U.S. Agriculture and the Global Environment

This year's ELI – Miriam Hamilton Keare Policy Forum will focus on the environmental and human effects of modern agriculture. Congress is once again considering the once-every-five-years Farm Bill, which is now three years late. And although the fate of the bill remains undecided — the Senate has passed its version while the House has failed to pass its version — experts envision both costs and benefits of its passage.

This year’s Keare Forum will not only consider the potential environmental costs and benefits of the legislation, but also the effects on consumers and the 47 million Americans who depend on food assistance. From there, the conversation will turn to international implications of our domestic agriculture policies. Policies in the developing world — chiefly the United States and Europe — produce bountiful harvest at great cost to taxpayers, while harming the environment and undermining farmers and hungry citizens in the developing world. Our expert panel will consider the global context of the Farm Bill and the complex relations among agricultural policy, environmental impacts, and harvest and famine on a global scale.

Panelists:

• Andrew McElwaine, President & CEO, American Farmland Trust (moderator)
• William Eubanks II, Partner, Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal
• C. Wayne Honeycutt, Deputy Chief for Science and Technology, Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture
• Blake Hurst, Board of Directors President, Missouri Farm Bureau
• Marc Sadler, Practice Leader, Office of the Vice President, Sustainable Development Network, World Bank Group
• Heather White, Executive Director, Environmental Working Group

Open to the public; RSVP by Oct 14th.