Thursday, February 28, 2019
Toyota Auditorium, Howard Baker Center for Public Policy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
09:00 – 09:05
Welcome and introduction of Dr. Bram Govaerts, Global Director, Innovative Business Strategies and Latin America Sustainable Intensification Strategy Lead, CIMMYT (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center)
09:05 – 10:00
Keynote presentation, Dr. Bram Govaerts
10:00 – 11:20
Panel discussion with Q&A
Moderator:
Donnie Smith, former CEO, Tyson Foods
Panelists:
Hon. Sharon Burke, Senior Advisor, International Security and Natural Resource Security, New America
Sarah Colby, Associate Professor, Department of Nutrition , University of Tennessee
Pipa Elias, Soil Health Strategy Manager, The Nature Conservancy, North America
11:20 – 11:50
Bio-break and travel to UTIA campus for lunch and afternoon workshop
The afternoon continues with an invite-only workshop on UTIA campus.
ABOUT SA3
In the 1950s and 60s, the Green
Revolution increased the yields of cereal crops to such an extent that
billions of people were saved from starvation throughout much of the
developing world. Technological developments in subsequent decades
further improved production efficiency. These periods of improved
agricultural production have largely kept pace with global population
growth and improved soil quality and conservation. If these two phases
of productivity intensification are versions 1.0 and 2.0 of sustainable
agriculture, then what comes next? By 2050, the world population is
expected to grow by 20 to 30 percent and food production will need to
outpace this rate of growth, as per capita demand for calories and
protein will also increase. At the same time, the Earth’s finite natural
resources, particularly water and arable land area, are already
strained. Climate change and energy insecurity present crosscutting
challenges to the present order of the global food system. Against this
backdrop, further increasing crop yields while maintaining or improving
their nutritional value requires a new paradigm of sustainable
agriculture.
Sustainable Agriculture 3.0
(SA3) must intentionally confront the role of agriculture not only in
delivering nutrition to a growing world population, but also in
conserving natural resources for future generations, mitigating climate
change, supplying energy, and enhancing security by strengthening
resilience of the food system to shocks, such as extreme climate events
and geopolitical disruptions. SA3 must be founded on a transdisciplinary
framework that integrate across not just food, energy and water
systems, but also social, economic, and political systems.
Thursday, February 28 at 9:00am
to 11:30am
Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy, Toyota Auditorium
1640 Cumberland Ave., Knoxville, TN 37996