As aquaculture continues to grow in a more sophisticated culture system, we need to adapt the feed for aquatic animals like fish and shrimp. Speaking at the Alltech ONE Ideas Conference in June 2021, Ben Lamberigts, manager of quality, research and nutrition at Alltech Coppens, offered his insight on nutrition for a sustainable future through the four pillars of fish nutrition concept.

The current state of aquaculture feed production

A rapidly growing aquaculture industry has led to increasing demand for good quality aquaculture feed. Yet, the availability of fishmeal is limited. Even if we reduce 50% of the world’s fishmeal inclusion, we still need almost 1.5 million metric tons of fishmeal by 2050, which is simply not available.

“It’s a challenge that we have to solve before we can grow the aquaculture industry,” said Lamberigts. “But the industry is working on this, and we are doing a very good job.”

In fact, we have already lowered the fish in fish out (FIFO) factor since the ‘90s. Still, we need more fishmeal alternatives, such as:

• Animal byproducts (hemoglobin, blood meal, poultry meal)
• Vegetable protein sources (sunflower meal, wheat protein, soybean meal)
• Insect meals (mealworm, black soldier fly meal)
• Byproducts from human consumption (fish byproducts or salmon)

While the global aquaculture production has achieved a 0.27 FIFO rate, Alltech Coppens even lowered the FIFO factor to 0.10, which means only 100 grams of wild-caught fish is needed to produce 1 kilogram of farmed fish.

How did Alltech Coppens do this?

Understanding what fish really need

“First, we need to understand the basics of nutrition,” noted Lamberigts. “No fish has a requirement for fishmeal or even a requirement for a specific raw material.”

What fish require are:

• Essential nutrients, such as digestible protein, fat for energy, vitamins and minerals
• Palatable compound feed, so the fish eat the feed
• Good water quality in aquaculture, because fish swim, defecate and eat in the same environment

“If we define the alternatives with these requirements, those alternatives are not alternatives anymore,” Lamberigts continued. “We split them up into single metrics, so we can compare them better between each other and to the fishmeal.”

This has been done in human food items. An example is the nutrition score on food packaging. Nutritional scoring, as well as sustainability scoring, helps consumers compare between products. Through labeling and pictograms, the producers now make it possible for them to make the right decision.

That is what Alltech Coppens has been doing for the alternatives to fishmeal by dividing them using different metrics that are categorized into four pillars: Palatability, Performance, Pollution and Planet.

The four pillars of fish nutrition for a sustainable future

1. Palatability: The feed needs to be palatable for the fish

“(Palatability) is the most important pillar because if the food is not eaten by the fish, there is no performance and pollution control is very bad,” Lamberigts explained.

The graph below shows a trial with rainbow trout at the maximum feeding level. The y axis represents the feed intake in gram/kilogram metabolic rate, and the x axis shows the taste.

There were two different treatments:

• Blue line: 100% of the protein came from fishmeal (fishmeal-based diet)
• Green line: 100% of the protein came from vegetable sources (vegetable diet)

The diets for these two groups were switched on day four. Interestingly, there was a drop in feeding levels for both diets. That means that even the fish that received a vegetable diet before day four, that switched over to what was assumed to be a more palatable diet (the fishmeal diet), also had a drop in feeding level; nevertheless, that drop in feeding level recovered much quicker than the other group.

From this trial, two crucial metrics regarding palatability were identified:

1. The drop in feeding level after the diet switch
2. The recovery period needed from the change

“If we quantify this effect for all the alternatives, we can calculate and make the best combination between the alternatives to get the same performance as what we had with the fishmeal,” noted Lamberigts.

2. Performance: The fish has a need for essential nutrients

Energy is the driver of growth. When the energy level increases, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) decreases and the growth performance of the animal rises.

Furthermore, energy is responsible for 70% of feed cost.

“So, if we increase the energy level of a certain feed by 10%, we also increase the price of that feed by 70%,” said Lamberigts.

But what is energy?

The gross energy is the energy that is available in that feed ingredient. If the animal can digest that energy, it becomes digestible energy. If the digestible energy is correctly transferred into the animal’s body or maintenance, it becomes net energy.

Comparing the net energy of different types of feed, as well as considering palatability and sustainability, can help producers choose the best feed for performance.

3. Pollution: The fish requires good water quality

Three main factors that affect water quality are:

• Uneaten feed
• Ammonia and phosphorus excretion
• Feces (how fast they sink, what part is settleable and what part is suspended)

An example of pollution control is fat digestibility, which depends a lot on the water temperature. Pollution in terms of fat is becoming a big problem in trout farms with a low water temperature (below 8° Celsius), especially if the feeding level is high.

A fatty acid with a low melting point, like linseed or soy oil, has high fat digestibility. In that case, even if the water temperature goes down, the effect is low.

Alltech Coppens knows the fatty acid composition of their different alternatives to fishmeal and fish oil. Consequently, they can use this model to predict fat digestibility and prevent fat from polluting the water.

4. Planet: The environmental sustainability of the feed

“Being sustainable and assuring that we can grow this industry further, it is becoming a necessity that we quantify the effect of our products, of our raw materials, of our fishmeal alternatives on the environmental impact,” said Lamberigts.

Alltech Coppens has been doing this via the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). It is not only looking into the carbon footprint of a single ingredient but also the different parts of how a product is produced, used, distributed and how the waste is treated.

Combining all these effects gives Alltech Coppens a total sustainability score of the different raw materials, which helps their customers to choose the right sustainable feed.

“If we quantify and measure all these pillars and put them in a software system, we can make the best combination of our alternative protein sources in combination with the fishmeal at the lowest price for the best quality,” noted Lamberigts.

Concluding the presentation, Lamberigts hoped he showed the audience that alternatives to fishmeal are not alternatives; they are ingredients.

“Insect meal, soy protein, poultry meal; if we are able to quantify the metrics behind these ingredients, we are also able to use them in the proper way,” Lamberigts advised. “When it comes to sustainability, pollution control, performance, palatability, we are now able to use these different alternatives and these different fishmeals in the correct way to ensure the growth of our aquafeed industry.”

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A look back at history

“To confront the myriad of challenges we face today, we need to have a legacy mindset,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, at the Alltech ONE Ideas Conference (ONE) on June 24. “We need to look to the past for perspective and for learning.”

With that in mind, Dr. Lyons took the audience back to when humans first started to arrive in North America. People brought and domesticated animals, began using natural resources for food production and required more land.

As this growth was happening, global economies and continents became more connected through railways, highways and shipping lanes. Carbon became the main way to fuel the growing economy and growing planet. Consequently, carbon emissions have increased.

Agriculture was growing. Scientific breakthroughs were leading the way to a more efficient food system and created the opportunity for the rise of brands and businesses that, today, we call the food industry.

The need for agricultural productivity, as well as food production efficiency, led to new farming innovations and a realization about the carbon emissions produced by agriculture. In terms of meat, milk and egg production, farmers began making improvements, responding to the influences and demands of the market.

Since the mid-1800s, the amount of fossil fuels being used has increased by 20,000%, while the human population has increased by 1,329%, and the animals being utilized to feed that growing population has increased by far less, at 524%. In fact, to date, 50% more beef is produced in the United States than was being produced in 1960 — but this increase in production is being accomplished with one-third of the number of animals that was required 60 years ago.

Although scientific breakthroughs have led to a better understanding of our environment, there has not been an agreement about the culprits of climate change. This story is not unique to North America. 

Change is happening

“One thing that is becoming crystal-clear is that a change has started, and it is going to continue,” said Dr. Lyons. “In fact, we saw that the pandemic actually accelerated this change and the acceptance of the changes that were happening around us.

“We believe every challenge can be an opportunity — and, indeed, a gift,” Dr. Lyons continued. “Whatever we believe can become reality, but you won't do things differently unless you see things differently.”

Let’s look at some of the innovations being dreamed of and implemented around the world:

1. Giant air purifiers: Nine out of 10 people around the world breathe polluted air, and this pollution accounts for almost 9 million deaths per year. Some engineers are thinking about how we can create giant outdoor air purifiers that are also pieces of art. Perhaps the true beauty is clean air and clean energy.

2. Cooling the planet by filtering excess carbon dioxide out of the air on an industrial scale: Giant air scrubbers in Texas — which could be a common sight by 2050 — use simple chemistry to capture CO2 and pump it into oil wells, which have been drilled dry in the last century. Some of the greenhouse gases that are heating up our planet could be removed with these types of innovations, potentially contributing to a reduced greenhouse effect.

3. Electricity generators using heat from the Earth’s mantle: This is being done on a small scale in Kenya, but it has great future implications for not emitting greenhouse gases into the air at all.

4. Using recycled plastic as a bitumen replacement in road construction: Among the fossil fuels that have already been taken out of the ground, a lot of them have been converted into plastics, which take over 1,000 years to biodegrade. Some of those plastics can be recycled and utilized in road construction, creating a smoother ride, fewer potholes and a longer road life.

5. Solar roadways: Technologies like Gorilla Glass can be used to create solar roadways by protecting solar panels that are used to pave roads, driveways and sidewalks. If these roadways covered the entire United States, they would produce three times the electricity that we need today.

6. Sonic fire extinguisher: As a result of climate change, we’ve seen more and more forest fires burning. To combat this challenge, scientists are working on a sonic fire extinguisher, which can be installed on a drone and works by using sound waves to separate oxygen from the fuel source.

7. Hydrogen as aviation fuel: Since 1990, the carbon dioxide emissions per passenger flight have dropped more than 50%. Nevertheless, the aviation industry is also evaluating new fuel sources, with hydrogen potentially serving as a new, clean aviation fuel. An Airbus commercial-scale hydrogen plane has already taken flight in the U.K.

8. A “blended wing” that serves as both a passenger compartment and a wing for aircraft: With the entirety of a plane generating lift, this could save 20–30% of the fuel currently required for passenger flights.

9. Green algae as a cleaner of the environment and a source of travel: The ability of green algae to eat bacteria is more prevalent than previously thought, and this finding could have important real-life uses related to environmental and climate science. In addition, green algae could also be a fuel source for many different types of travel, including both in the air and on the ground.

10. Gut microbiome genes are linked to array of human diseases: So much of what is happening within our microbiome is linked to human diseases. As we come to understand more about the science, there will be many new ways for us to overcome human health challenges.

11. An antibiotic alternative capable of treating resistant bacterial infections: Scientists at Durham University have improved the current standard alternative to antibiotics (called peptoids) by altering their chemical structure to enhance their delivery into cells and their effectiveness against bacterial infections. These alternatives could help combat the plague of antibiotic resistance.

12. Methane from animal waste can be used to grow single-cell protein for food: People are not only converting methane into energy with biogas digesters but are also utilizing a number of different nutrients and creating single-celled proteins that can go back into food for animals — and even humans.

13. An intelligent trash bin that identifies food types and encourages recycling: Food waste is an area of untapped potential. The intelligent bin could reduce one-third of our food waste before it even leaves the home.

14. A kitchen appliance that turns waste to compost: There are systems being developed today that will allow us to convert our food waste directly into compost that can be used in our gardens. With a single button, Lomi grinds and heats waste to break it down with no smell and turns it into nutrient-rich compost, reducing up to 50% of the waste that would otherwise be sent to a landfill.

15. Microbial tools could improve productivity while limiting environmental impact: There are new tools to help develop specific microbiomes in the gastrointestinal tract, soil and waste-processing systems. As a result, new nutritional and feed supplementation strategies are being created to improve production efficiencies while limiting the intensity of emissions.

16. Measurement tools to assess environmental impact and mitigation strategies: Tools like the E-CO₂ farm audit systems, laboratory testing and feed evaluations (Alltech IFM™ and the Yea-Sacc^® Value Test), as well as the use of supplementation and pasture management programs to control emissions and the mineral impact on the environment, are critical for reducing our overall environmental impact.

17. Biotic tools for mitigating agriculture emissions and emission intensity: New management systems use filtration to take out methane at the source and potentially use this methane in other agricultural production systems. Manure management, pasture management and pasture nutrition all get back into our understanding of the microbiome and the importance of seeing all of these areas as linked.

18. Using activating enzymes as biological catalysts: Enzymes can help us in many areas, such as improving digestion and feed utilization, beneficially modifying microbiomes in animals and soils, altering fermentation patterns to break down waste and mitigating environmental toxins.

“I believe the agriculture industry will create climate-neutral food,” said Dr. Lyons. “We will continue to be one of those core industries that can sequester carbon, and we will be a big part of the answer to climate change.”

In closing, Dr. Lyons asserted that no industry could have a more positive impact on the future of the planet than agriculture.

“It’s the industry that I'm most excited about, and it’s a great honor to be working in this industry,” Dr. Lyons shared. “We can nourish the world while cooling its climate. We can leave not a footprint but a legacy. What an extraordinary opportunity as we all gather, working together for a Planet of Plenty™.”

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What if, when something went wrong, your natural response was to feel positive, calm and proactive? Can you actually train your brain to handle life’s greatest challenges without stress and negative emotions?

According to Shirzad Chamine, neuroscientist and CEO of Positive Intelligence, Inc., you can do both — and when you do, you will be happier and more successful and will perform better.

This may sound aspirational, but Chamine has the research — and methodology — to prove that mental fitness is the key to unleashing your true potential at work and in life.

More than 500,000 people from over 50 countries have participated in Chamine’s Positive Intelligence research. Having coached hundreds of CEOs and their executive teams, as well as world-class athletes and students from Stanford University, he’s helped professionals worldwide make mental fitness a part of their daily routine.

What is mental fitness?

Mental fitness is our capacity to respond to life’s challenges with a positive mindset, rather than a negative one. It’s measured by your Positive Intelligence Quotient, or PQ, which is the percentage of time your mind spends serving you as opposed to sabotaging you. As a conscious method for avoiding self-sabotage, your PQ can be built and strengthened over time.

Independent researchers have validated the many benefits of a higher PQ, ranging from higher salaries to greater success in work, marriage, friendship and more. Additionally, project teams with a high PQ are shown to perform 31% better on key performance metrics.

Chamine’s approach to boosting PQ, which he recently discussed during his keynote address at the 2021 Alltech ONE Ideas Conference, begins with learning the behavioral neuroscience behind two very different components of the mind: the Saboteurs and the Sage.

This might sound complex, but understanding the roles that Saboteurs and the Sage play in the way we experience life is one of the simplest, most effective ways for overcoming long-term patterns of self-sabotage.

Identifying your Saboteurs

Saboteurs are the negative voices and limiting beliefs and habits that stand between you and the potential you actually fulfill.

• Saboteurs motivate you through negative emotions like fear, stress, anger, guilt, shame and insecurity.
• There are 10 Saboteurs responsible for the most common ways that we self-sabotage. The most common is The Judge, or the voice that tells us to find fault in ourselves, in others, and in our situations and circumstances. It’s constantly judging what’s wrong and fails to see what’s right.
• Imagine Saboteurs as a cast of characters in your mind that keep you in a place of negativity, reaction and self-doubt.

Finding your Sage

By contrast, the Sage is the Saboteurs’ positive counterpart that motivates us through emotions like curiosity, empathy, creativity and calm.

• Whereas the Saboteur fuels self-sabotage, the Sage brain tells us that every outcome or circumstance can be turned into a gift or an opportunity.
• The strength of your Sage is what determines your PQ and enables you to take clear-headed, laser-focused action.
• Understanding the differences between your Sage and your Saboteurs — and identifying which one your mind is serving — is the first concrete step to self-mastery.

“You're not just of two minds; you are of two brains. You have two entirely different wirings in your brain, with different neurochemicals that get produced and very different functioning,” said Chamine. “A big question at any given time is: Which part of your brain is activated right now? That determines everything about how you handle life's great challenges.”

By understanding which part of your brain is activated and the power of Positive Intelligence to determine your response, you can train yourself to recover and switch from negative to positive at a faster pace.

How to strengthen your PQ

1. Intercept your Saboteurs

When you feel a negative emotion, stop to observe and label your Saboteurs. By simply bringing them into awareness, you’ve already weakened their power.

2. Power up your Sage brain

Now that you’ve confronted your Saboteurs, it’s time to shift into Sage mode. Practice PQ reps to activate your Sage mind. PQ reps are simple exercises that involve shifting your attention to your body and your senses for at least 10 seconds. These practices strengthen the self-command muscle that helps you regulate your emotions. You can do PQ reps anytime, anywhere.

3. Choose Sage responses

Now, you can explore, empathize, innovate, navigate and activate to respond with the Sage perspective.

“When your Sage comes in and says, ‘You know what? I can and I shall convert this into a gift and opportunity,’ imagine what emotions you’re going to be experiencing,” Chamine suggested. “You're going to be feeling optimistic. You're going to be feeling curious.

“When you ask ‘How do I turn this into a gift? What could the gift be?’, you're activating a positive region of your brain that's wired for creativity, for resourcefulness,” he continued. “You're creating a positive foundation — not just in your own head, but amongst others.”

With this knowledge, Chamine wondered: What if you focused on building the powers of your mind with the same determination you bring to our improving your physical fitness? Can you imagine the possibilities?

“Moment by moment, one day at a time, that muscle of positivity builds,” Chamine reminded viewers at ONE. “And then, the contagion effect that you create in the world — you have no idea how powerful that is. You create a contagion, (but) rather than a contagion of negativity, you intercept that, and you create a positive contagion. And it's beautiful, as you become part of the solution rather than part of the problem in our world.”

Will you join us in seeing challenges as opportunities and pursuing greater happiness and success through the power of Positive Intelligence?

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“Africa is the fastest-growing continent. Africa is getting educated now. Africa is where you need to be. Africa is where you (should) look to grow your food.”

That’s what Dr. Ruth Oniang’o, a keynote speaker at the 2021 Alltech ONE Ideas Conference (ONE), used to tell her fellow board members when she served on the board of Nestlé. A professor of nutrition and former member of Parliament in Kenya, Dr. Oniang’o has spent her career advocating for food and nutrition policies that will feed the world’s fastest-growing continent and increase access to food across Africa.

Over the past several decades, many African countries have made great strides in reducing chronic hunger, malnutrition and weight loss — but with one in five African people still “chronically undernourished,” including millions of children, there is much more work left to be done to help turn African communities into examples of food security.

Dr. Oniang’o’s approach is a holistic one. Beyond her focus on growing healthier crops and strengthening food assistance, her work is transforming society through avenues that most people may not think of when it comes to food and nutrition.

1. Empower women

The first step to transforming how Africa grows and eats is identifying who’s behind the continent’s current food production.

“In Africa, it’s mostly women who are producing food,” said Dr. Oniang’o during her keynote address at ONE. “And I said, ‘No wonder we are a hungry continent. Women are already overworked. They bring up children, many children. They have to farm. They have to feed them.’”

We cannot solve hunger in Africa without women, Dr. Oniang’o argued. By elevating their value in society and providing them with the education and resources they need to manage their farms, their families and their health, we can create conditions that will allow African women to grow more food, feed a greater number of people and share their knowledge with others.

2. Promote adult literacy

One major key to that empowerment is literacy. According to data from the United Nations, the adult literacy rate in sub-Saharan Africa is around 63% — meaning that one in three adults in the region, or some 182 million people, cannot read. And while some African countries have higher literacy rates, many are actually lower: South Sudan’s 35% literacy rate is among the lowest in the world.

Promoting adult literacy, both via governments and NGOs, leads to more educated adults across Africa, which has positive, long-term effects related to food, nutrition and families.

“Adult literacy is so important,” said Dr. Oniang’o, “because when women are educated, they will not want too many children. They'll want to do other things. They'll take good care of themselves, take care of their family, and therefore, their children will survive better. They want a better life for themselves, and they know what foods to provide to the family.”

3. Provide resources directly

No matter where they are in the world, farmers need resources of all kinds, from education and research to funds to help purchase seeds, nutrients and supplies. Providing resources directly to farmers is one of the fastest ways to improve their conditions and crop yields, as well as the health and nutrition of their families and communities. And providing resources to farmers doesn’t just help build individual and community food security — it can help alleviate poverty, too, since extreme poverty and hunger have “a cyclical relationship” in Africa, according to the United Nations. Hungry people have a hard time working, and people who can’t work have a hard time affording food.

“If we do agriculture properly — if we distribute our resources properly — we can get people out of poverty,” said Dr. Oniang’o. “As someone who has worked with farmers right on the ground, it doesn't take a whole lot. It doesn't take a whole lot to transform a community and to make them have more food and to have them eat better.”

4. Look after the soil

We can’t increase the production of food sources without addressing soil health. Unhealthy, malnourished soil leads to malnourished crops that wither instead of thriving. Finding ways to improve soil health — like rotating in legumes to boost the nitrogen in the soil and supplementing malnourished soils with nutrients — helps foster healthier crops and establishes farming practices that will be more sustainable over time.

Dr. Oniang’o first realized the importance of soil health when she saw crops that looked weak and frail, mirroring the effects of malnutrition in adults and children in Africa. She advocates for ways to help farmers improve their soil health, starting with technologies like rapid soil tests to help farmers identify deficiencies within their soils — a prerequisite to growing stronger, healthier crops. After all, as she said, “If the soils are not healthy, human beings cannot be healthy.”

5. Build and support smart partnerships

“Nobody can do this alone,” said Dr. Oniang’o. “(The) private sector has a role to play. Public-sector government has a role to play. Civil society has a role to play. Everyone has a role to play.”

Implementing change on a continental scale cannot be done alone. It takes local groups and national governments to put all of the practices outlined above into place in support of individuals, communities and countries. National and local governments, NGOs, scientists, farmers and private-sector companies all have a role to play. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) notes that “increasing yields for staple crops (in Sub-Saharan Africa) will require greater investment, both domestically and through assistance from donors and international research organizations.”

Local groups across Africa know what local farmers need. By listening to these stakeholders, private companies, national governments and international collaborative efforts can find ways to be good partners, bringing about change on a scale that local groups can’t accomplish alone. These partnerships can help decrease food insecurity across Africa and transform the future of the continent for the long term.

The future of food in Africa

Imagine it: a farmer in Kenya learns to read. She’s able to take advantage of educational materials and research that help her grow her crops more efficiently, with higher yields and healthier soils for her specific growing conditions. She’s given the resources she needs to put these findings into practice, thanks to partnerships between her local government and private companies. She’s able to feed her family and even has a surplus to help feed others, contribute to a food bank or sell for a profit. She’s valued and respected as an expert; she shares her knowledge with other farmers nearby, and she helps build communities that are more food-secure — and the ripple effects continue to spread.

By investing in her, we invest in the future of Africa. That’s how we transform the future of food: one farmer at a time.

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When it comes to our priorities in life, our day-to-day concerns can often take precedence over our long-term goals. We are constantly focused on what is happening right now, in our careers, families, social lives and more. Very rarely do we take the time, or even get the opportunity, to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. However, when we do get to take this broader view, it is only then that we begin to observe the issues that not only affect ourselves but the world and the people around us. And not only can we identify these challenges, but we can also engage with them and develop the opportunities and solutions that will help us all for generations to come.

This was one of the main themes of “Economics and Health: A Natural Connection,” an in-depth keynote discussion between Alltech president and CEO Dr. Mark Lyons and Irish economist, author and university lecturer David McWilliams during the Alltech ONE Ideas Conference. Over the course of their conversation, the two speakers discussed a range of different countries that significantly influence global agriculture and assessed how their current and potential agricultural practices could affect the world as we know it.

“How do we become what will be described as ‘good ancestors,’” asked McWilliams, “so people in the future can look back at us and say, ‘They left the place in good nick’?”

This conversation came on the heels of a new animation project between Alltech and McWilliams. In a series of short videos, the two teamed up to focus on different nations’ economies in a quest to understand them better and learn how our histories and ideas are interrelated.

“We thought it would be a good way to look at what's the big global challenge,” McWilliams explained. “What are the historic, what are the momentous events going on? And then (we can) say, ‘Okay, how do these percolate down into countries big and small, major producers but also small, nimble producers?”

The outcome of this journey into world economics has been the revelation that everything is connected and that we all have a part to play in the betterment of our planet.

“What the (COVID-19) pandemic has told us is that none of us are alone, none of us can isolate ourselves, and the world is kind of smaller than we thought — and more interrelated,” McWilliams continued.

United States: Going back to its agricultural roots

The first of these country-focused animations looked at the United States. In the video, McWilliams pointed out that:

• The U.S. agriculture output tripled between 1948 and 2015, with enormous gains in efficiency.
• Around 90% of farmers cannot make a living off of their land alone.
• Agriculture only contributes to 7.5% of total U.S. greenhouse gases, far below the 30% attributed to cars.

Taking all of this information into account, McWilliams insisted that the U.S. itself will be the source of change in our environmental future.

“I think American culture is changing, at least when you see it from the outside,” explained McWilliams when asked his thoughts on the current Biden administration and what it means for the future of the U.S. “He's saying, ‘There's no point being wealthy if the wealth is only (in the hands of) a small minority. The wealth has to trickle down to everybody else. And if it doesn't trickle down, we're going to force it up.’”

What President Biden understands, according to McWilliams, is that the environment and inequality are the important issues and that they need to be addressed in order for the world to move forward, even if that goes against previously held beliefs.

“We are now at this phenomenal, intergenerational tipping point that the older generation isn't quite getting and the younger generation hasn't quite articulated,” said McWilliams. “But what it is is a change of macroeconomic policy, and what is driving the entire thing is this idea that we cannot simply be a gratification mindset, all of us together.

“We cannot have an immediate gratification mindset, which is ‘me, mine, my balance sheet, my profit margin, etc.,’” he continued. “We have to have a legacy mindset that we are, as I said at the top of the animation, we're just custodians. We're only passing through, right?”

McWilliams also highlighted the Biden administration’s understanding that the farming community is key to addressing these issues, especially regarding the country’s environmental impact. He said that the president realizes that agriculture is the solution to meeting carbon-neutral targets in the future. With this in mind, McWilliams believes U.S. agriculture is about to go through an enormous change, reinstating confidence and self-belief in the industry that has been missing for a long time.

“Before the industrial age, before the electricity age, before the internet age, there was agriculture,” McWilliams stated. “And agriculture will be the industry of the future, because only agriculture can naturally bring us to carbon neutrality. So, I think it's a really exciting time.”

Brazil: Re-telling the story

When it comes to feeding the world, Brazil is at the forefront. The South American country is:

• The largest exporter of beef and chicken meat globally.
• The world’s fourth-largest producer of swine.
• The largest exporter of soybeans and coffee.
• The biggest global producer of sugar and ethanol.
• The most widespread exporter and producer of orange juice, claiming over half of the global market.

But, according to the animation created by Alltech and McWilliams, Brazil has often failed to spread the good news stories of its agri-food industry. While its soybean farmers may feed billions, we only ever hear nightmarish stories of them forcing cattle ranchers off their land and allowing the rainforest to be destroyed. The video suggests that maybe now is the time for Brazil to reassess its legacy and to show how, rather being than part of the problem, its agricultural industry is actually integral to the global solution.

McWilliams is convinced that as long as Brazil can improve the messaging, it could be at the forefront of agricultural and environmental change.

“It seemed to me that if Brazil gets its agriculture right, the world gets its agriculture right,” explained McWilliams. “And what happens in Brazil will happen elsewhere around the developing world.”

However, he believes that the country first has to get its story right. He suggested that Brazil has to focus on aggressively positive messaging, revealing to people how much of what they eat comes from Brazil and how efficiently it is produced.

“And that, I think, is its challenge over the next 10 or 15 years, because it's clear that Brazil is going to go from strength to strength in terms of basic production,” concluded McWilliams. “The question is: Can it go from strength to strength in terms of people's perceptions of whether Brazil is a good environmental citizen?”

China: A changing economic and agricultural landscape

According to the next installment in this animation series, the next 30 years will be the most important in the history of agriculture. This will be mainly due to the changing economic and agricultural landscape of China and Asia as a whole.

The short video states that in order for China to succeed in becoming the world’s largest economy and military power, it must secure a sufficient food supply for its people and ensure that they are not subjected to inflated food prices. However, this is complicated by the fact that China has limited natural resources, particularly water. The outcome has been a transformation and modernization of Chinese agriculture, an industry that utilizes cutting-edge agriculture technology like no other country. This development has allowed China to stake its claim as the world’s most sustainable food producer.

Another huge trend in China and Asia as a whole, McWilliams pointed out, is that with newfound wealth comes a change in diet. This can be seen with upper-middle-class Asians, who are dining on a more Western diet of beef and dairy instead of traditional tofu and rice. This shift in taste is another indicator of how the continent will influence food and agriculture production and the supply chain as we move forward.

“The future is one whereby China will try and do whatever it can to make sure that its agricultural production remains high and/or that it can buy in food,” McWilliams explained.

Ireland: The benefits of modernizing agriculture

When considering a list of some of the biggest agri-food producers and consumers on the planet, you could be forgiven for thinking that the addition of this small island on the edge of the Atlantic was a clerical error. But Ireland is a significant player when it comes to the global agriculture industry. According to the animation focusing on the island, Ireland’s geographic location and climate make it the perfect place for healthy grass growth. And with healthy grass growth comes healthy cows. This amounts to a total of $13 billion in annual food exports.

However, there are large stumbling blocks scattered along Ireland’s path to energy-efficient and sustainable food production. One is the commonly encountered misconception that the solution to reducing carbon emissions is to reduce food production — something that McWilliams said the European Union is pushing but that he believes is a mistake.

“In order for the European Union to get an aggregate reduction in carbon emissions,” McWilliams evaluated, “it would seem to me much more logical to favor those countries that have had an evolutionary or ecological or environmental gift, in order to actually produce more, not less, in places like this, because your input/output ratio is so much lower here (in Ireland) than it is either in the parched Mediterranean or in the frozen tundra of the North.”

McWilliams believes that in order for Irish agriculture to modernize and grow, it needs to take a leaf out of the book of one of Ireland’s leading sectors: technology, which generates over $25 billion in exports. He said in the animation that embracing innovation could cultivate new agricultural breakthroughs, making Ireland the most resource-efficient, carbon-neutral, sustainable food producer on Earth — something which, in turn, could produce a new export: incredibly valuable ag-tech.

In concluding the discussion, McWilliams reiterated that everything in economics is interrelated and that positive change now will lead to further growth in the future, allowing us to leave a positive legacy for generations to come.

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When he was 26 years old, Dewitt Jones walked into the headquarters of the famed National Geographic magazine as its newest photographer in what, amazingly, was his first professional photography job.

“I remember standing there in the lobby … surrounded by the most beautiful photographs I'd ever seen in my life,” recalled Jones in his keynote address at the 2021 Alltech ONE Ideas Conference. “How was I ever going to prove myself, (prove) that I was worthy of working there?”

Despite his fears, Jones did more than prove himself; his eye for detail and stunning images have made him one of the premier photojournalists in the world. He worked as a freelance photographer for National Geographic for 20 years, and his photography has also been featured in global advertising campaigns for such powerhouse clients as Canon and United Airlines.

And his talents don’t stop at still photography: As a filmmaker, Jones had garnered two nominations for Best Documentary at the Academy Awards before he turned 30 years old.

So, how did Jones overcome his fears and establish such an incredible portfolio of work? As he explained in his presentation, he believes that the key to success is following four steps that reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary and provide a fresh perspective on life:

• Training your technique
• Putting yourself in the place of most potential
• Allowing yourself to be open to possibilities
• Focusing your vision to celebrate what’s right in the world

“When I applied these four techniques, I made some incredible images,” Jones said. “I locked in those images by always beginning by celebrating what was best … and letting the rest fall away.”

1. Train your technique

“Vision without technique is blind,” Jones said. “It's fine to have a brilliant idea, but if you don't have the technique … to manifest it, you have nothing.”

As a photographer, for Jones, honing his technique meant taking thousands of photos in the quest to get the handful of images that would resonate most with readers.    

“When I worked for (National) Geographic, the average article was shot in 400 rolls of film. That's over 14,000 images to get the 30 that go on an article,” Jones explained. “(But) I don't care how many shots it takes. We all know when those right answers come into focus … but you're not going to get (them) unless you're willing to press out on the edge of your own comfortable envelope to take the risk.

“It is not trespassing to go beyond your own boundaries,” he added.  

Jones also emphasized the importance of focusing on perfecting your own technique, not on trying to be better than others or doing what everyone else is doing — a lesson he learned from Bob Gilka, who was the head of photography at National Geographic when Jones was hired.

“He said, ‘You know, Dewitt, the people who photograph for (this magazine) are the best in the world. And you're one of them now,’” Jones remembered. “‘You don't have to prove yourself … but by God, every day, you had better improve yourself. I want you to spend every day trying to be better than you were yesterday.’

“He changed the way I did everything from that day forward,” Jones said.

By focusing on improving our own techniques and strengths instead of worrying about how we measure up to others, Jones argued, we can free ourselves from our hang-ups.

“When we really are doing that improving, not proving, believing that there's more than one right answer (and) reframing obstacles into opportunities, that's when we'll begin to lose all our fear of mistakes or setbacks,” he said.

2. Put yourself in the place of most potential

No matter what your career or passion, Jones said, your chances of achieving great success are slim if you don’t put yourself in a place of great potential. For Jones, that meant literally traveling to locations with the most potential for finding the perfect shot.

“If nature is going to open up multiple windows of opportunity, where do I have the best chance of finding them?” Jones would ask himself. “There are 1,000 ways to come at any challenge to find that extraordinary view.”

Jones recalled one particular photo assignment where things weren’t going exactly as he’d hoped — but by being open to the location’s great potential, as well as to advice from someone who knew the place well, Jones was able to get even better pictures than he’d anticipated.

While on location in Scotland to shoot a campaign for Dewar’s Scotch, the weather wasn’t what Jones had planned for — but a local fisherman advised him that if he came back the next day, he might see something extraordinary, albeit unexpected.

“He said, ‘You know, laddie, there was mist on the water this morning. That's unusual for this time of year.’ And I climbed all over it,” Jones recalled. “I want to be in the place of most potential. So, I'm out there two hours before dawn, and when the light starts coming up, I got the boats, and I got the fishermen. … I got my first right answer, (and) they just kept coming.”

3. Be open to possibilities

Even if you do put yourself in the place of most potential, Jones argued, it won’t make a difference if you aren’t open to the possibilities and what the world has to offer.   

“When the great photographer Minor White would go out to photograph, he would never say, ‘What will I take today?’” Jones recalled. “Rather, he would ask, ‘What will I be given today?’ And I would add: Will I be open enough to see it?”

For photographers, the possibilities are endless — but over the course of his career, Jones noticed that many people mistakenly believe that there’s only so much beauty to go around.

“Mother Nature never stood in front of a forest and said, ‘There is one great photograph hidden here. One photographer will find it, and the rest of you will be hopeless losers,’” Jones said. “No, nature says, ‘How many rolls you got, Dewitt? Bring it on! … I'll fill it up with beauty and possibility beyond your wildest imaginings, right down to my tiniest seed.’”

Along with being open to all of the possibilities, Jones argued that being willing to look for the next right answer instead of believing that there’s only one right answer is not only transformational — it is “the key to creativity.”

“So many things begin to change when you come at the world from that perspective,” Jones explained. “As you press on, looking for that next right answer, … you do so not in terror but comfortably knowing it's going to be there for you. And you really do begin to embrace change rather than fear it. You really do hit the day with a sense of possibility, not paralysis. And you just get more and more comfortable with reframing an obstacle into an opportunity.”

4. Focus your vision by celebrating what’s right

Jones saved his most important step for last, positing that how you see the world — and what you choose to focus on — will affect everything else in your life.  

“It's your vision that's going to make you a success, because vision controls our perception — and our perception becomes our reality,” Jones said.  

Jones began cultivating a vision of positivity when he was hired by National Geographic, who always encouraged him to focus his camera lens on the good instead of the bad.

“What they charged me with, every time they sent me out, was to celebrate what was right with the world,” Jones said. “I mean, why do you think we keep those silly yellow magazines? It's a national sacrilege to throw one away! Why? Because they celebrate what's right with the world.”

Jones acknowledged that it’s not always easy to find — or even look for — the positive, especially in the midst of overwhelming struggles, like the COVID-19 pandemic. But he still encourages everyone to try.

“I'm not going to deny that there's very real pain and suffering in the world,” Jones said. “But if I'm in love with life, I've got a lot more energy to face (it). By celebrating what's right, we find the energy to fix what's wrong. And (it’s) so important … to have a vision that will give us energy at a time when so many things are trying to take it away.”

Even when focusing on the good doesn’t come easily, Jones believes that we can become champions of finding the positive in the world the same way we become proficient in anything: practice, practice, practice.

“Unless you … make it a practice, it's not going to change your life,” Jones acknowledged. “This means that, every day, you have to consciously say, ‘I am going to celebrate what's right in my life.’”

So, how do you begin celebrating the good? In Jones’ opinion, it helps to tap into your passions — that is, things that “fill (your) cup”. This can be anything from sports to music to good conversations, and everything in between. It’s just a matter of finding it in your own life.

“You're going to have to go out and say …, ‘I just had an amazing interaction with my friends. I just saw the sunset. I just read a good book,’” Jones suggested. “Whatever it is that fills your cup up to where you overflow (and) you say, ‘These are things that make me glad to be alive.’”

By taking all four of these steps in our lives, Jones truly believes that we can change our perspective — and, ultimately, change the world.

“We can celebrate the best in every situation and every person every day,” Jones said. “We'll have the tools and the vision to face any challenge … while celebrating, with gratitude and with grace, all that we've been given. That perspective, that vision, it will change your life, as it has changed mine.”

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“As a society, globally, we seem to be struggling with finding a universally agreed-upon set of facts,” said Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, at the opening of the Alltech ONE Ideas Conference (ONE) on June 22. “With more data at our fingertips, we find it even harder to agree upon the truth.”

A few years ago, a book called “Factfulness” was shared with Dr. Lyons, and it transformed his perspective of the world. Since then, the book has been featured twice in the Alltech virtual book club, and hundreds of copies have been given away to Alltech colleagues and friends around the world.

The book was written by Hans Rosling in collaboration with his son, Ola Rosling, and his daughter-in-law, Anna Rosling Rönnlund. Together, they founded Gapminder to combat misconceptions and present facts, global trends and data in a way that everybody can understand. Rönnlund is also the founder of Dollar Street, which reflects her own passion for photography by using images and videos to promote a fact-based view of the world.

“What if we are wrong about the world?” asked Anna Rosling Rönnlund, the first keynote speaker at ONE this year. “How can we then make sure we do the right things?”

What are the facts about what’s happening around the world?

The world is full of problems. Climate change and COVID-19 are two hot topics, to name a few. To check whether conference attendees’ worldview was up to date, Rönnlund carried out a short quiz with 18 multiple-choice questions on topics that varied from suicide to low-income countries, farming and plastic waste. You can take the quiz here.

The following facts are true:

1. The suicide rate decreased by 25% over the past 20 years.

2. 9% of countries are low-income countries now.

3. 6% of plastic waste ends up in the ocean.

Below are the results of ONE participant responses comparing to the facts:

On average, attendees only answered 4.7 of the 18 questions correctly. The results demonstrated that our perspective of the world is often not based on facts and, as a result, can cloud our judgment.

What causes a skewed worldview?

Rönnlund gave three explanations for how misconceptions are often generated:

1 .The things we learned in school have become outdated.

2. What we see around us is a narrow slice of reality.

3. The news is overdramatic — we only hear about extraordinary events, instead of things like, “Yesterday, all trains were on time again.”

How can we update our worldview?

1. Get a reality check.

To broaden our horizon and see the truth about ordinary things, Rönnlund suggested that we pay attention to what’s happening in reality as well.

“We need to look at how people really sleep, how they brush their teeth, where they go to the toilet even,” said Rönnlund. “We need to see that everyday reality (in order) to understand that most of us are having everyday struggles that look pretty much the same, even though we might be in different countries and on different income levels.”

You can see pictures of items and activities from households with different income levels around the world here.

2. Look at the data.

“But that (seeing everyday reality) is not enough. We also need to look at the data,” Rönnlund noted before sharing 32 things that have improved in the world over time.

For example, legal slavery has decreased dramatically, deaths due to disasters have all but disappeared, fewer children are dying, more kids are getting vaccinated and there are more movies to choose from.

“So, a lot of things are actually improving, but we’re very bad at seeing these slow trends on a global level,” said Rönnlund. “Instead, we see the media, and we see the drama all around us.”

The world is, in so many ways, getting better. However, there are still many problems to solve. The danger of being wrong about data and global trends is that we might end up solving the wrong problems — or solving them in the wrong order.

3. Trick your brain.

Even when we are highly educated and know the facts, the world keeps changing. In addition, our brains love dramatic stories more than the truth about global trends. We need to trick our brains to be smarter without spending too much time learning.

With this in mind, the authors of “Factfulness” developed the 10 Rules of Thumb to control the dramatic instincts in our minds.

What are the 10 Factfulness Rules of Thumb?

1. The Gap Instinct: We tend to think about the world as divided, such as either poor or rich. The majority, however, is in the middle.

2. The Negativity Instinct: Our brains might think things keep getting worse because of what we hear, but sometimes, we should ask ourselves: Would an improvement get publicity?

3. The Straight Line Instinct: When we see a trend, we tend to think it will continue. However, many lines bend.

4. The Fear Instinct: Often, we see and search for stories that are dramatic and interesting, but our brains overdramatize reality.

5. The Size Instinct: Everything we hear on a global level seems to be huge because the numbers add up. But we need to compare, divide and put things in perspective.

6. The Generalization Instinct: For example, we tend to group people together and think they are all the same, even if they have different backgrounds.

7. The Destiny Instinct: Thinking that nothing can be done because of destiny is a bad ground for doing change work.

8. The Single Instinct: We tend to think that we have a hammer, and we want to use it on everything we see. To make smart decisions, however, we need to use a toolbox.

9. The Blame Instinct: This is our instinct of pointing fingers at certain people, forcing them to bear the guilt for things going bad.

10. The Urgency Instinct: We often feel the urge to do something big immediately upon hearing about dramatic events happening around us. “There is a risk of doing the wrong thing and doing too much of it, which might cause problems rather than fix them,” said Rönnlund. “What we need to do is to take one step at a time and keep evaluating and keep looking at it.”

How can we support a fact-based view of the world?

1. Foster data literacy by providing transparent and free data.

2. Make the world more understandable by visualizing data, especially in schools. “We need to serve the brain enough excitement so it’s interested enough to keep listening, and (we should) stay true to the facts and ensure we are not overexaggerating anything,” advised Rönnlund.

3. Be humble and curious. “You don't want to be looked at as someone who’s … wrong, but according to the testing we have done, we’ve seen that most people are wrong in most industries, in most ages, in most educational levels,” shared Rönnlund. “I think, if we are humble and curious and start looking for the data, we will find data, because it is existing.”

4. Keep upgrading our worldview, because the world keeps changing, and so do the facts about it. A lot of data is freely available from big organizations online. “We need to foster this new habit with curiosity and humility, looking for facts, and keep updating them,” said Rönnlund. “It’s not a small thing, because it’s about rewiring the way we think as a species, but I think we have to start doing it.”

5. Beware of unreliable data. Most information around us is not fake, but we get it wrong anyway. We also now have to deal with fake news. Be sure to check your sources.   

6. Reach out beyond your network. When it comes to social media, look for friends of your friends or distant relatives to widen your point of view. Explore other fields of interest to broaden your understanding of how people see things differently.

Fun facts from the Q&A session

• Rönnlund started writing “Factfulness” with her husband, Ola, and father-in-law, Hans, after the three of them worked closely together on Gapminder for more than 10 years to make the world easier to understand.
• Their collaboration began after a family dinner, where Hans shared his struggle to explain global health to medical students. At first, Rönnlund and Ola helped Hans simplify the information by creating more appealing visuals. Then, together, they started to innovate and find better ways to teach global health and development to a bigger audience.
• The three authors wrote about five big risks for the future in “Factfulness,” and the number-one risk was a global pandemic.
• People can be happy with what they know about the world, and it’s hard to change or upgrade that knowledge. The writers focused on two things: first, what people are most often wrong about, which they determined by screening populations with factual questions, and second, why we have such a hard time understanding the world around us, which they explored by looking at the brain.
• Rönnlund and Ola are continuing Hans’ legacy by creating new content and new factual questions so that people can stay updated on different topics. They are working to create more teaching materials that can be used in the classroom.  

“Factfulness is recognizing that a single perspective can limit your imagination,” said Dr. Lyons in the conclusion of the session. “And remember that it is better to look at problems from many different angles. When we see the world in this way, we truly become possible-ists, people who can really see clearly how progress can be made, the potential ahead, and make sure that we can play a role in making it better.”

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In the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic, many people are understandably concerned about their health and are looking for ways to decrease the likelihood that they will get sick in the future. Fortunately, there are several easy steps we can all take to improve our health right now and protect ourselves from illness down the road.

Amy Goodson, a registered dietician, addressed this subject at the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience with a presentation entitled “Preexisting Conditions: Health and Immunity in a Post-COVID-19 World.” In this presentation, Amy outlined five major preexisting medical conditions that can increase everyone’s risk of disease. However, she also included easy ways to decrease your likelihood of getting sick.

“There are so many things that you can start doing today to lower your risk for any type of disease,” she said.

5 big illnesses to keep an eye on

The five primary diseases and issues that increase everyone’s risk of disease are:

• Obesity
• Heart disease
• Hypertension
• Type 2 diabetes
• Lack of exercise

“All of these things together can really put a person in that vulnerable population or at a greater risk to suffer when it comes to other diseases and health concerns,” said Amy.

Despite how overwhelming it may feel to try to take on these significant issues, Amy assured that there are reasonable and straightforward ways to gradually move toward better health.

“A lot of times, people hear, ‘Oh, you should lower your risk for heart disease or for diabetes,’ and they don't know how to do that,” she acknowledged. “We're going to dial in on some easy, practical tips and help you set an action plan so that you can move forward into the next healthy step for you.”

1. Obesity

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2016, around 650 million people were categorized as obese. Being obese can impact other aspects of human health as well, elevating a person’s risk for heart disease, stroke, insulin resistance and even some kinds of cancers.

So, how can we combat a condition that is so widespread? According to Amy, the upside is that, for most people, obesity is preventable, and weight is something that can be controlled by taking three simple but crucial steps: “Eat healthier, eat less and move more.”

Some of Amy’s recommendations for eating a healthier diet include consuming more nutrient-dense foods, eating a carbohydrate and a protein at every meal and snack and following the “80/20 rule” — that is, sticking to the health guidelines 80% of the time and splurging on higher-calorie foods or sweets 20% of the time. After all, man cannot live on vegetables alone, and even registered dieticians like Amy do not recommend trying to.

“We want you to be on an eating plan that you can really maintain throughout the rest of your life,” she said.

2. Heart disease

The WHO estimates that 17.9 million people die every year from cardiovascular disease, accounting for 31% of all deaths worldwide.

While some people have a higher risk of heart disease based on their family history, there are simple ways we can all keep our hearts healthy. One of the most important things to do, according to Amy, is to “know your numbers” — that is, your cholesterol, your triglycerides and other important measurements you can learn by visiting the doctor’s office. 

“Many people think they're healthy, and they haven't been to the doctor in years, so it's very important that you go see your physician,” said Amy.

Some other ways to improve your heart health are increasing your fiber intake, consuming more “good” unsaturated fats — like those found in olive oil, avocados and nuts — and eating less “bad” trans fats, which are often found in processed and fried foods.

3. Hypertension

In 2015, 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women around the world reportedly had hypertension, or high blood pressure — and even more alarmingly, less than 1 in 5 of those people had the problem under control, which explains why hypertension is one of the leading causes of premature death.

Much of the advice for mitigating the risk of obesity and heart disease also rings true for decreasing blood pressure or managing hypertension, including moving more and eating healthier foods, especially those with less sodium. As Amy reinforced, it all comes back to taking the small steps that have a big impact.

“What we want to do today is focus on or change what we can control,” she said.

Some of those changes include taking 10,000 steps every day and reducing your sodium intake, which many doctors recommend keeping under 2,300 milligrams per day.

4. Type 2 diabetes

“There are millions (of people in the world) — more than the whole population of the United States — (who) have diabetes, so this is something that concerns me,” Amy said.  

A person is diagnosed with diabetes when their blood sugar levels are too high. Type 2 diabetes results from the body’s resistance to insulin, a hormone that helps transform sugar into energy. This differs from type 1 diabetes, which is often diagnosed in childhood and is the result of the body not being able to make insulin at all.

Hundreds of millions of people have an elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which is associated with a host of other health problems, including damaged nerves, worsening eyesight, foot sores and kidney failure.

Much like with the other major health risks, the key to avoiding or managing type 2 diabetes is eating more healthy foods. Amy explained the importance of “shaping a healthy plate,” which should include a carbohydrate (e.g., whole grains), a protein (such as lean meats) and a fat (like avocados) at every meal, along with plenty of vegetables.

5. Lack of exercise

“We know that, globally, 1 in 4 adults do not get enough exercise,” said Amy. “We need everyone across the world to get moving more.”

Along with the obvious benefits of exercise, such as developing muscle mass and managing weight, insufficient physical activity is a key risk factor for developing non-communicable diseases, like cancer and diabetes. However, as many people know, starting an exercise routine often feels like a hurdle as tall as Mount Everest.

“If it was easy, everybody would be doing it,” said Amy, “(but) there's a lot of practical ways that you can begin to include activity in your day on a regular basis.”  

To reduce the risk of chronic disease, Amy recommended that adults exercise at a moderate intensity level for at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week. That doesn’t necessarily mean exercising for 30 minutes in one go; it could mean taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further away from an entrance and doing sit-ups during commercial breaks while watching TV.

For those who need more motivation to get moving, Amy pointed out that exercise has health benefits that go beyond the physical: it has been scientifically proven to elevate a person’s mood. 

“We live in a world that's stressful, and exercise is a healthy way to really relieve some of that stress and anxiety that many of us experience,” Amy said.

Taking the first step

So, what can you start doing now to decrease your risk for these illnesses and their negative side effects? For Amy, it’s all about starting small.

“I'm a big believer that small changes, made consistently, can add up to big results,” she said.  

Develop a personal action plan that will mesh with your life. Some of your first steps might include:

• Setting one or two small goals and working to make those a habit over the next month
• Going to the doctor
• Aiming to get three planned days of exercise a week

Amy also recommended finding an “accountability partner” or someone who can help motivate you to stay on track as you begin the journey to better health.

“It's hard to choose the best (food) options and exercise, but oftentimes, if you have someone to do it with you, it makes it a little bit easier,” she said.

Just like with COVID-19, protecting yourself from these five major health risks can seem daunting — but starting small can lead to significant changes in the long run.

“I just want to encourage you to take a step -- whatever that step is, and it's going to be different for everybody,” she said. “It doesn't have to be a big step. But small steps really can create healthy habits so that, in the future, you're not in that vulnerable population.”

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As a futurist, Jack Bobo works to stay ahead of consumer trends by detecting the disruptors that trigger them. We spoke with him about the rapidly changing global food supply chain, what will impact future trends in agriculture and what he believes is in store for the future of food production and consumer habits.

The following is an edited transcript of the Ag Future podcast episode with Jack Bobo hosted by Tom Martin. Click below to hear the full audio.

Tom:            The agricultural landscape was rapidly changing even before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the global food supply chain. The way we produce, distribute, and consume food will soon look very different. What lessons can we take away from this to guide how we feed the planet in the future?

                     As the CEO of Futurity, Jack Bobo makes it his business to stay ahead of the trends and detect the disruptors that trigger them. He joins us to share his insights on the challenges and opportunities awaiting us in the next era of agriculture. Welcome, Jack.

Jack:             Thank you for having me.

Tom:            First, if you would just help us calibrate our expectations. What is the role of a futurist?

Jack:             Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, a lot of us think about the future, but we're not necessarily thinking about what's going to happen 10 or 20 years from now and what that's going to mean for our children and future generations. Part of what I try to do is to help people not just look ahead for next year, but how do you look around the corner of what's happening.

                     Sometimes, I describe it this way. Imagine you're in a car and you look in the rearview mirror. Well, that's what hindsight is, and then you look through the windshield. Well, that's foresight. You can see a certain distance down the road, but insight comes from the GPS because that's what tells us what's around the corners. For a futurist, that's what we try to do. We try to not just look at the trends that everybody else are talking about, but what are the forces that shape the trends. That's how you get ahead of a trend so you don't get run over by them.

Tom:            How do you identify those forces?

Jack:             Well, what we do is we look for signals. There's a science fiction writer named William Gibson and he would say, "The future is already here. It's just not widely distributed." So what we're doing is we're looking around at what are those innovations that have the opportunity to scale and have a broader impact. Once you do that then you want to try to figure out how do those signals connect to each other. Let me give you an example. Today, people think about robotics all the time and they think about things like AI, artificial intelligence. Well, when you take artificial intelligence and you put it together with a physical embodiment, well, that's what a robot is. You're putting together two ideas and forming something new.

                     Another way of thinking about it is people often worry about robotics taking away jobs and that's one order of magnitude separation, but what about the fact that we manufacture a lot of things in China because labor is cheap? Well, if robotics comes along and reduces the cost of labor, why are we even producing things in China anymore? Because then transportation becomes a much bigger part of the challenge. So why not bring all that production back to the United States or Ireland or other parts of the world?

                     What we're really trying to do is we're looking for those little things that other people are talking about and then we connect them in interesting ways and it gives us insights that we wouldn't have otherwise had if we try to follow that trend directly at the single line.

Tom:            This is fascinating, so you crunch data, you watch trends, you have all sorts of resources. Can you tell us what the trendscape, if you will, what it looked like as the world -- we're just beginning to come to grips with the meaning of the term "pandemic". What sorts of behaviors peculiar to such a crisis have you observed?

Jack:             Yeah. What I'm seeing is some trends are accelerating, some trends are decelerating, and some trends are being disrupted. An example of a trend that's being accelerated, well, we were already moving to online purchases of foods and other goods, but if you look at the month before the pandemic hit, only about 5% of Americans were purchasing their food online. A month or two later, 40% of people had tried purchasing food online. When it comes to things like online purchases, it's a huge barrier to get people to try that for the very first time. It's pretty easy to get them to try it again if they have a good experience. And so we actually just compressed five to ten years of growth in online food purchases into two months and that's something that's going to have a long-term impact. It changes the dynamics of where people purchase food. Of those purchases, nearly 50% of those people were purchasing online for the first time, and of those, Walmart captured about 60% of that opportunity. There are really interesting dynamics that are happening because of that and it's shifting the landscape.

                     If we look at food purchases before the pandemic, most people were beginning to eat food outside of the home, more than half of food purchases, but of course, after the pandemic, almost everybody's eating their food at home. This is a trend that has a potential of staying power and it shifts the direction that things were going and has moved them backwards to a different place. This is a trend that's going to have a long-term staying power because of the economic implications of the pandemic as well. Coming out of this, people aren't going to have as much disposable income, they're more likely to go back to basics, and this is going to have ripple effects through production, how we consume food, nutrition, and how we engage with food and culture as well.

Tom:            Let me pick up on that term "long-term consequences" because they're so fascinating to try to contemplate right now not only economic, not only social, but also mental and psychological. They're all linked to the myriad of changes that are being forced upon us by this outbreak. Do you see anything there of consequence?

Jack:             Yes. Well, it seems like every two weeks, there's a new sort of psychological aspect to this conversation. During the first couple of weeks, I was talking to people about panic buying and retail therapy, and then I started talking about are there food shortages happening, and then we were talking about food production squeezes. Now, we're beginning to look forward and say what are the longer term implications to our food supply and how we produce food that are going to come out of this, and so there are definitely consequences.

                     How people think about food, well, when you look at what people are purchasing, there's this trend back to basics. People are looking for foods that create comfort. Before the pandemic, big brands, big food was considered a bad thing. People were looking for small niche startups, things like that that were interesting and cool. Now, all of a sudden, the fact that you're buying brands that you were buying 20 years ago or when you were a child is bringing comfort to people, and so that's changing how they're thinking about the food brands that they buy.

Tom:            It's still very early in this crisis to be able to make definitive statements about what I'm about to ask, Jack, but I wonder if at this stage, you are already able to see what sorts of consequences are in store for Generation Z.

Jack:             I think people haven't quite wrapped their minds around the fact that this is the biggest economic impact since the Great Depression. Obviously, the Great Depression marked an entire generation of people who even today, their purchases and spending patterns are influenced by what happened to them back in the 1930s and early '40s. I don’t think most people grasp the fact that many young people today are going to have just as much of an impact on how they view the world.

                     For students who are at universities and are graduating this fall, but also for the next five or ten years, they're going to be entering the worst economic climate since the Depression in trying to find jobs. People were already struggling a little bit -- younger individuals -- to find jobs who've just been out of college, and so that's going to be dramatically more challenging for them. You have to remember that the income that you have in your first five or so years out of college really determines how much income you're going to have when you're retiring, so the impact on their financial well-being will reverberate through their entire lives.

Tom:            Okay. Let's turn to how COVID-19 is revealing some issues in the ways we get the right food to the right people at the right price. What have these disruptions shown us about our food systems?

Jack:             Well, I think they've definitely shown that there are some vulnerabilities in the way that we've been producing food. Historically, there has been an emphasis on the efficiency of our food supply and for really good reasons. If you go back 50 years, about a third of all the people in the world went to bed hungry every night. By 2020, only about 12% of the people on the planet were going to bed hungry, so efficiency has done an amazing job of raising people out of poverty and improving health and nutrition. On the other hand, that consolidation of our food supply system has an impact when there's a disruption to it.

                     If you have only a handful of companies that are producing the livestock products in the country and one facility is shut down, that can impact 5% of all production and then that becomes a bottleneck for the entire food system. A repercussion of that is that with that shortage then consumers end up paying more for their food, so just a 5% disruption can raise prices for the consumer.

                     On the other side of that equation though, livestock producers have fewer places to send their animals, and so all of a sudden, they're getting paid less money for each head of cattle. Think about that. Consumers are paying more and the people producing the food are getting paid less, and so that sends terrible signals to our market. It encourages people who produce food to produce less just at a time when we actually need more. So we're going to have to figure out how to maintain the efficiency of our system, which we need, but to add to it a resilience that's currently lacking.

Tom:            Is this what you're talking about when you described friction in our food systems or is that something else?

Jack:             Yes, that's one example of friction in our food system. Another would be when workers get sick, that's one example, but also drivers for transportation. If they're sick and they're not able to move the food from one place to another, the people that are working in the retail space are also a risk point or pressure point for this food system. Ports are also a place where there could be pressure, export markets, import markets. Each of these, if there's just a little bit of impact of the pandemic on them, just 1% or 2% then that has a ripple effect because it creates a friction that disrupts that entire chain from the farmer in Indonesia to your dinner plate.

Tom:            You touched on this just a few minutes ago, but I'm wondering if you could elaborate on it, how the consumer mindset has been changed and where you think it's going in regards to food trends.

Jack:             Well, one important outcome from this is that consumers are paying far more attention to our food systems than they ever had. Something that I often talk about is how consumers have never cared more nor known less how their food is produced. Well, that was true before the pandemic. Now, all of a sudden, people do have a better sense of how their food is produced, and because they're paying attention to that, that means that they're likely to ask for changes in that food system, so the relationship of the consumer to the food supply has been forever changed.

Tom:            Well, as a result of the stay-at-home imperative of the pandemic, farmers have been forced to euthanize millions of hogs and chickens, give away tons of unwanted potatoes or even plow them under, pour out enough milk to fill a small lake. Restaurants have closed of course all over the country that's thrown the food industry into chaos. It has convulsed the very specialized supply chains that are struggling to adjust. In light of all that, what does the future of farming and food production hold?

Jack:             Well, a lot of that goes to the question of the resilience and having diversified food systems so that if you're a farmer, you can sell not only to the retail market, but you can go to grocery stores or directly to the consumer. One outcome from this is that there are likely to be more direct consumer opportunities for farmers. That's a good thing because that gives farmers more opportunity to make a little bit more money when they're doing it, but it also helps them to explain to the consumer so that they can better understand how that food is produced. That's going to be a good connection that's coming out of all of this, but part of it is just the complexity of our food supply.

                     When we talk about having to euthanize animals, and pork industry is a good example of that, what people forget is that the animals that are going to slaughter this week, well, those sows were impregnated 300 days ago, and so the decisions that are being made today are decisions that really were being made 300 days ago. We need to keep that in mind because producers today have to decide, "Do I start to have the sows have a new litter today? Will there be a market for them a year from now?" People have to really think far into the future and that's just part of the complexity of our food supply, is people were thinking about this a year ago and now, we're seeing the benefits of their preparation, and what changes will they make though in this uncertain environment.

Tom:            Jack, at this early stage, who do you see coming out of this thing as winners and as losers?

Jack:             Well, I think that certainly online purchases are going to be big winners in all of this. The big food brands are coming out of this in a better position. Restaurants and small businesses are going to be hammered and that's going to be really unfortunate, and so I think we need to figure out ways of helping to maintain those smaller businesses because in many ways, small businesses are the engine of growth and it's going to be really impacted by all of this. I think the largest impact though still comes back to the financial implications for people that are going through such a massive financial challenge and that's going to again reverberate for a long time to come.

Tom:            Well, Jack, this is all so fascinating. I'd like to suggest that we revisit in about six months. Six months seems like another time zone for all of us. It's just incredible to think about what could happen in six months given all that's happened in only a few.

Jack:             Yes. Thank you. I really appreciate the conversation.

Tom:            Also, I have to imagine that going through life as a futurist must be pretty fascinating.

Jack:             Well, it's been a lot of fun because I get to work with a variety of organizations, associations, startups, big food brands, and I like to tell people that my personal mission is to de-escalate the tension in our food system so that we can all go about our business of saving the planet in our own way. I'm always excited to see what different organizations are doing in terms of their part of making the system better.

Tom:            Futurist and Futurity CEO, Jack Bobo. Thank you so much, Jack.

Jack:             Thank you.

Click here to register for the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience

Cady Coleman has spent more than 170 days in outer space on various missions and truly knows what it means to be isolated. Despite our differences, she says we are all on a mission together during these times of change and uncertainty. In this episode, Cady explains the importance of diversity within teams and how seeing other people’s perspectives can help us work better together and get through difficult times.

The following is an edited transcript of the Ag Future podcast episode with Cady Coleman, hosted by Tom Martin. Click below to hear the full audio.

Tom:                          This is Tom Martin. Welcome to Ag Future, presented by Alltech. Join us as we explore the challenges and opportunities facing the global food supply chain and speak with experts working to support a Planet of Plenty.

Mark:                          Hello and welcome to the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience. My name is Dr. Mark Lyons and I’m the president and CEO of Alltech. It's my great pleasure to welcome you to the first session of this event. For 35 years, ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference has been encouraging our attendees to think differently, to innovate in the face of disruption, and that's what we've done with our program this year: creating, for the first time, a virtual offering — something that we've been hoping to do for a number of years. At this time more than any other, these world-changing ideas, big-picture thinking and, more importantly, inspiration are perhaps what we all need a little bit of. So, we hope that these sessions are very useful for you, and we look forward to the interaction that we're going to have in our Q&A sessions. Fitting that this is our launch day, it seems most appropriate that our first keynote (speaker) has been to space and back.

Tom:                          Cady Coleman, chemist, two-time space shuttle astronaut and a pretty good flute player — we'll have more on that later — was aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule as part of a crew of three headed for the orbiting International Space Station on December 15, 2010.

Cady:                          It's an amazing ride. It's 8 and a half minutes to get to space. To me, as a person that just believes there's always more to define and explore in terms of ideas, in terms of horizons, in some ways, you know, even though I loved this ride, it's actually like the taxi to the place that we're really exploring, which was space.

Tom:                          In a virtual conversation with Alltech president and CEO Mark Lyons, Cady Coleman lifts us, in a time of so much turmoil, illness and uncertainty on our planet, to the unique and profound perspective of a perch looking down on Earth from 220 miles above.

Cady:                          To me, I used to think that space was someplace different — like, “I'm on Earth. I'm gonna go to space.” But actually arriving up there, it just made me realize that Earth and the place that we live is just bigger than we thought, and yet, it's home.

Tom:                          This is Cady’s story about experiencing half a year of living in weightlessness with five other people from very different countries and cultures.

Cady:                          People always feel kind of bad for us that it's small and terrible up in space. And I think they have this kind of image in mind. This is what the taxi ride looks like on the way up to space in the Russian Soyuz. So, I launched in and actually came back home to Russia for my stint up on the Space Station. And it is actually quite, quite tight. And even though it's only physically 8 and a half minutes to get there, to get to orbit, we actually spent, you know, hours and hours and hours practicing and getting ready and making sure we understand how to operate all the equipment in the Soyuz. So, it is small, but the Space Station itself is giant and huge.

Tom:                          How huge?

Cady:                          It's like 10 train cars all put together, but not just in a row; some are up, and then some are down, and some are sideways. And so, we have, really, these 10 train cars without the seats in them to be living in in that Space Station. We have really just a lot of room up there — privacy. And actually, we need all that room to keep all the equipment, to keep the experiments. I mean, storage is actually the biggest problem up there.

Tom:                          Okay. Let's back up just a bit. Cady mentioned practice. You don't just one day drop what you're doing and you board a rocket ship and escape Earth's gravity for almost a half-year aboard the Space Station.

Cady:                          So, I had some pretty exciting practice missions, so to speak. I got to live for 11 days underwater off the coast of Florida in the Aquarius Habitat. It's usually used for research, and it's also lent out to NASA for us to practice. Well, the other place that I got to do that is Antarctica, where I had a last-minute opportunity. I was the backup for this mission, and I had a last-minute opportunity to spend two and a half months in Antarctica. Six weeks of that was in a tent. There were four of us, two in each tent. And we were 200 miles from the South Pole. And I am not a camping girl. But where I wasn't camping girl, I sure am now. And that's the nice thing about these kind of jobs is they actually teach you all these things and how to stay safe — although I'm actually reminded of some of my lessons from Antarctica in terms of, you know, equipment and safety and, you know, for us to take your gloves off when you're outside as much as you want to.

                                    I mean, you’re wearing, you know, three layers of everything, and let’s say you have to go to the bathroom during the day, which is going to happen. You know, you’re just so tempted to take those gloves off, because it’d be so much easier — your zipper is Velcro, all those things — and (it was all about) learning that patience of just, “Slow is fast and I have more time than I think.”

Tom:                          Learning to survive in such unusual and uncomfortable conditions may have been the immediate goal, but for Cady, there was another benefit that would serve her well aboard the Space Station.

Cady:                          I’d say most of the lessons I learned were about people, about being a crew.

Tom:                          And that perspective about people learning to get along and cooperate, collaborate.

Cady:                          Forty different nations (are) working all together every day — it's an International Space Station — on work that can't be done anywhere else.

Tom:                          So, what's it like, day to day, living and working in zero gravity, where just the touch of a finger can send you literally flying across the entire Space Station?

Cady:                          It's like living the life of Peter Pan, and everything is different, and everything is a discovery, but we're still human. You know, we bring our own, you know, things that we love to do. We each have our own way of bringing that experience back home. And we each, as humans, look out at the Earth and get to think about what it means that we're in space and people are down on the Earth.

Tom:                          And Cady, displaying a photo of herself with her Space Station crewmates, tells us that this situation — six people from the U.S., Russia and Italy together in this fragile habitat, circling Earth — offers a lesson that can be lost in the demands, the routines and the realities of life.

Cady:                          Every single person in this picture, I guarantee you, feels like there's something about them that is theirs that they bring that other people either don't know, don't understand or aren't open to. And so, I think it's really important to think about that — especially now that we don't get to connect with each other as much as we used to, now that we're isolated to phone calls and Zoom meetings and things like that.

Tom:                          And here's where Cady’s story gets really interesting, bringing together the experience of a long-duration space mission with present-day conditions down below — a pandemic, racial injustice and the challenges of overcoming differences to work in collaboration.

Cady:                          (Here’s) a little bit about getting along as a crew, and I say this because I think all of us are, you know, in unusual circumstances right now in terms of isolation and it being, you know, smart to stay separated from friends and family sometimes, but also at work, at school. I mean, I think that all of us work in groups where we don't get to pick who we are working with.

Tom:                          During her presentation, Cady mentions a recent hit movie.

[Movie clip]

Tom:                          An important eye-opener for many, an affirmation of injustice for many others.

Cady:                          I show you this picture from the movie “Hidden Figures” because I think, first of all, if I was talking to you in person, I would ask who's seen this movie, and then I would implore those of you that didn't raise your hands to go and see it. I mean, first of all, it's a fabulous movie. It's fun; it's interesting. I think it's just really charming. And at the same time, it makes this really big point. I mean, this is Katherine Johnson. She has a doctorate in mathematics, and she did the calculations that figured out how we get people from the Earth to space and safely back home again to their families, and (she) did this for Gemini, for Mercury, for Apollo and for the space shuttle, and yet her work was not celebrated until very late in her life. I mean, look at this picture. Our movie is called “Hidden Figures”. And in every picture that I've seen of her in in real life, Katherine is wearing — she’s a woman of color wearing a dress of color and (is) typically in a work picture in a sea of white guys in skinny black ties. And so, there's — I mean, you can't miss her. Right? But we didn't see her. And it comes back to my point that all of us bring something that needs to come out on the table if we're going to solve the problems that are in front of us today as a nation, as a world, as a planet.

Tom:                          Cady herself has encountered discrimination as an obstacle to realizing her dream of space walking. The women of “Hidden Figures” encountered (this) and persevered despite the dual blows of racism and misogyny. Cady, who is white, never experienced the pain of being underestimated because of the color of her skin. For her, it had to do with stature and gender.

Cady:                          Myself, I was the smallest person to be part of the space-walking team up on the Space Station. And it was kind of a big thing because, for the space shuttle, we had small space suits and mediums and larges and extra larges. But for the Space Station, they couldn't afford to have all those sizes, for various reasons. And what that meant was the smaller people, like me — actually, all of them women — then did not fit into the suits that we had on the Space Station. And I was on that edge. I mean, I looked at the space suit and I knew that I had a job that I could do in that space suit. I knew that I brought things to that team that others didn't. And I cheerfully showed up to meetings that I wasn't invited to, not because people said, “Oh, I don't think we're going to ask Cady, we don’t like her,” or anything else. It was just that they looked at me and they just couldn't imagine that I should be part of that team — but I knew. And when it’s something as important as exploring space, it gives you that extra, like, you know, that extra courage to just say, “I know. I am showing up.”

Tom:                          Cady, now herself a role model for many young women, had one of her own: the first American woman to fly in space, astronaut Sally Ride.

Cady:                          She actually made all the difference in the world in that — my dad was an explorer. He lived under the ocean. He was in charge of the building one of those capsules where men lived under the ocean. He was a deep-sea diver, and exploration was really real to me growing up. I was born in 1960, and yet the fact that I could be one of those explorers never occurred to me until Sally Ride came to my college and gave a talk. And I just thought — you know, you see somebody that you can relate to — and I just thought, “Wow. Maybe I could try to do that.”

Tom:                          And try, she did. More than try. Cady Coleman has logged more than 4,300 hours in space. The mission to the International Space Station, where she supervised more than 100 experiments, was her last before retiring from the Astronaut Corps in 2016. She has since been an advocate of expanding the role of private companies within NASA. And the recent SpaceX Dragon launch, carrying a crew of two to the Space Station, is the most dramatic example yet of the success of those efforts.

[SpaceX launch]

Tom:                          After her own 159 days in Earth orbit, Cady Coleman returned from the Space Station with fresh perspectives on the human condition, gained from weeks on end cooped up with five other human beings. The only thing between them and the deadly vacuum of space? A one-tenth of 1-inch aluminum pressure hull of the orbiting Space Station. Under these conditions, you really gain a more complex understanding of your crewmates.

Cady:                          And so, realizing that everyone has those different perspectives, it’s another way to think about, you know, how we relate to each other. The fact that when we look down at the Earth — I mean, our Space Station is pretty close there. Because we’re upside down and right side up, we learned to think about things and see things differently.

Tom:                          Cady Coleman’s advice has particular resonance in these times of division and increasing difficulty to communicate with people who view life differently.

Cady:                          Try to bring that to the conversations that you have at work, at home. When you're trying to convince someone of something new that is unfamiliar to them, try to look at them from a different direction, and find out something for yourself about them that allows you to work more closely together.

Tom:                          Recently, as the spread of the coronavirus mushroomed into a pandemic, Cady reached back to her experiences as a member of a team on a mission to suggest that we're now all on a mission.

Cady:                          We have this advantage as space explorers that, you know, we're part of a mission. I mean, we have jackets, you know; we’re wearing space suits. And it's really clear to you that, you know, you've got a job to do, and a lot of people are helping you do it. And so, it's easy to think, “It's important for me to be ready, and all these actions, they're important.” But I think with COVID-19, the mission can be less tangible. And just the fact that you can stay in your house with your family and stay safe and not do some of the things you'd like to do, it doesn't feel like this like step forward, mastering the engine systems — and yet it is. It's a step toward the mission. I think what can help people is just identifying. Give it a name. You know, this is the mission: staying safe. And these are the things we're doing today. And by focusing on that mission — I mean, to me, it’s interesting that I think the whole world understands this word “mission” in a different way because of this pandemic.

Tom:                          There was a Q&A portion during Cady’s virtual presentation, and COVID-19 was on the mind of Alltech’s Mark Lyons.

Mark:                          I think, through COVID-19, we're all hoping that there's some positive, there's some kind of silver lining, something that we're going to gain in terms of perspective. But I think there's also a sense that maybe we picked things up, we learned something, but then we maybe lose it. So, I wonder, you know, through your experiences, you know, having that new perspective, how do you make sure that what you learn, you can retain, and what do you think you did learn from that time in space?

Cady:                          Wow. You know, I was going to say that, you know, I see a lot positive happening. You know, there's sort of this, I call it, “activation energy” or some barrier to change, to doing something differently, and yet, you know, something helps you over that barrier, and in this case, the need during COVID-19 for people to solve all sorts of problems together, it's just there — and I see this. I see it on the internet. I see it in the news. Different people coming together, seeing something that they can do together and doing it. You know, asking each other, helping each other. Competitors making things together. I mean, it's so hopeful. You know, in the case of Alltech, I know you think so much about the planet and how your work is, you know, good for sustainability, for the planet, and people realize that's even more imperative now that, suddenly, the food chain is more real to all of us.

Tom:                          Now, about that flute…

[Music playing]

Tom:                          Cady is a member of the astronaut group, Bandella, performing here at the Folk Alliance Conference in 2015. At one event, the band had been invited onstage with Ireland's legendary Chieftains.

Cady:                          When I was at NASA, Paddy Moloney, who's the leader of the Chieftains, his son was an intern at NASA. And he actually stayed with a family that was kind of just a — they were just the people that were so good at gathering. I mean, (they) gathered people like me: all these people that love to play (music) but don't really play together. And it was a group of like 18 of us that would play some form of Celtic music, and then we ended up in small groups. And so, I knew Padraig, Paddy’s son, from my days there playing music. And when it came to going to the Space Station, one of the things I thought about was, you know, how do I bring people with me, and what's important to me, if I get to bring a few things, what's important to bring? And I really loved the spirit of Irish music. And I actually had decided I would learn how to play the Irish flute. Now, this doesn't mean that I knew how to play the Irish flute or that I, even though I carried it around with me on the road, that I learned enough. But I was inspired to go through Padraig to Paddy and to ask if I could bring some flutes with me to space. And by that time, actually, I knew the whole band. When they would come to town, we would go. And our astronaut band would get to be their guests, coming out on stage at the end, or they would kindly play along quite a bit.

                                    Anyway. So, I knew them, and Matt Malloy sent this flute that is like, I think, a treasure of Ireland. It’s an E flat Irish flute and just this beautiful instrument. A little bit smaller, for somebody like me, with small hands. And Paddy sent a tin whistle, and I brought them up to space. I brought a couple flutes. Every flute has its own little T-shirt that it was wrapped in so the pieces wouldn’t float away. And it just gave me really great pleasure to be up in that cupula looking out over the world and playing music. It kind of brings me into a little place that’s just mine. And it’s the same place where I come when I’m down here on the Earth, but then I got to go that place in space and look out at the world and just kind of, I don’t know, just feel a little more settled.

Tom:                          It would not be Cady’s only orbit-to-Earth performance with a legendary artist; there was another duet with the flute of the legendary Jethro Tull.

Cady:                          Tonight, Ian Anderson and I would like to honor Yuri Gagarin for his brave journey 50 years ago, and we would like to celebrate the role that humans play in the exploration of our universe, past, present and future, by sharing some music between Earth and space.

[Music playing]

Tom:                          Again, Mark Lyons.

Mark:                          You know, one of the questions we keep getting, obviously, given your background and our present time of social distancing and isolation is: Given the experience you had, of course, in the tent in Antarctica, under the ocean and in the Space Station, how do people respond? You know, what ways should we think about this isolation? You had, you know, professional, obviously, the best training in the world preparing for that. For a lot of us, we've been shutting doors all of a sudden. So, are there any tips that you might share with the audience?

Cady:                          You know, some of them are, you know, kind of like family tips where, you know, I look at — and you say, “Well, you got professional help.” It's surprisingly not as much as you might think, you know. We kind of have to put those things together for ourselves. But you know, when there's some behavior that is causing strife or some situation, (the best thing to do) is to think, sort of, further than the situation. It's almost like — I think back to when our kid was little and there'd be some, you know, bad behavior after picking up from school in the first few weeks of school. And you know, what I learned about — and I actually had somebody, you know, to help me talk through some of these things, because we commuted, but anyways. But you know, picking him up from school — I mean, this is a kid that’s, like, worked really hard all day long to hold it together, and then there he is with the people that he loves and you just lose it, right? And don't behave as well. And so, do you deal with the behavior, or do you think about what the reason is? And I think it has some applications to our time now.

                                    You know, I found, in our family, we're all kind of a little grumpy when it got to, like, dinner. First of all, we're hungry. And second, you know, we have three adults who are all working full-time from the same house, and suddenly it’s 6 o’clock, and who was in charge of figuring out what to eat? And so, you know, we ended up, you know, coming up with a little bit more of a system and actually acknowledging like, “Hey, everybody, you know, I thought I —” You just feel like you're the only one working, when actually, all of us are working really hard. So, recognizing the behaviors and then realizing that there's probably some, you know, there's some things behind them.

                                    And the hardest thing that we don't actually have to wrestle with much in space, I don't think, is that we know (that), eventually, we're coming home. I mean, it's pretty finite. I mean, I was up there for 6 months, and you know, the mission was extended by 2 weeks, which I was incredibly thrilled about, but I mean, it's still finite. Whereas with COVID-19, there's a lot of uncertainties — and uncertainties about finances, about dreams, about what you're going to be able to do next. And I guess really just owning that uncertainty, I think, is really helpful — realizing that it's hard, and don't expect it to be easy, and just acknowledge you're working through hard things.

[Music playing]

Tom:                          Astronaut Cady Coleman with Alltech president and CEO Mark Lyons, launching the 2020 Alltech ONE Virtual Experience. If you're interested in seeing Cady’s view from space, and to watch more video content from other thought leaders from around the world, register at one.alltech.com. I'm Tom Martin, and this has been Ag Future, presented by Alltech. Thank you for joining us, and be sure to subscribe to Ag Future wherever you listen to podcasts — and leave a review if you’ve enjoyed this episode.

Click here to register for the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience