April 1, 2009: Stepping up the PACE for a Sustainable Future

As our economy and our businesses struggle and the world faces unprecedented challenges, the Alltech Annual Symposium will focus on finding answers to some of the major issues facing the animal feed industry, such as rising feed costs, managing in a time of crisis, sustaining and growing business in the current environment.
‘The Sustainability Principle – securing long-term profitability in a period of crisis’ is the theme for Alltech’s 25th Annual Symposium.
This meeting, taking place in Lexington, Kentucky, USA from May 17-20, 2009, is regarded as a premier industry conference, known for the calibre of speakers and research presented. The meeting will comprise of, industry and species-specific presentations as well as interactive sessions where professionals from around the world can exchange ideas and strategies and offer solutions to forge a brighter future for the animal nutrition industry.
Alltech’s Medal of Excellence will be awarded to Dr David Byrne, former EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection.
Dr Byrne will also take part in the Plenary Session where he will discuss Crisis Management in today’s environment and will challenge our industry to meet, what he calls, the ‘PACE Principle’, that is to achieve long-term profitability while continuing to be conscious of animal welfare, responsive to consumer needs and environmentally friendly.

A Dynamic Agenda

''The 2009 programme is the most dynamic to date,'' according to Alltech’s Founder and President, Dr Pearse Lyons.
“To mark the 25th annual meeting, we will host the ‘Great Debate’ on Sustainability.
“Here, representatives from the consumer food market and from the animal production industry will discuss the ‘PACE Principle’ with the aim of exploring the viability of sustainability initiatives in the animal production industry”, he said.
Industry speakers, representing the dairy, beef, poultry, pig, ruminant, equine and aquaculture species groups, will then respond to Dr Byrne’s challenge.
“In addition to the species nutrition sessions, we have added a section on feed quality and regulation”, explains Alltech’s Director of Regulatory Affairs, Steve Traylor.
“This was in response to increasing demand for information on how products are regulated in global environments and how the registration process works in different markets.”
Topics within each species session will include discussions on: the importance of nucleotides in early diets; the use of multi-enzyme complexes to release maximum energy from both traditional diets and non-traditional diets containing ingredients such as higher fibre; and immune modulatory compounds.
The meeting will also explore opportunities in the area of novel mycotoxin binders. The sessions will include information on the interactions between inorganic and organic minerals and their overall interaction with compounds in a premix.
“The conference will also look at new energy sources and feature the importance of and steps towards effectively branding our businesses. Branding is becoming increasingly important within our industry,” said Dr Lyons.
“To illustrate this point, and to mark the 25th year of this industry event, a living icon and superbrand - Muhammad Ali - will attend the opening session.
During the course of the event, the winner of Alltech’s global Young Scientist Competition for university students will also be announced.
The company expects over 1000 attendees and the technical programme is complemented with a social programme, which encourages interaction and networking.

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