Coming up next week in Lexington, Kentucky is an event that dairy and beef producers should not miss.
Since 2008, more than 800 of world’s most progressive dairy and beef producers have convened for the Alltech Global 500 to network and discuss the most relevant and challenging topics in the industry.
This year, the Global 500 explores the future landscape for the dairy and beef industries and provides a rare opportunity for global colleagues and friends to engage in open discussion on critical topics such as sustainable strategies and practices that can be implemented now and in the future.
I talked with Alltech Beef Division Manager Ty Yeast about the event, which will be held December 6-8. “Originally it started as a dairy event and with the success after the first two years in the dairy event, we expanded to the beef side as well,” Ty said. “Last year was our first ever addition of the beef event and we had over 125 participants from all over the world.” This year, Ty says they already have more than doubled last year’s registration.
Ty says the conference is really about looking at new ways of approaching a business that’s been around for a long time. “It’s innovation, it’s looking at new ways of doing things, and really breaking old paradigms on how to move forward and get to that next level of efficiency.
Interested producers can still register for the event by going to the Global 500 website. You can be sure it will be worth your while.
“A Brave New World” is the theme of the Alltech’s 2011 Global 500. The company will explore the dairy and beef industries’ future landscape and provide a rare opportunity for global colleagues and friends to engage in open discussion on critical topics such as sustainable strategies and practices that can be implemented now and in the future.
Join Alltech on December 6-8, 2011 in Lexington, Ky. Registration is by invitation only, so contact Alltech’s Global 500 registration team via phone: 1-859-887-3328 or email: global500@alltech.com.
What challenges and opportunities await us in this Brave New World?
· A world in which demand for fuel, food and other commodities will only continue to spike as global population and wealth increase.
· A world in which the adoption of new technologies is not optional but a requirement if you want to stay competitive.
· Finally, it’s a world of transparency in which people develop strong personal impressions of companies and producers – and communicate their feelings through social media as well as with their neighbors.
Proving once again that he’s following in the foot steps of that “other” Dr. Lyons, Dr. Mark Lyons made concluding remarks in grand fashion at the Alltech Global 500.
After providing an overview of Alltech innovations with Dr. Karl Dawson during the final session of the conference Mark encouraged the participants to “Think it, Ink it.” He said they should write down at least five things they were taking away from the event that could then take action on when they got home. How many times to you hear something and wish you’d made a note of it?
Dairy farmers need to know about crisis communications just as much as any other business. Those attending the Alltech Global 500 Peter Kerr, KerrComm, address this topic and provide meaningful ideas for how to cope with it. Peter is a communications consultant and he presented a very positive message about turning a negative situation into an opportunity.
He discussed how the critics of agriculture who often present very misleading or inaccurate information are successful by having very well crafted messages. Farmers need to be equally prepared so they can use opportunities to teach and present truthful information. I like his idea of also being prepared to use new communications channels like social media as vehicles to deliver that positive and truthful message. He also suggests that farmer consider consulting with a communications professional. On a final note he made a point of being truthful even if the negative publicity you may be dealing with is because of a problem on your operation. Be prepared to tell your story and what you’re doing to change things. Good advice!
At the beginning of the Alltech Global 500 I participated in a presentation on social media and I’ve been overhearing farmers talking about how to use it for their farm. During a discussion dinner last night I met a dairy farmer who has been using it to drive business on his farm. He’s a great example for all farmers. He’s Carl Chaney (left in photo) and you can find his farm online at Chaney’s Dairy Barn.
Carl has a great story which I recorded this morning. Basically, his family operation decided to take control of their own destiny and diversify into processing their own milk, making their own ice cream and creating an agri-tourism component of their farm. So over the last couple years they have been using a website and now Facebook and Twitter to promote their business and Carl says they have direct evidence of how it has helped. This use of social media has helped them stay in the dairy business after they were considering getting out.
Besides driving business Carl says they are also helping educate consumers about where their food comes from. Sounds like he could be on the board of the AgChat Foundation! The farm conducts tours with a growing number of area schools. You’ll hear the pride in his voice when he sees kids marvel over a new calf or seeing a milking parlor in action.
One of the features of the Alltech Global 500 are a series of discussion dinners. Attendees can choose a topic of they are most interested in. During the dinners a moderator will stimulate conversation with everyone providing input. It’s a great opportunity to interact with other dairy and beef producers from around the world and hear their perspectives on these topics.
I attended a dinner with the topic of milk quality. I met Travis from Texas and Charles from New Zealand. We spoke after the dinner and you’ll hear them say that the ability to meet with and talk with other dairy farmers is one of the most important things they get out of the conference. They also realize how similar their challenges are regardless of what country they live in.
I’m borrowing from the Alltech blog, Innovations, here. They produced a short video to answer a question very important to dairy farmers. How would you answer the question?
What is the most important thing for a dairy farmer to consider with regard to economic sustainability?
Sustainability means many things to many people. Geoff Frank is CEO of Improcrop, an Alltech Regional Sales Manager and a dairy farmer. I asked Geoff to describe the most important issue for dairy farmers as the industry strives for economic sustainability.
I think the comment I’ve heard most often at the Alltech Global 500 is how important and rewarding the interaction with other dairy and beef producers from around the world is. We’ve got 29 countries represented here. One of our international visitors that I met today was George Strang, Scotland.
George is a dairy farmer with 250 cows and it’s a family run farm. He actually won an Alltech competition and the prize was this trip. He’s loving his first visit to the USA. He admits that he hasn’t embraced technology as much as he should so he’s planning on getting a Facebook account to help keep in touch with other farmers he’s met here. He says he has found that farmers face the same kinds of challenges regardless of what country they are from. However, he says his country is one of the few that doesn’t grow corn so he’s hoping some varieties will be created that can be grown in Scotland.
At the Alltech Global 500 feeding efficiency was the subject of a presentation by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois. He says that to survive we’re going to have to become more feed efficient and since feed can make up half the cost of producing milk it’s very important. He says that with corn getting to $6/bushel we’re going to have to look at more forage in the diet. That means a closer look at the nutrition plan to control variation. He uses a term, “precision feeding” which he says is “everyday delivering the same ration, if it’s higher in forages it means you have to take that variation out based on variety selections and types of forages you’re feeding.”
This year’s Alltech Global 500 includes a full program for beef producers. As we’ve said many times before, if you’re in the dairy business, you’re in the beef business. So, I spoke with one of the beef farmers here, Charles Miller. He’s a Kentucky cattleman so he didn’t have as far to go as many who are here from 29 different countries.
Charles says he’s an Alltech customer and he’s glad to see the company placing a greater emphasis on beef lately and here at this conference. He sees the interaction with international farmers as a great opportunity. He says that one of the most interesting things he has seen and learned so far is the importance and perspective on social media. He said, “As we go forward as an industry, if we fail to utilize that tool to our best advantage we’re going to be left behind.”
This video is what set the stage for the Alltech Global 500. We’re talking innovation, sustainability, risk management, feeding efficiency and much more.
A forward looking panel of experts spoke to the Alltech Global 500 today. Their topic, “Forecast 2025: A vision for the future.” Now that’s not an easy task!
I spoke with one of the panelists, Mandi McLeod, Dunvegan Farms, Ltd, New Zealand. Mandi says the future is about doing what you do well and focusing on the resources you have, in fact, “use them to the absolute maximum.” She says that you have to make sure your profits and people are sustainable and that profits come before production. She was very clear that by 2025 she hopes there will be no subsidies. I asked her what sustainability means to her. She provides a very common sense definition. Too bad there are so many that aren’t! She says farmers here are curious about prices and controls and how to become more profitable.
The first dairy breakout session at the Alltech Global 500 focused on “Value Added Dairying: The Future of Sustainability.” Our presenter was Jim Ostrom, Rosendale Dairy, USA. I missed the opportunity to interview Jim but spoke with session moderator, Steve Elliott, Alltech. Steve is the global director for the company’s organic minerals division. He says that Jim addressed sustainability in his dairy of about 16,000 cows taking into account his local community. After the presentation Steve moderated a question and answer session where the questions focused on how he relates to his community and his workers since half of them are multi-cultural.
Steve says the appeal of this conference is the ability to network with people from all over the world. It’s an opportunity to find out what is similar and not similar in other parts of the world. He says there are attendees here from more than 20 countries!
Let’s just say that social media has been very, very good to ZimmComm New Media, publishers of World Dairy Diary. It is also the hottest topic in agricultural communications of the last year. At the Alltech Global 500 it was also a key topic during our morning general session.
I joined Alltech’s, Billy Frey, on stage to present what social media is and encourage and beef and dairy farmers to use these new channels of communications to help re-connect consumers with the farm and promote their own businesses. We used a series of slides and YouTube videos which I can’t show you but I did record our presentation. I said and will continue to say that dairy farmers seem to be some of the most engaged of any commodity group I know when it comes to social media.
Billy had some great quotes like the following:
Social media is the biggest revolution since the industrial revolution. It offers us new ways to stay informed and it can simplify information overload. It can fundamentally change agriculture if we use it.
We have a lot of great story tellers in our industry because we have the best story ever. Agriculture allowed civilization to develop. Before agriculture we were hunter gatherers. We have a great story to tell. We just have to tell it.
I can’t agree more. After our presentation a woman from France approached me to say that she “felt like I know you” since she is a regular visitor to World Dairy Diary. That kind of anecdotal evidence is great since it shows how truly connected we are globally thanks to social media.
Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech, says he’s got the greatest job in the world since he heads up research for the company. That research, which now includes, nutrigenomics, is finding ways to improve animal and human health through nutrition. It’s fascinating to hear him discuss not only how the company is finding that its products improve animal health but from that work they’re now seeing applications in humans which will have an impact in the future on diseases like alzheimer’s and cancer!
During his presentation Dr. Dawson looks back on some of the accomplishments of Alltech and then takes a look forward so we get a glimpse of what the future will hold. I recorded Dr. Dawson’s Global 500 opening general session comments for you. Dr. Karl Dawson Presentation
We’ve known it as the Alltech Global Dairy 500 and this year they’ve added Beef! Now that just makes sense. So, we’ll just call it the Alltech Global 500 to make it simple.
We kicked off this fall’s conference with a Kentucky Ale reception this evening and things get into high gear tomorrow with a general session on which I’ll be participating in a presentation on social media which will include a look at World Dairy Diary. If you’re on Twitter then feel free to send us a message using the hashtag #Global500. If you don’t know what that means then post a comment and I’ll explain.
During the next several days I’ll be featuring interviews and photos from the conference. In fact, you can find my photo album here: Alltech Global 500 Photo Album.
Wrapping up the Global Dairy 500 Conference was Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech President. Dr. Lyons summarized many of the presentations with a series of take home messages. The focus was on the future of dairy farming, the integration of a brand, methane production, cow comfort, tourist attractions, education, milk marketing with nutrition also being a key topic. Additionally, a strong message that came out of the presentations was to “record the data” and that body conditioning is critical. As Dr. Lyons said, “Talk to the cow and the cow will talk to you.”
During his closing remarks Dr. Lyons introduced the Agri Aware program that Alltech has sponsored. The educational program for school children of all ages now has it’s first video module featuring “A Day in the Life of a Dairy Farmer.” We watched the video and then Dr. Lyons called on participants to go back home, take the program and have it translated into their languages.
You can listen to Dr. Lyons remarks below. And don’t forget to check out my photo album from the event. If you didn’t attend you can see what you missed!
The final panel discussion at the Global Dairy 500 Conference focused on future technologies in the dairy industry. Presenting were Matthew Smith, Alltech and Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech.
I spoke with Dr. Dawson immediately following his remarks. He says some of the technologies in methane recovery offer a new cost saving line for the farmer by producing bioenergy. Feed management technologies offer a lot as they change, especially in nitrogen management. He says their goal was to bring these to the attention of the dairy farmer so they will consider them as they make future plans.
You can listen to my interview with Dr. Dawson below:
What are the 5 things you would do differently in dairy today? That was the question our opening panel on the final day of the Global Dairy 500 Conference had to answer. Amazingly they each seemed to have very similar answers.
I spoke with panelist Nigel Lok, Nigel Lok Family Trust, South Africa. He says they milk about 700 cows.
Before getting back to the dairy portion of the Global Dairy 500 Conference I have one more video clip from our visit to the Kentucky Horse Park. This one was during our ring show that included a set of miniature horses pulling a wagon. I thought you’d enjoy it.
Since 2008, more than 800 of world’s most progressive dairy and beef producers have convened for the Alltech Global 500 to network and discuss the most relevant and challenging topics in the industry.
Wrapping up the Global Dairy 500 Conference was Dr. Pearse Lyons, Alltech President. Dr. Lyons summarized many of the presentations with a series of take home messages. The focus was on the future of dairy farming, the integration of a brand, methane production, cow comfort, tourist attractions, education, milk marketing with nutrition also being a key topic. Additionally, a strong message that came out of the presentations was to “record the data” and that body conditioning is critical. As Dr. Lyons said, “Talk to the cow and the cow will talk to you.”
The final panel discussion at the Global Dairy 500 Conference focused on future technologies in the dairy industry. Presenting were Matthew Smith, Alltech and Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech.
What are the 5 things you would do differently in dairy today? That was the question our opening panel on the final day of the Global Dairy 500 Conference had to answer. Amazingly they each seemed to have very similar answers.