando se trata de problemas como este. De hecho, comentó, "nunca me he encontrado con alguien que sea anti-ciencia. Dejen de decirle a la gente lo que hacen y díganle por qué lo hacen. La ciencia no le importará a la mayoría de las personas”.
MacKay comentó que necesitamos cambiar la conversación para discutir sobre nuestros objetivos en común.
“Esta tecnología, en particular, ha sido lanzada bajo un autobús debido a muchos otros problemas: anti-corporativos, anti-gula, etc. Por lo tanto, ¿cómo nos comunicamos acerca de una verdad complicada bajo simples mentiras?", Preguntó MacKay.
Bobo luego comentó: "Toda industria reguladora en el mundo ha concluido que los OGM no son dañinos".
Él cree que temas como este tienen que ver más con el tribalismo que con cualquier otra cosa.
"‘Nuestros amigos’ sienten de cierta manera algo, y queremos ser parte de este público más que preocuparnos por los ‘hechos científicos’", expresó.
En la misma línea, ¿cuándo fue la última vez que cambiamos de opinión sobre algo? Todo es posible. Bobo incluso admitió que primero él pensó que la agricultura de producción era la única solución hasta que aprendió más sobre la agricultura orgánica y lo que aporta a la mesa en términos de abordar los desafíos del sistema alimentario. Pareciera que una combinación de ambas prácticas se podría justificar.
Un miembro de la audiencia sabiamente preguntó: "¿El verdadero problema aquí no es tanto si la ciencia es correcta o incorrecta, sino la comunicación?" Nuestros panelistas estuvieron de acuerdo en que una mayor transparencia sería útil, pero que el problema sigue siendo complejo.
Algo es cierto: nos dieron a todos una gran cantidad de ideas para pensar mientras consideramos cómo podemos avanzar en la alimentación de un mundo hambriento.
[PIKEVILLE, Ky.] – The clouds parted and the sun shone just as crowds gathered in front of Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery for a look at Eastern Kentucky’s first combined beer, bourbon and moonshine operation. Gleaming copper pot stills towered in the background as Alltech officials and community leaders cut the ribbon on the highly anticipated project, which will open for public tours on June 28.
Dueling Barrels was a personal passion project for Alltech co-founders Dr. Pearse and Mrs. Deirdre Lyons, who have long felt that the rolling landscape, hardworking people and craftsmanship of Eastern Kentucky reminded them of their home in Ireland. Ever the visionary, Dr. Lyons had a keen sense of potential, and he saw it in abundance in Eastern Kentucky. He initiated the development of Dueling Barrels with an eye toward promoting tourism to the region.
“He believed in something he spoke of often, and that is the power of one,” said Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin about Dr. Lyons. “One person. One idea. One mission. These are the things that change the world.”
Though Dr. Lyons passed away in March, Mrs. Lyons, director of corporate image and design at Alltech, and their son, Dr. Mark Lyons, president of Alltech, remain focused on the success of Dueling Barrels.
“Today, my team completes three years of work,” said Mrs. Lyons. “But this is only the beginning of the dream, which we hope leads to increased tourism in Eastern Kentucky.”
The nearly 30,000-square-foot facility houses three copper pot stills and 19 fermenters, and it has the capacity to produce 40,000 brewer’s barrels annually. Dueling Barrels is expected to join the famed Kentucky Bourbon Trail® experience in January 2019, extending the experience 142 miles east into Pikeville. The additional tourism could help boost the economy in Pikeville, which has undergone a revitalization in recent years, particularly in the downtown area.
In addition to bourbon, Dueling Barrels will produce a variety of craft styles, beginning with Dueling Barrels Pikeville Ale, an American Pale Ale, and Dueling Barrels Hopfield & McCoy IPA. Dueling Barrels Pikeville Ale will be bottled and available in stores regionally. Additional brews will be made available exclusively in the Pearse’s Place taproom, which is expected to open in the fall on the second floor of the facility.
Moonshining has a long history in Eastern Kentucky, where early settlers drew upon generations of distilling experience to use surplus corn to make unaged whiskey, or “moonshine,” as it came to be known. Dueling Barrels celebrates this mountain tradition with four flavors: Dueling Barrels Original Kentucky Moonshine, a smooth blend of corn, malted barley and a pinch of rye; Dueling Barrels Apple Orchard Kentucky Moonshine, with notes of apples, caramel, vanilla and cinnamon; Dueling Barrels Bonfire Kentucky Moonshine, which has a spicy but smooth cinnamon finish; and Dueling Barrels Mountain Flower Kentucky Moonshine, infused with elderberry for a fruity and floral twist.
Visitors to Dueling Barrels will explore the rich history and culture of the Eastern Kentucky mountains, including the legendary Hatfields and McCoys feud, the dawn of Bluegrass music and starry nights spent making moonshine. Tours will be guided by knowledgeable “storytellers” who will walk visitors through the art of brewing and distilling while sharing the legendary stories that have shaped Appalachia.
Dueling Barrels joins Alltech’s family of breweries and distilleries, which includes Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co., producing Town Branch® Bourbon, Town Branch® Gin and Kentucky Ale® beers; and Pearse Lyons Distillery at St. James in Dublin, Ireland, which produces Pearse Irish Whiskey. The company hopes to use its resources and craft beverage expertise to shine a spotlight on Eastern Kentucky.
“There is a massive population on the East Coast,” said Mark Lyons. “Now they just have to come across the mountains. I think this can be the start of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, not the end.”
Tours will be offered every hour, on the hour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.
For more information on Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery, visit duelingbarrels.com. Join the conversation and watch for updates via @duelingbarrels on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
-Ends-
Image download: https://photos.alltech.com/pf.tlx/f8fMvfV4LTj
Pikeville Mayor Jimmy Carter, Jay Million, Ag Commissioner Ryan Quarles, Governor Matt Bevin, Mrs. Deirdre Lyons, Dr. Mark Lyons, Brandi Ore, Former First Lady Judi Patton, Buford Burchfield and Randy Thomas cut the ribbon on Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery in Pikeville, Kentucky.
Additional images: https://photos.alltech.com/viewcontainer.tlx?containerid=49160195992&home=1
Contact: Lauren Dozier, Alltech PR
press@alltech.com; 859-351-8892
Contact: Pete Weiss, Alltech Lexington Brewing & Distilling Co.
pweiss@Alltech.com; 859-221-7703
Pikeville Mayor Jimmy Carter, Jay Million, Ag Commissioner Ryan Quarles, Governor Matt Bevin, Mrs. Deirdre Lyons, Dr. Mark Lyons, Brandi Ore, Former First Lady Judi Patton, Buford Burchfield and Randy Thomas cut the ribbon on Dueling Barrels Brewery & Distillery in Pikeville, Kentucky.
