June 20, 2017
Guangdong trade delegation pays special visit to Alltech's European HQ
On June 10, Chunhua Hu, Communist Party secretary of Guangdong, led a trade delegation consisting of representatives from the biomedicine, information and communication technology, and financial industries to visit Ireland. During this economic exchange, the delegation paid a special visit to Alltech's European Headquarters in Dunboyne, Ireland.
While there, they learned more about Alltech's interest in building a production base in Guangdong province, which would become its second production facility in China, and signed a memorandum of understanding to further aquaculture research.
Yue Xiaoyong, China's ambassador to Ireland, and Paul Kavanagh, Ireland's ambassador to China, were present during the visit. Senior government officials for Guangdong's provincial government also attended, including Wen Guohui, mayor of Guangzhou, Zhong Weiyun, director general of the 7th Bureau of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, as well as several other officials from Guangdong province.
Dr. Mark Lyons, global vice president and head of Greater China at Alltech, and Aidan Connolly, chief innovation officer and vice president of corporate accounts at Alltech, welcomed the delegation and led the visit.
During the visit to Alltech's European Headquarters, Hu heard a presentation by Lyons on the status of Alltech's global business.
Since entering the Chinese market in 1994, Alltech has witnessed and been heavily involved in the rapid development of China's agriculture industry. Alltech shares China's vision and understand the challenges being faced in the field and on the farm.
Alltech is committed to the concept of green agriculture. On March 8-9, Alltech hosted the Greening of Chinese Agriculture Environmental Conference, to discuss and commit to energy conservation, production optimisation, improved management practices, and agriculture laws and regulations. Alltech called for 10 agriculture companies to sign a proposal promising to optimise their production processes and work together to realise China's green agriculture.
Guangdong is one of biggest agricultural provinces.
"I hope Alltech solutions will help Guangdong and China's agriculture sector work toward practical solutions for sustainable farming," said Lyons.
"Five years ago, I came to China," continued Lyons. "I like to work and live in China, especially in Guangdong, which is a big agriculture province. We have many important clients, and they have become our good friends."
Alltech's planned building of a second production base in Guangdong would provide strong support to Alltech's production in Asia. It would also drive the scientific and technological innovation for Guangdong's, and even China's, agriculture industry, promoting the development of biotechnology as well as the local economy while doing so in an environmentally friendly manner.
Alltech regards innovation as a top priority and is committed to discovering sustainable nutritional solutions for plants, animals and people. Similarly, the basic principles of the China Manufacturing 2025 Report include being innovation-driven, putting quality first, green development, structure optimisation and being talent-oriented.
Guangdong is China's largest economic province, having led the country's economic development for many years, and is considered China's "south gate".
"If it were a country, Guangdong would be the 16th largest national economy in the world," said Xin Xiaowei, director of the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Statistics, in a media interview.
It is a major shipping and transportation hub and home to South China Agricultural University, one of the leading universities and institutions around the world with which Alltech has established more than 20 research alliances. Combined with the talented people who work in the local agriculture sector, these qualities make Guangdong an ideal home for Alltech's new production base.
In addition, to better contribute to China's agriculture, Alltech signed a memo of understanding with Guangdong Evergreen Conglomerate to carry out research on the sustainable farming of aquatic species. Through the collaboration between Alltech and Guangdong Evergreen, both parties aim to advance the development of aquaculture nutrition and feed sciences, including the improvement of aquatic feed nutrition, antibiotic-free technology in aquaculture and aquatic ecological breeding technology (e.g., the reduction or replacement of fish meal and/or fish oil) with Alltech products such as Bioplex®, NuPro®, Allzyme® SSF, Actigen® and ForPlus™.
Alltech also intends to promote a programme in Guangdong that could follow in the very successful footsteps of The Pearse Lyons Accelerator 2017 programme. The Guangdong programme would be in partnership with local agricultural companies and would support and guide agricultural start-ups to encourage innovation.
