China boss of feed business enjoys integrating with Chinese society

Pearse Lyons, founder and president of Alltech Inc, one of the world's largest animal health and nutrition companies, was born in the Republic of Ireland, Europe's most western country and one of its smallest.

Moving to the United States in 1978, he launched the business in 1980. The company began supplying agricultural products for poultry and other livestock, as well as items for the wider food industry.

An international livestock breeding exhibition in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. Because of dramatically rising demand for meat and dairy products, China's animal feed industry is now one of the largest in the world. Provided to China Daily

His only son Mark, born in 1976, is vice-president of Alltech Corporate Affairs and is in charge of the business in China.

Mark obtained a bachelor degree in political science and environmental science in 1999 at the University of Chicago. Then, at Heriot Watt University, in Edinburgh, Scotland, he received a master's degree in brewing and distilling, which was followed by a PhD in the area of solid state fermentation.

A few people from Alltech with good educational backgrounds relocated to China at the end of 2011 as part of Mark's father's focus on the Asia-Pacific market.

"Sending Mark to China was an adventure and a new opportunity," said Pearse. "We wanted to send our trusted people to one of the leading markets in the world."

Alltech now has a presence in 128 countries and regions with 3,300 employees and 34 production facilities. It operates under three main divisions: animal nutrition and health, crop science and food and beverage. Alltech's core business is animal nutrition and aquaculture, which generates 95 percent of its total sales.

In the 1980s, the animal feed giant entered China. It opened its first Asia-Pacific office in Beijing in 1994. Alltech's business in China has been growing by more than 25 percent year-on-year. The company currently has three plants on the Chinese mainland, two in Tianjin and one in Beijing.