Agriculture Students Attend 2013 Alltech International Symposium

MOUNT OLIVE – Four University of Mount Olive agriculture education and agribusiness students along with students from NC State recently attended the 2013 Alltech International Symposium  held in Lexington, Kentucky. The Symposium was an outstanding opportunity to see the latest trends, issues and products that will impact the agricultural industry in the future.  The conference offered students the opportunity to see agriculture from a global perspective and provided them an opportunity to interact with other agriculturalists from the various international countries that were represented at the conference.

“We were very fortunate to have the opportunity for our students to attend this international conference. Mr. Joshua Starling, executive director of the NC FFA Foundation, through a partnership with Alltech made it possible for our students to attend,” stated Sandy Maddox director of the Lois G. Britt Agribusiness Center at University of Mount Olive.

Alltech is a global leader in the animal health and nutrition industry and among the top ten animal health companies in the world, focused on natural scientific solutions to today’s biggest agriculture and food industry challenges. Headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, Alltech has offices and distributors in 128 countries; 3 bioscience centers; and 32 manufacturing facilities located strategically throughout the world.

“This was a great experience for all of us.  We had the opportunity to meet agriculturists from all over the world and the opportunity to hear from experts in the field of everything from Crop Science to Animal Science to Algae Production for Energy to Entrepreneurship. This was by far the best conference I have ever had the opportunity to attend,” expressed Jessica Hogan a senior agriculture education student from Goldsboro NC.

“I agree with Jessica,” stated Dalton Grantham a senior agribusiness student at MOC. “I really enjoyed the opportunity to hear from experts in a variety of agriculture fields and would very much like to attend this conference again in the future.”

University of Mount Olive is a private institution rooted in the liberal arts tradition with defining Christian values. The College, sponsored by the Convention of Original Free Will Baptists, has locations in Mount Olive, New Bern, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Research Triangle Park, Washington and Jacksonville. For more information, visit www.moc.edu.