Until now, the issue is still hotly disputed and biotech company Alltech is among the stakeholders aggressively leading a campaign towards non-food crops to use as natural feed supplements to raise healthy animals, reduce environmental impact and replace traditional additives.

"Quite simply, we don't produce enough grains and we won't produce enough grains for the future. There is massive demand for grain for human food directly. Now the imbalance is also there between food, feed and fuel today and today it explains that there a lot of food crops being used to produce ethanol.  Whether people would agree with it or not, that fact is a fact and that happens. Does it need to continue? Not if we can do something about it," shares Steven Bourne, Alltech's vice president for Asia Pacific.

In an interview during the company's 23rd Asia Pacific Lecture Tour (APLT) Manila leg held June 22, Bourne highlighted the use of fibre which he straightforwardly regarded as the "future." "In 2050, we would need one billion raw materials and where would that billions come from? It is not corn, not barley, not wheat and we have to look at other forms of energy and we believe it is fibre," he said.

Bourne said Alltech was fortunate enough to have received a US$30 million grant by the US government to turn cellulose fibres into ethanol through its biorefinery complex. He explains the process. "First you break your wood and break into enzymes and then you get the simple sugars which can be fermented. And when fermented, they can now produce ethanol. Equally, from an animal perspective, we can create that cellulose, we break it down and then feed it back to the animal together with technology, enzymes and other aspects."

The drive for consumerism says Bourne will force the livestock and feed industry to look into non-food crops. By far, Alltech's biorefinery is using switch grass, corn cobs and corn stover for ethanol through cellulose conversion.

Bourne said that with the technology using enzymes, byproducts of both non-food and food crops can be used as energy sources, hence, the reliance of corn for animal feed will be reduced. "Two years ago, when food and grain prices went up, we saw many feed companies around the world producing feeds without cereals. So it can be done. And that is the way of the future and that is how we can address one billion hungry people and also using that technology to address the issue of malnutrition as well."

For thirty years, Alltech has been globally successful in developing yeast fermentation as a natural feed additive to replace synthetic supplements. Now the company has embarked to what could be a total irony to the firm's status as a worldwide animal nutrition giant. Alltech is now thoroughly developing the lowly algae in an innovation similar to that of fermented yeast and in August this year, Alltech will become the biggest producer of algae in the world. "When you look at algae, you can do so many different things with it. You can look at it in the extraction of essential oils, as protein source and biofuels. With the use of the new technology, algae as protein in animal nutrition can help remove a lot of greenhouse gas so that's one way which you can assist in environmental aspect. Algae have a lot of different species, each one has slightly different function and that's where we get the opportunity. So that would be a big part of our research programme," tells Bourne.

The APLT Philippine stop was attended by over 200 guests including farm owners, nutritionists, veterinarians, technical personnel, academics, government representatives and journalists. Discussion topics included the iSolutions programme, mycotoxin control, corporate initiatives, organic selenium and food safety which were delivered by Alltech's venerable scientists and researchers. The event also highlighted the national Young Scientist Award to Mary Ann Layug of the University of the Philippines- Los Baños.

Steven Bourne, Alltech's vice president for Asia Pacific, discusses value proposition and how to maximise the future with Alltech's Innovative Solutions.