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Seeds and Breeds
September 12-14
View
conference brochure [PDF]
The Leopold Center is among several sponsors
of the 2005 Seeds and Breeds conference to be held September
12-14 in Ames. The purpose of the conference, which stemmed
from a 2003 summit in Washington, D.C., is to help
reinvigorate the public breeding of crops and animals in
agriculture.
Co-sponsors are the Raymond F. Baker Center for Plant
Breeding at Iowa State University and the Rural Advancement
Foundation International (RAFI) based in Pittsboro, North
Carolina.
The conference will include a review of existing breeding
programs and a discussion of strategies for making and
implementing policies that will shift the current paradigm
from engineering of only a few varieties that benefit even
fewer sponsors, to programs that involve a larger group of
farmers, universities and NGOs.
A number of concurrent sessions, panel discussions and tours
are planned.
Members of the planning committee include Leopold Center
director Fred Kirschenmann, Iowa farmer Ron Rosmann, and ISU
professors Charles Brummer, Kendall Lamkey and Jean-Luc
Jannink. The committee is committed to having farmers and
NGOs participate in the dialogue, and is offering 10
scholarships for farmers and funding for staff from NGOs to
attend the conference.
For more information, contact conference coordinator Laura
Lauffer of Sustainable Solutions, (919) 542-6067. On-line
registration is available at:
http://www.agron.iastate.edu/seedsandbreeds.
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