24 Interview
Local focus and research alliances to make a difference Alltech’s aquaculture team says that in today’s aquaculture landscape, to fulfil the sustainability initiatives they need to work together with customers, governments and stakeholders. In 1980, Alltech’s Founder, the late Dr Pearse Lyons developed a product from the yucca plant as a solution to reduce ammonia from animal waste. Years later, armed with expertise in yeast fermentation, solid state fermentation and the sciences of nutrigenomics and metabolomics, Alltech has become a leading producer of yeast additives, organic trace minerals, feed ingredients, premixes and feeds. The family-owned company based in Lexington, Kentucky USA, is guided by its founding ACE principle, which demands safety and benefit for the Animal, Consumer and Environment. Therefore, it developed products to improve the health and nutrition of plants and animals, resulting in more nutritious products for people as well as less impact on the environment. Over the next few decades, Alltech has continued to be active in aquaculture, alongside a much larger presence in the animal and poultry production sector. Lyons once said that “the most successful businesses in the future will be the ones adapting quickly to innovative technologies in order to maintain a competitive advantage.” Once with a strong focus on feed additives, today the company now balances feed production and additives, a consequence of the 15 companies acquired globally since 2011. In 2016, it added Coppens International in the Netherlands, specialising in nutrition for recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) and feeds for temperate and tropical marine and freshwater fish, for juvenile and adult stages with a strong presence in Europe and Africa. An asset is the Alltech Coppens Aqua Centre (ACAC), a bioscience centre conducting practical and applicable research. In 2017, Alltech formed a strategic partnership with Guabi in Brazil which produces extruded fish and shrimp feeds, effectively “linking two leading aquaculture feed producers from opposite sides of the ocean together to accelerate solutions for the aquaculture industry.” The above sets the scene for our virtual interview in March with Jonathan Forrest Wilson, President of Asia, based in Beijing, China. Wilson is responsible for leading Alltech’s strategy within the world’s largest feed market. He was joined by Ronald Faber, CEO of Alltech Coppens and recently appointed as its Global Aquaculture Lead who is based in the Netherlands.
Where is Alltech today in the aquaculture landscape?
JW: Alltech believes in local talent and we work closely with our local customers, partners to develop solutions for local issues related to nutrition and the environment. For example, we have research alliances here in China such as with the Ocean University of China in high value marine fish (turbot) and shrimp, and in Japan, with Kochi University, researching on the Japanese yellowtail. Solutions-wise we spend a lot of time in Asia over the last couple of years. May/June 2021 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific
Jonathan Forrest Wilson (right) is President of Asia. Based in Beijing, China, he joined Alltech in 2019 and is responsible for leading Alltech’s strategy within the world’s largest feed market. Since February 2021, Ronald Faber is CEO and Global Aquaculture Lead for Alltech and leads a global team of aquaculture experts who are experienced in fish nutrition, feed production and technical support.
In South Asia, we put more focus on pond environments, in terms of water quality to reduce late-stage shrimp mortality with our De-Odorase® and organic minerals product lines. Both in fish and shrimp, we see gut health as the pathway to improve resistance against diseases. There has been a lot of work in South Asia in the past two years since I have joined Alltech, but we have also put a lot of effort in Vietnam and Indonesia. China continues to be interesting. With the research alliance with the Ocean University, we are looking at yeast and organic minerals in high value marine fish diets. Just like in India, here we are going on-farm a lot to develop custom packs and customised approaches with farmers, either to directly add to pond water or do top dressing of the feed. We also work with some of the big feed mill players. We can say that we have a dual strategy. Yes, China is a big market for Alltech and is getting stronger but size-wise, South Asia’s shrimp market is leading in terms of penetration and applications. In Vietnam, interestingly, we have come up with total life cycle premixes for pangasius. As you know this is not an easy sell given the low farm gate prices recently. Our aqua nutrition strategy has been to put two or
