The theme of One, Alltech’s Ideas Conference was disruption of the status quo and throughout the multi-day conference in Lexington, Kentucky there was an emphasis on research, products and ideas that both had disrupted the market, or were making an effort to do so.
“I’m going to give you some headaches, because after all that’s what disruption is all about,” said Pearse Lyons, Alltech founder and president.
There have already been several aspects of animal nutrition that have seen this sort of disruption, said Lyons.
“Antibiotics in feed, its done guys, we can remove them,” said Lyons. “We have removed them in pigs and poultry – we’ve been disruptive, it’s happened.”
Another example of disruption in the feed industry has been the development of alternative products to replace both fishmeal and fish oil, he said.
Alltech is considering a further 26 acquisitions as it looks to continue disrupting the current market for vitamin production, he said.
Several of the keynote speakers highlighted ways to change current practices. The concept of new technology continued in the individual sessions dedicated to subjects such as animal production, aquaculture and crop science.
Keynote speakers included Jack Bobo, senior vice president, Intrexon. He spoke about the challenges the industry still faces. Karl Dawson, vice president and chief scientific officer, Alltech, and Vaughn Holder, research project manager, beef nutrition, Alltech spoke about how programed nutrition results in less feed used in poultry, pork and beef production.
The approach reconsiders how and when different inputs are required, said Dawson. “This has really changed what we think about in terms of overall feeding of livestock,” he added.
In the species specific, breakout sessions the theme of 'disruption' continued.
Speakers also noted developments industry needs to be mindful of, where change is imminent.