REVIEW ▶▶▶
Alltech ONE: Opportunities and challenges in dairy
A different diet will not save the planet
New eating habits and an ever-increasing gaze at the effects of agricul- ture on the environment were heavily focused on during the keynote speech by Dr Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech. He said: “They are saying that we need to change our diet in order to save our planet. While these ideas may not be based on fact, we see in many media publications a lot of negativity towards agriculture and specifically animal agriculture and particularly also the area of beef production.” Dr Lyons highlighted how some of the best restaurants in the world are removing beef from their menus and how the protein is also being re- moved from many recipes, all because some people think producing beef harms the climate. Europe has introduced the Green Deal, and in the United States the Biden administration is drawing up its own climate programme. Dr Lyons said
farmers need to stand up for their in- dustry when it comes to the bene- fits of farming on the environment. He quoted one surprising figure that if the US eliminated all its dairy cows, greenhouse gas emissions there would fall by only 0.7%, and at the same time 39 essential nutrients would be removed from human diets. He concluded that: “We really have to realise that we will not save the planet with a different plate. It’s our utilisation of fossil fuels that is driving climate change. And so if all of humanity turned into vegans, we would not actually solve our climate challenge.”
Farmers can be the saviours of Mother Earth
Mother Earth is under a great deal of pressure, feeling the pain of billions of inhabitants going about their daily lives, sometimes with com- plete disregard to the damage they
are causing. During his keynote speech, David McWilliams, economist and professor at Trinity College Dublin,
Ireland, discussed the world and the Covid-19
pandemic. The pressures, said Prof McWilliams, include global warming, rising sea levels, polluted rivers, parched lands, blackened skies and global pan- demics. He said, “We all have a fair idea where the story ends. But there
22 ▶ DAIRY GLOBAL | Volume 8, No. 3, 2021
is an alternative. It’s legacy thinking. And the farmer, the traditional steward of our planet, its animals, its land, forests and rivers, can be its saviour. So, with just one planet to share, we’re all in this together. Con- servationists and consumers, farmers and activists, industry and gov- ernment, man and Mother Nature; the goal is the three H’s: healthy people, healthy society and a healthy planet.” His take-home message was that agriculture is the reason our civilisa- tions developed, and our food systems and diets still remain diverse and amazingly responsive: “While the challenge of feeding the growing planet will fall on fewer shoulders than was the case in the past, with innovation and the will to be that good ancestor, we will continue to produce more with less for a healthier people, healthier society and a healthier planet.”
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