Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

LC Logo 2008 Shivvers Memorial Lecture: John Ikerd, Family Farms in an Era of Global Uncertainty

Date: Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Start: 7:00 pm

Location: Ames, Iowa

We live times of growing uncertainty regarding the future of our economy, our society, and of humanity. These uncertainties are all symptoms of the same basic cause: our unrealistic demands on an unsustainable economy. Some have suggested biofuels as a solution to the twin challenges of fossil energy depletion and global warming. However, the greatest challenge for agriculture will be to feed more people better with less fossil energy. The food security of any nation depends on the willingness and ability of its farmers to take care of its land and to care for its people. The future of humanity of in these uncertain times depends on the thoughtful, caring, and committed people who choose to live and work on family farms.

John Ikerd is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Ikerd was raised on a small dairy farm in southwest Missouri and received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. He worked in private industry for a time and spent 30 years in various professorial positions at North Carolina State University, Oklahoma State University, University of Georgia, and University of Missouri before retiring in early 2000.

Since retiring, he has spent most of his time writing and speaking on issues related to sustainability, with an emphasis on economics and agriculture. Ikerd is the author of Sustainable Capitalism, A Return to Common Sense, Small Farms are Real Farms, and Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture.

This lecture was sponsored by the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the ISU chapter of Gamma Sigma Delta Honorary Society for Agriculture and the ISU Committee on Lectures funded by GSB. The Shivvers Memorial Lecture has been presented annually since 1969 in memory of John Shivvers who farmed near Knoxville.

Related information

Listen to podcast [MP3]

Download Ikerd's presentation [PDF]

Learn more about the Shivvers Memorial Lecture Series