Profile


Dr Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, grew up in the Alltech business, having travelled with his father, Alltech’s founder, Dr Pearse Lyons, from a young age to visit customers. Based on All- tech’s belief that agriculture has the greatest potential to shape our world’s future, he launched the Planet of Plenty vision in 2019. He has called for collaboration to improve nutrition, human and animal well-being and the preserva- tion of natural resources.


the project running for 12 months by adding more presentations, projects and inspiration until the next event in 2021. I do have to say, it feels somewhat strange connecting to an audience from my father’s office, but as he used to tell me: ‘Change is the only con- stant in life’. When he passed and when my beloved sister passed, I often referred back to his learnings. In all things, we have a choice in responding to difficult times, to change. It is my choice to take action and to be inspired by the great people I have lost and to do what they would have wanted me to do. That is what moved me to envision the Planet of Plenty.


Planet of Plenty “Last year we launched this ambitious mission. We need not one idea to make the future a better one; we need millions, to learn from each others’ expertise and, above all, communicate our wins. What keeps me up at night is the limited views I see in some com- panies’ leadership where the focus is only on short term gains for the company and not a win–win scenario for all of us. The key question should be: what can we do together?


“The Planet of Plenty concept is still in its early days because I be- lieve the next 30 years are most critical to agriculture. We at All- tech have built upon our own past moving beyond our ACE (agri- culture, consumer, environment) principle. We, as an industry, are the caretakers of the land. We didn’t inherit the earth from our ancestors; we are borrowing it from our children. Our mission to improve the health and performance of animals, plants and hu- mans through nutrition and scientific innovation should be the mission of the industry, the world, to produce food for billions sustainably and efficiently. And the world is changing. For the first time in many generations we are experiencing a shock to our system and are seeing food scarcity. The perspective is changing and this can change the way we present ourselves. We need to


respond and create immunity against the shock which Covid-19 has given our society.”


Consumers better understand the food chain “I am proud that we are in an industry where we are able to tell the farmers’ stories, compelling stories of a proactive industry in which being on the defensive is a bygone. As an example, we now see a tremendous drop in worldwide CO2


emissions but we are


still producing and food is still on the table. The idea that agricul- ture alone is the problem is just not true. The opposite is true: ag- riculture is the life support for our planet. And with the disruption caused by the coronavirus we see people going to farms to pick up produce when supermarkets are empty. Where price drove our game in the past, now connection to the consumer and trust are becoming far more important. People now understand again how the food chain works and that helps us to get our message across. There is so much opportunity for agriculture on a local level and in society for getting the right food to the right place with the right value.”


Sustainability goals “The most wonderful thing about the concept of Planet of Plenty is that it is pre-competitive. We can all help make our industry better for the world and at the same time benefit from doing so. That is what Alltech found when we signed up to the UN sustainability goals. Because this includes being audited, we asked ourselves what is required. That sharpens your mind and gets everyone in- volved. Such a process also makes you realise the importance of in- clusion in creating innovative and productive teams. Or as our key- note speaker Cady Coleman said: ‘It’s a proven fact that diverse groups are more successful’. We know that inclusion and diversity in our teams is essential and see that women play a critical role in our company and around the world in agriculture.”


▶DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 7, No. 4, 2020 19


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