In closing ONE: The Alltech Ideas Conference, Dr. Mark Lyons, president and chief executive officer of Alltech, shared his new vision for the company and invited the ONE conference’s more than 3,500 attendees to join in “Working Together for a Planet of Plenty.”

Thirty years ago, his father, Alltech’s founder Dr. Pearse Lyons, took the stage at the same conference. He had committed Alltech to a guiding ACE principle, emphasizing the importance of delivering benefit to animals, consumers and the environment. He fervently believed that the well-being of each depended on maintaining harmony among all three. It was a radical idea at the time — so radical, that some customers walked out of the conference.

Yet, against a backdrop of diminishing natural resources, a changing climate and a growing population, sustainability is quickly becoming a non-negotiable for businesses and for agriculture. Every business and individual has a role to play, moving us closer to a planet of peril or of plenty, Lyons said.

“With the adoption of new technologies and management practices and, most of all, human ingenuity, we believe a Planet of Plenty is possible,” Lyons said. “Our Planet of Plenty vision propels our founding ACE principle into a new world of possibility, where anyone and everyone can make a positive impact on our shared planet.”

Agriculture has frequently become the scapegoat for climate change, yet no other industry has the potential to have a more positive impact on the Earth than the original stewards of the land.

“Agriculture is the only industry that can sequester carbon through its primary mission,” Alltech sustainability manager David Butler said. “There are several low-tech management practices and high-tech innovations that can put carbon back into soils and forests and produce more food in the process.”

A new website, PlanetofPlenty.com, provides examples of agricultural methods that can improve the environment as well as inspiring stories of the people and technologies making a planet of plenty possible.

“From the Israeli lawyer who is using CRISPR to solve one of poultry’s biggest challenges to the Irish entrepreneur reducing spray drift through magnetic technology, there are compelling stories of people who are discovering new approaches and developing technologies that shape a more positive future,” said Orla McAleer, chief marketing officer for Alltech. “As we tell their stories, we want to encourage greater adoption of sustainable practices, but most of all, we hope to inspire more ingenuity and a collaborative spirit.”

Stories can be shared on the Planet of Plenty website or on social media with the hashtag #PlanetofPlenty. Alltech will also be recognizing farmers, students, entrepreneurs, businesses, nonprofits and communities that are putting the power of agriculture to work to create a Planet of Plenty.

“To create a more abundant world, we must collaborate across industries and geographies and discover, test and apply new ideas,” Lyons said. “Our personal journeys will be unique and diverse, but if we work together, our destination can be the same: a Planet of Plenty in which there is enough nutritious food for all, the world’s resources are responsibly managed for future generations and the environment is safe for people, animals and plants to thrive in harmony.”