Special Lecture Series for UC Davis, Spring and Fall Quarters 2003
THE SCIENCE OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE:
Measuring the immeasurable
A major lecture series at UC Davis, The Science of Sustainable Agriculture:
Measuring the Immeasurable, will feature 17 internationally recognized
experts on sustainability in relation to agriculture, the environment,
and society. The series began April 4 and continues every Friday in spring
and fall quarters.
“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 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 in the context of academic disciplines and private sector activities. Several talks will address international development and the role of the intensification of production in addressing world hunger, and how intensification and technology affect food access and poverty. Other lectures will look at the role of globalization and the way specific policy tools such as the Common Agriculture Policy, the U.S. Farm Bill, and the World Trade Organization impact food supplies at regional or national levels.
Additional topics in the series include the development and use of sustainability indicators at the whole food system level as well as in farming systems studies that have developed specific soil- and plant-based indices. The interaction of agriculture and natural resources such as water, soil, and biodiversity will be discussed, as well as key inputs like energy. The dynamic of global climate change and how it will affect, and is affected by, practices in the food and agricultural system will also be addressed.
Several talks will look at what role consumers and citizens play in the food system and how well it nourishes communities. Final talks return the focus to the university and the 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 Plant and Environmental Sciences (PES) building at UC Davis. Lectures will be videotaped and posted within 24 hours on the SAREP Web site (http:// www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/seminar/).
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 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
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Spring 2003 SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE series |
April 4 - The Science of Sustainable Agriculture
in a Context of Disciplinary and Private Knowledge April 11 - Intensive Cereal Production Systems
for Global Food Security and Protection of Natural Resources April 18 - Globalization and Its Impact on
California Agriculture April 25 - NO SPEAKER THIS WEEK May 2 - Strategies for Sustainability in
Agriculture: A European Perspective May 9 - Measuring Sustainability: Learning
by Doing May 16 - Civic Agriculture and Food Citizenship:
Sustaining Local Food Systems in a Globalizing Environment May 23 - Agricultural Production and Climate
Changes May 30 - Economic Policies to Encourage Sustainable
Agriculture–Some Examples from Irrigated Crop Production June 6 - Intensive Agriculture and the New
Malthus: A Perspective from India  |