The following is an edited transcript of Tom Martin's interview with Dr. Jorge Arias, global director of aquaculture and country manager for Chile and Argentina at Alltech, and Avelyne Saint Hilaire, the local administrator of the Alltech Sustainable Haiti Project in Ouanaminthe, Haiti.

Click below to hear the full interview:

What's happening in Haiti? Alltech is there, having arrived in the aftermath of the devastating earthquake of 2010 to a nation in need of much more than immediate disaster relief. There was, and remains, a need for sustainable economic growth, jobs, agriculture and education. Joining Tom Martin for an update on the Alltech Sustainable Haiti Project are Dr. Jorge Arias, global director of aquaculture and country manager for Chile and Argentina at Alltech, and Avelyne Saint Hilaire, the project’s local administrator in Ouanaminthe, Haiti. Dr. Arias served as Ms. Saint Hilaire’s translator for this interview.

Tom:                             Let's begin, Dr. Arias, with a brief history of Alltech’s engagement and presence in Haiti. Tell us how it all began.

Jorge:                          We went to Haiti about 10 days after the earthquake. That was in January 2010. We went with Dr. Lyons (Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech) and a couple of friends. We went directly to the Dominican Republic and then by helicopter to Port-au-Prince. We wanted to check on the situation there and to see what we could do.

                                       Port-au-Prince was the main area suffering from this earthquake, but actually, the whole country is in a continuous crisis situation. Dr. Lyons said, “What if we try to help Haiti through another region?” Through contacts and friends, we connected with people in the north of the island — in the Ouanaminthe area. People were arriving in Ouanaminthe from the critical area of Port-au-Prince. We found a school there, and that’s the beginning of the story.

Tom:                           This earthquake was devastating. Up to about 300,000 people were lost.

Jorge:                          Yes.

Tom:                           This struck a country that already had long been suffering from entrenched problems of all sorts. Could you carry on that description? How would you describe what you found?

Jorge:                          It was a terrible situation. All the buildings had fallen down. It was terrible. We really felt the need to start helping — not just that particular crisis, but in the long term.

Tom:                           You absorbed what you had seen and what you learned on the scene and out of that came a plan.

Jorge:                          Yes.

Tom:                           Can you tell us what that looked like in the beginning?

Jorge:                          Dr. Lyons said, “We need to make this project sustainable.” We asked what can grow in Haiti. What activity could we promote? We learned that Haiti was the first country in the Americas to produce coffee. Before Brazil, before Colombia, it was Haiti. It was also the first country to produce sugarcane. We chose coffee. Through that project, we could subsidize the rest of the activity. That was just the beginning.

Tom:                           Haiti, as I understand it, had undergone significant deforestation in the past. Did that lead to a decline in coffee production?

Jorge:                          I think it was all part of the same process. When you go to the island, you find two countries: the Dominican Republic and Haiti. One was colonized by Spain, the other by France. Haiti was trying to produce food for Europe and to export to different countries and also to produce coffee and sugarcane. On the other hand, the Dominican Republic has more sustainable beef and dairy production. What’s the difference? They didn’t deforest the area. So, they are two contrasting situations.

Tom:                           The aim of the coffee initiative was to help Haitian farmers get back on their feet. Has that been an outcome?

Jorge:                          Yes, at least in the community we’re influencing, which is the community of Dondon, a small village in the north part of the country. The original idea was to see what we can do: We find a coffee. We import the coffee to the U.S. green, as most of the coffee trading is taking place in the form of green coffee. We roast it in Kentucky, and then we sell it. With the profits, we can sustain the project. That was the original idea. We set an example for other people to follow.

Tom:                           Alltech’s involvement in Haiti extends beyond coffee production to educating and inspiring the next generation of Haiti. Tell us how the coffee connects to children.

Jorge:                          The first thing we started with was sponsoring a school. There was an elementary school in Ouanaminthe, and in one of our visits with Dr. Lyons, we knew there was another school (also in need of help). So, we took Dr. Lyons to see this second school. He immediately said, “Oh, we need to do something about this school also, Jorge.” That was the beginning of subsidizing and helping the other community. The students receive special education. We keep sending volunteers to teach the kids music, language, art and many activities.

                                       We also prepare lunch for the whole community of students. And we have some parents coming every noon to enjoy good food in both schools.

                                      We have more students now, to the point that we are planning to move to a new school in Ouanaminthe. We need to grow because we ran out of space where we are.

Tom:                           Wonderful. Let’s bring in Avelyne. Avelyne, thank you for waiting.

(Interpreted by Jorge)

Avelyne:                      Thank you, Tom. How are you?

Tom:                           Take us back to the beginning of your engagement in this project with Alltech. What was that like?

Avelyne:                      This is an experience where I’m growing every day because Alltech gave me the opportunity, not only to work with the community, but also the possibility to help the needy people in my area. The kids and the parents are enjoying and learning. They are evolving.

Tom:                           Avelyne, can you tell us about some of the ways that the school projects have made differences in people's lives — children in particular?

Avelyne:                      In the last seven years, the parents have received significant help. We started with 150 students in Ouanaminthe. In Dondon, we had fewer than 100 kids. Right now, between the two schools, we have 652 students. There are around 500 families that receive help and this education. That’s not only helping the students at the school, but also beyond school. And the kids are receiving quality education.

Tom:                           Avelyne, do you see this kind of educational experience and opportunity changing Haiti’s future?

Avelyne:                      That’s the main goal. We need to start from the beginning in order to change the country, and we need to start with the kids. I believe this was a real intention of Dr. Lyons’.

Tom:                           Thank you, Avelyne. Turning back to you, Jorge, let’s talk about water — clean, potable water. Tell us about Alltech’s water purification efforts in Haiti.

Jorge:                          The First Presbyterian Church in Lexington is associating with the effort that we started in 2010. They started buying the coffee first. That was the first activity. They did it for more reasons than to simply transfer the profits back to Alltech in order for us to sustain the project. They decided to use that money to go to Haiti and do some work with us. So, they have taken two or three trips to Haiti in these last few years, and one of those projects was to set up a water purification system for the whole community.

                                       We bought a piece of land where we are setting up this purification system. We can sell the water at a reasonable price and that, in turn, will also subsidize the growth of the project and help us to build a new school.

Tom:                           And why was the water project necessary to begin with?

Jorge:                          Water quality is an issue in Haiti — in the whole region. We can decrease the influence of different diseases and we can guarantee the quality of the water we use for our kids, but also for the community. We don't know how far we can get with the (water) project. We know from experience that in Dondon it became the water well of the whole community. It’s interesting to see all the community getting involved. Sometimes what the community needs is for somebody to kick off a project and people will follow.

Tom:                           You mentioned disease. Have doctor visits also been a part of this project?

Jorge:                          Yes. On one of my trips, I met a group of doctors visiting the Ouanaminthe area, and I had been told that they were coming from Lexington. I met them and we became very good friends, and remain so today. They’re going to Haiti every year to work on another project with Southland Christian Church. We basically formed a “joint effort” with these guys. They’re still going every year, and they are visiting our kids at the school. One of the doctors created a foundation to sponsor kids coming from Haiti to study at the University of Kentucky.

                                       We are trying to educate those guys and send them back to Haiti to work in their communities. We have one good example in James Blanq. He’s actually producing chickens now in Ouanaminthe, and he came through this program.

Tom:                           Another part of this project has been the important recognition of the healing and enriching power of the arts. What sort of connections have been made, and how have they developed?

Jorge:                          Dr. Everett McCorvey (University of Kentucky professor of voice and director and executive producer for UK Opera Theater) helped us, not only through the UK School of Music, but Everett is also a member of the community of First Presbyterian Church. We’re taking their volunteers to teach our kids music. We also invited a person that was giving a lesson in painting.

                                       Every time that somebody approaches Alltech and our group of people working on the project and they say, “I know how to do this, I know how to do that,” they are more than welcome to come along and join us in the effort.

Tom:                           If somebody would like to join in the effort, how would they do that? Who will they contact?

Jorge:                          They have to contact our people at Alltech, and they can do it through me or anybody in the Alltech community, the Alltech family. We’ll be more than happy to find a way for them to participate in this project.

Tom:                           I have one question for each of you: I’ll start with you, Avelyne, and ask what positive changes have you seen occurring as a result of the efforts of the Alltech Sustainable Haiti Project?

(Interpreted by Jorge)

Avelyne:                      Now the parents are much more involved in the education of their kids, and they're more conscious about the importance of education. As an example, Mondays and Fridays are marketing (shopping) days in Ouanaminthe. There is marketing on the border between the city of Dajabon in the Dominican Republic and the city of Ouanaminthe in Haiti. In the past, parents directly involved in the trading process were taking their kids. So, on Mondays and Fridays, the school was empty. The big change now is that the kids are going to school from Monday to Friday and their parents are doing their thing in the market.

                                    I have noticed that the government is aware of the project and is approaching the school to look at what we are doing, and they are getting more involved in all this process. That didn’t happen before.

Tom:                           Thank you very much, Avelyne. Dr. Arias, your response to that question too: What are the positive changes that you’ve witnessed?

Jorge:                          It’s just amazing. Dr. Lyons once told me, “Jorge, we need to bring different people every time we come to Haiti. We need to bring different people of our Alltech family or people from the Kentucky community simply because it won’t necessarily just change their lives, but it’s also changing our lives.” If you go there and see what’s going on, it really changes your perspective on your life; you see what you have, and what those people don’t have.

                                    So, we’ve been doing that through Dr. Lyons. We are taking different people to visit the project. Those people are getting more involved in the project some way or another. I took part of my family on my last trip. I took my son and he wants to go back.

Tom:                           Dr. Jorge Arias, Avelyne Saint Hilaire, thank you both for spending time with us.

Jorge:                          Thank you, Tom.

Avelyne:                      Thank you, Tom.

[LEXINGTON, Ky.] – The Lone Star State should not stand alone in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey’s deluge. The historic hurricane’s damage could be devastating to Texas farmers and ranchers, who lead the U.S. in cattle, cotton, hay, sheep and goat production, contributing more than $20 billion annually to the economy. There are countless reports of thousands of head of cattle in America’s “cattle country” that could not be rescued before Harvey hit.

To deliver relief specifically to Texas’ farm and ranch community, Alltech is launching Hope After Harvey. Alltech is donating $20,000 to kick off the relief fund and will then match the first $80,000 in donations made to its 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Alltech ACE Foundation by September 15, 2017. To give to Hope After Harvey, visit https://go.alltech.com/harveyrelief.

Additionally, the Alltech family has committed to donating $100,000 in value of animal feed and crop products.

A team of employees is preparing to deploy to Texas this week to help rope cattle. Additional employee teams are being organized for trips in the months ahead to support farmers and ranchers wherever they need extra hands, whether in installing new fencing, rebuilding barns, restoring fields or herding animals.

“Harvey hit home for many of our customers and employees in Texas, and, therefore, Harvey has hit ‘home’ for the Alltech family globally,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. “Our Lone Star friends will not stand alone; they will have our support every step of the rebuild.”

Donate to Alltech’s Hope for Harvey at https://go.alltech.com/harveyrelief.

Matthew Aardsma wins award for paper on relative metabolizable energy values for fats and oils in young broilers and adult roosters

[LEXINGTON, Ky.] — Connecting the farm to the lab through research is critical for agricultural innovation. Illustrating its commitment to encouraging student research, Alltech presented the 34th Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award to Matthew Aardsma of Purdue University during the 106th annual Poultry Science Association meeting, held in Orlando, Florida, July 17–20.

The Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award is given to a student who is the senior author of an outstanding research manuscript in Poultry Science or The Journal of Applied Poultry Research. Aardsma’s winning paper titled, Relative metabolizable energy values for fats and oils in young broilers and adult roosters, focused on developing a bio-assay where feed-grade fats and oils were evaluated for their relative metabolizable energy content quickly and accurately. The paper showed results for several fats and oils that are commonly fed in the poultry industry, and that the results obtained for adult roosters are the same with young broiler chickens.

"Research is an integral part of Alltech and the poultry industry's success to date," said Dr. Ted Sefton, director of poultry for Alltech Canada. "Alltech is proud to sponsor the Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award to encourage students to publish their research in peer-reviewed journals and communicate new technologies and discoveries being made in the lab that can have a direct impact on the farm."

Aardsma grew up in Central Illinois, where his parents encouraged him to explore his interests in agriculture and animal production. He received his bachelor’s degree in animal sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2013 and his master’s degree in animal sciences with an emphasis in poultry nutrition in 2015, working with Dr. Carl Parsons. After a summer internship at Southern Illinois University working in aquaculture nutrition, he began a Ph.D. program in animal nutrition at Purdue University. Aardsma is currently studying with Jay Johnson and focusing on nutrition-based stress physiology in poultry and swine.

Alltech has sponsored the Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award since 2000, recognizing young leaders in scientific innovation for their commitment to publishing and sharing their work within the poultry sector.

[BROOKINGS, S.D.] – The agriculture community recently banded together at the fourth annual Prime Time Gala to support Feeding South Dakota, which provides food assistance to hundreds of men, women and children across the state. Both Alltech and Hubbard Feeds, an Alltech company, supported the successful event, which raised a total of $236,508.

The highest-bid item at the event’s fundraising auction was a KEENAN mixer wagon donated from Alltech South Dakota, which raised $40,000 and was sold to Mike Winter from Brandt, South Dakota.

“Alltech is proud to support the Prime Time Gala with the donation of a KEENAN mixer for auction, as the money raised for Feeding South Dakota will go back to the people in our communities who need it most,” said CJ Tanderup, Alltech regional sales manager.

The event, hosted by the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, welcomed more than 1,540 guests. To date, the Prime Time Gala has raised a total of $737,508 for Feeding South Dakota, which has helped purchase 414,644 pounds of beef for those in need across the state since 2014. Also presented during the gala were $10,000 in scholarships to four students attending South Dakota schools who are interested in improving beef production and promotion.

“Hubbard Feeds is honored to be part of the Prime Time Gala as our agriculture industry and community come together to raise money for those struggling with food insecurity and to show our support for the South Dakota beef industry,” said Tyler Melroe, beef nutritionist for Hubbard Feeds.

For more information about the Prime Time Gala, please visit sdprimetimegala.com.

[BROOKINGS, S.D.] – Global animal health and nutrition company Alltech is proud to announce the donation of a KEENAN mixer wagon to be auctioned at South Dakota’s Prime Time Gala on June 17, 2017.

Hosted by the South Dakota Cattlemen’s Foundation, the Prime Time Gala is an annual fundraiser that benefits Feeding South Dakota, an organization that provides emergency food assistance to thousands of people in any given week and hundreds of men, women and children every day across South Dakota.

“We understand the impact that an event such as the Prime Time Gala has, not only on our state, but our local community,” said CJ Tanderup, Alltech regional sales manager. “We are proud to donate the KEENAN mixer wagon to a great cause in order to raise money for those in need and to show our support for the South Dakota beef industry.”

Since hosting the first Prime Time Gala in June 2014, over $501,000 has been raised for Feeding South Dakota to purchase over 361,804 pounds of beef. Feeding South Dakota provides emergency food assistance for an estimated 190,000 people every year and nearly 50 percent of the individuals are children and infants. To learn more about how to support Feeding South Dakota through the Prime Time Gala and to order tickets, visit www.sdprimetimegala.com.

[LEXINGTON, Ky.] – Nine agricultural journalists will soon dive into hands-on training featuring professional development, leadership and global networking as winners of the 2017 IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award.

The winners chosen for this year’s 12th annual award are:

• Tom Bicknell, Australia
• Kizito Cudjoe, Ghana
• Melanie Jenkins, United Kingdom
• Philip Keitany, Kenya
• Rachel Martin, Northern Ireland
• Matthias Schulze Steinmann, Germany
• Jessie Scott, United States of America
• Maria Törner, Sweden
• Eva Zitz, Austria

The award supports the winners’ participation in the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists (IFAJ) Congress and an intensive boot camp-style workshop. This year’s boot camp will take place from March 31 to April 1, prior to the IFAJ Congress in Gauteng, South Africa.

“Each year, we continue to see the best and brightest minds in agricultural journalism from around the world receive this award,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. “Congratulations to these nine outstanding candidates. They exemplify the leadership, skills and dedication needed to communicate and connect the agricultural industry to a wider audience.”

The IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism Award selection process involved a written submission, a critique of the candidate’s leadership potential, a demonstration of leadership abilities and a narrative explaining his/her desire in being involved in the program.

Bicknell has worked in a variety of communication and extension roles in agriculture since 2008. His media career has had a particular focus on horticulture and has included roles as the inaugural editor of horticulture business magazine Produce Plus, writer for Asiafruit Magazine, organizer and judge for the first PMA-Produce Plus Marketer of the Year Award and editorial consultant with agricultural publisher Coretext, which included writing for and managing a number of titles and communications campaigns.

Cudjoe has more than six years of experience reporting for one of the most reputable newspapers in Ghana, the Business & Financial Times. Cudjoe was honored as the 2016 Tourism Correspondent of the Year by the Ghana Tourism Authority for his contribution toward the development of the local tourism industry.

Jenkins, an agricultural journalist and public relations consultant at Agri-Hub since 2015, writes for numerous publications in the U.K., including Farmers Weekly, Farmers Guardian and Crop Production Magazine. She was awarded the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists John Deere Training Award in 2015.

Keitany is a business journalist with Kenya’s leading media house, Kenya Television Network. In January 2016, Keitany got the green light to produce and report on a weekly agribusiness feature segment named “The Next Frontier,” which has shared the stories of over 100 stakeholders in the agriculture sector across Kenya and East Africa.

Martin writes for the Belfast Telegraph, Northern Ireland’s largest daily newspaper. She has reported on the agriculture industry from Italy, Switzerland and Scotland. Her articles and photographs have been published in the Belfast Telegraph, Irish Independent, FarmWeek and Farming Life, among others.

Schulze Steinmann is deputy-editor-in-chief for Wochenblatt für Landwirtschaft & Landleben, an agriculture paper with a focus on the economy, markets and politics. In 2013, he was recognized as a specialist journalist of the year with the Karl Theodor Vogel Prize.

Scott is a digital content manager for Meredith Agrimedia. During the past four years, Scott has covered equipment trends for Successful Farming Magazine as well as its website and television show. In addition to creating content, she also works with the editorial team to coordinate news coverage on Agriculture.com and manages the distribution of content through newsletters and social media.

Törner writes for an agricultural magazine called Land Lantbruk, which is part of LRF Media, one of Sweden’s largest publishing houses. In 2014, she was awarded the Gunnar Ernest scholarship for ambitious students within the food and agriculture sector.

Zitz writes for Oesterreichische BauernZeitung, an Austrian newspaper. In 2014, she was awarded the Young Journalist Prize from the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission and the European Network of Agricultural Journalists. In 2015, Zitz also received the Josef Steiniger Award from the Austrian Guild of Agricultural Journalists.

“IFAJ appreciates Alltech’s commitment to global agricultural journalism and, in particular, to helping talented young journalists become leaders in their national agricultural journalism guilds,” said Owen Roberts, IFAJ president. “There are many examples of how recipients of the Alltech-sponsored Young Leaders award, who go on to participate in the boot camp program, are strengthening IFAJ and agricultural journalism. Alltech is helping develop and encourage a great pool of talent around the world.”

More than 100 young journalists have received the award and strengthened their communication skills and leadership in the agricultural journalism sector since the program first began in 2005.