The Future of American Agriculture
Date: Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 
Start: 8:00 am
Location: Ames, Iowa
" I want to bring the nation’s students into the discussion. At the heart of the local food revolution, as some call it, are food and agricultural systems that are sustainable for the next generation. I need you to weigh in with ideas that will contribute to a discussion that is gaining momentum."
"Maybe not every family needs an accountant or a lawyer, but every family needs a farmer."
Kathleen Merrigan is the Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She is the former director of the Agriculture, Food and Environment Program at Tufts University, where she was on faculty in the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. As a staffer on the Senate Committee on Agriculture, she helped shape the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990, which created national standards for organic foods and a federal program to accredit them. She has also served as administrator of the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, which oversees the agency's organic program. Merrigan holds a doctorate in Public Policy and Environmental Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This lecture was sponsored by the Leopold Center and was part of the 
Iowa State University National Affairs Series (funded by GSB).
Top Photo: Kathleen Merrigan discusses the USDA Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initative
Bottom Photo: Merrigan (center) has a conversation with Leopold Center Director Jerry DeWitt (left) and Leopold Center Distinguished Fellow Fred Kirschenmann (right).
Related information
Download audio from the lecture at http://www.lectures.iastate.edu/lecture/18656.
Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food - USDA website
Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture |
Ames, Iowa 50011 |
(515) 294-3711 |
leocenter@iastate.edu