April 2003
Special Lecture Series for Spring and Fall Quarters 2003
The Science of Sustainable Agriculture: Measuring the Immeasurable
Weather Station, California Central Coast. Intensive data collection, including information from weather stations located in farm fields, is key in sustainable agricultural systems. (Photo by Jenny Broome, SAREP)
"We are very honored to have this group of leading social, ecological and biological scientists to address key issues relevant to agricultural sustainability in California," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES), a major funder of the series. "The series is meant to provide a forum for public discussion of the issues, based on the best information available."
The series will present research results aimed at increasing the sustainability of food and agricultural systems, as well as ways to measure or assess sustainability in agriculture and natural resource management, according to Jenny Broome, associate director of the UC Davis-based statewide Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP).
"These findings and ideas will help define the problems and challenges of sustainability more clearly, and also chart possible new directions for education, research and policy," said Broome, chair of the CA&ES subcommittee that planned the lectures with the UC Davis Sustainability Indicators workgroup.
Broome noted that sustainable agriculture systems are defined as those that serve society in the short and long term, are economically viable and environmentally sound, and promote healthy communities.
The series will begin by looking at the university and the way knowledge is created and extended. Several talks will address international development including the way intensive agriculture production affects world hunger, food access and poverty. Other lectures will look at the role of globalization the way specific policy tools such as the World Trade Organization impact food supplies.
Additional talks will address the use of sustainability indicators at the food system and farming system levels, the interaction of agriculture and natural resources like water, soil, and biodiversity, and the dynamics of global climate change. The roles of consumers in the food system will be addressed, while the final discussions will return to university and education and outreach efforts needed to increase the adoption of sustainable farming and food systems.
All lectures are scheduled for Fridays from 12:10 to 1 P.M. in Room 3001 of the new Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) building at UC Davis. Lectures will be video taped and posted within 24 hours on the SAREP Web site (http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/seminar/ ).
Spring 2003 series schedule:
April 4 The Science of Sustainable Agriculture in a Context of Disciplinary
and Private Knowledge, William B. Lacy, Vice Provost, University Outreach
and International Programs, and professor, Department of Human and Community
Development, UC Davis
April 11 Intensive Cereal Production Systems for Global Food Security and Protection of Natural Resources, Kenneth G. Cassman, professor and chair, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, University of Nebraska Lincoln
April 18 Globalization and Its Impact on California Agriculture, William Friedland, professor emeritus, Departments of Community Studies and Sociology, UC Santa Cruz
April 25 NO SPEAKER THIS WEEK
May 2 Strategies for Sustainability in Agriculture: A European Perspective, Floor Brouwer, head of Natural Resource Management, Agricultural Economics Research Institute (LEI), The Hague, Netherlands
May 9 Measuring Sustainability: Learning by Doing, Simon Bell, senior lecturer in Information Systems, Center for Complexity and Change, Technology Faculty, The Open University, United Kingdom
May 16 Civic Agriculture and Food Citizenship: Sustaining Local Food Systems in a Globalizing Environment, Thomas A. Lyson, Liberty Hyde Bailey professor, Department of Rural Sociology, Cornell University
May 23 Agricultural Production and Climate Changes, Cynthia Rosenzweig, research scientist, National Aeronautic and Space Administration, Goddard Institute for Space Studies
May 30 Economic Policies to Encourage Sustainable Agriculture - Some Examples from Irrigated Crop Production, Richard E. Howitt, professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Davis
June 6 Intensive Agriculture and the New Malthus: A Perspective from India, Glenn Davis Stone, associate professor, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis
UC Davis students attending the lecture series may receive academic credit by enrolling in IAD 290, section 2 (for graduate students) or AMR 190, section 1 (for undergraduates). In addition to attending the lectures, enrolled students will participate in weekly discussions on the Monday following each lecture from 12:10-1 PM in PES room 2005. For further information, contact the organizer of the courses, Mark Van Horn, director of the UC Davis Student Farm at mxvanhorn@ucdavis.edu.
Fall speakers will be announced later this spring with the first lecture scheduled Friday, October 3, 2003 at the same location. See the SAREP Web site for more details (as well as video archives) or contact SAREP at (530) 754-8547 or sarep@ucdavis.edu.
Additional support for the lecture series is provided by Unilever Bestfoods Corporation, Kearney Foundation of Soil Science, UC Davis Department of Agronomy and Range Science, UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, the UC Davis Center for History, Society, and Culture, and UC SAREP.
Members of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental
Sciences Subcommittee on Sustainable Agriculture speaker series:
Janet C. "Jenny" Broome, associate director, SAREP (chair)
Chris van Kessel, chair and professor, Department of Agronomy & Range Science
William Horwath, associate professor, Department of Land, Air, and Water Resources
Leisa Huyck, Sustainable Agriculture Farming Systems/IA Conservation Tillage
project
Karen Klonsky, extension specialist, Department of Agricultural and Resource
Economics
Wolfgang Pitroff, assistant professor, Department of Animal Science
Kate Scow, professor, Department of Land, Air, Water Resources; director, Kearney
Foundation of Soil Science
Media Contacts:
Lyra Halprin, (530) 752-8664, lhalprin@ucdavis.edu
