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11-13-08

Media Release

“Food for Thought” Lectures Explore Technology, Sustainability

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Food for Thought lecture series at Oregon State University will begin Nov. 25, with national experts exploring the theme of “Unifying Ideologies: Food System Technology, Society and Sustainability.”

The series includes scholars that will speak on environmental, political, toxicology, agricultural and biotechnology issues. All lectures will be held at the La Sells Stewart Center on the OSU campus beginning at 7 p.m. They are free and open to the public, and will include time for questions and discussion with the audience.

The speakers will also give technical lectures on campus during their visits. More information can be obtained on the web at http://agsci.oregonstate.edu/orb/about+fft08-09

The first lecture will be Tuesday, Nov. 25, by Pamela Ronald and her husband, organic farmer Raoul Adamchak. Authors of “Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food,” they will explore methods to ensure environmentally sustainable food production, the potential ecological benefits and risks of using genetic engineering in agriculture, concerns expressed by consumers, and their choice to bring both genetically engineered and organic food to their family dinner table.

Ronald is a professor of plant pathology at the University of California, Davis who studies rice biotechnology for the developing world, and Adamchak manages the certified organic farm at the university.

The other lectures in the series include:

• Jan. 22: “Improving Food and Environmental Safety: The Surprising Role of Genetically Modified Corn,” by Felicia Wu, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh, and Chauncey Starr Award winner of the Society for Risk Analysis

• Feb. 3: “Agriculture 2.0: Farming Systems in an Age of Climate Change,” by Steven Savage of Cirrus Partners, an adviser on future strategies to all of the major agriculture technology companies

• March 4: “Beyond Environmentalism: The Case for a New Politics,” by Michael Shellenberger, president of The Breakthrough Institute, co-author of “The Death of Environmentalism” and named a “Hero of the Environment 2008” by Time magazine

• May 5: “The Global Controversy over Genetic Engineering: What's Science Got to Do with It?” by Ronald Herring of Cornell University, and educator on political economy and political ecology at Cornell University

This lecture series is organized by Steven Strauss, distinguished professor and head of the Outreach in Biotechnology Program at OSU. It is supported by the Wait and Lois Rising Lectureship Fund in the OSU College of Agricultural Sciences, the OSU College of Forestry, and the American Society for Plant Biology.

About Oregon State University: OSU is one of only two U.S. universities designated a land-, sea-, space- and sun-grant institution. OSU is also Oregon’s only university designated in the Carnegie Foundation’s top tier for research institutions, garnering more than 60 percent of the total federal and private research funding in the Oregon University System. Its more than 19,700 students come from all 50 states and more than 80 countries. OSU programs touch every county within Oregon, and its faculty teach and conduct research on issues of national and global importance.