What Will the World Eat? U.S. Impact on Global Food Security

The Community Food Security Coalition Proudly Presents

What Will the World Eat? U.S. Impact on Global Food Security 
Reception with Lecture and Discussion featuring the 1995 World Food Prize Laureate Dr. Hans R. Herren

Monday, October 12, 2009

Polk County Convention Center, Room 204, Des Moines, Iowa 
5:45 pm Reception; 6:15 pm Lecture and Discussion

This event is free and open to the public. Appetizers and a cash bar will be available. This event is sponsored by the Food & Society Fellows Program at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy and the Worldwatch Institute. For more information contact Angie Tagtow at angie.tagtow@mac.com or 515.367.5200.

With more than 7,000 plants available for food, 60 percent of the global diet is derived from corn, wheat and rice. Farm organizations and food industries often claim that advances in biotechnology of these crops are required to meet growing demands on the food supply - but at what cost? Join 1995 World Food Prize Laureate Dr. Hans Herren as he explores an agricultural agenda that establishes global food security, environmental sustainability and social justice. Dr. Herren is the President of the Millennium Institute and is the co-chair of the International Assessment of Agriculture Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development work group which wrote the 2009 report "Agriculture at a Crossroads." An esteemed panel will respond to Dr. Herren followed by dialog with the audience.

Dr. Hans R. Herren, an internationally recognized scientist, is the President of the Millennium Institute in Arlington, Virginia. Prior to joining MI, he was director-general of the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Nairobi, Kenya. He also served as director of the Africa Biological Control Center of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), in Benin. At ICIPE, Hans developed and implemented programs in the area of human, animal, plant and environmental health (the 4-H paradigm) as they relate to insect issues. At IITA, he conceived and implemented the highly successful biological control program that saved the African cassava crop, and averted Africa's worst-ever food crisis. Hans earned his Ph.D. at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, and holds numerous awards that recognize his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Over the years, Hans has moved his interests toward integrated sustainable development, in particular, linking environmental, plant, animal, and human health issues. Hans serves on the boards of numerous organizations, including co-chairing the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science & Technology; chairman of BioVision, a Swiss foundation with a global mandate to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of poor people while maintaining the precious natural resource base that sustains life; member of the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research Science Council; past president of the International Association of the Plant Protection Sciences; and former member of the US Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

• Edgardo Garcia, General Coordinator of Asosación de Trabajadores del Campo, Nicaragua, Via Campesina
• Mary Hendrickson, PhD, Extension Associate Professor, Department of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri
• Danielle Nierenberg, MS, Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute
• Alexandra Spieldoch, MA, Director of the Trade and Global Governance Program, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy
• Francis Thicke, PhD, Iowa organic dairy farmer, 2010 candidate Iowa Secretary of Agriculture