Next week, there’s a pretty important event for the international farming community as the World Agricultural Forum comes to downtown St. Louis, Mo., May 17-20th at the St. Louis Ballpark Hilton Hotel. And AgWired will be there!
This press release says the forum’s Sixth Biennial World Congress is entitled “Our Global Priority: Food Security—Financial, Trade and Technical Services” and is one of the world’s largest biennial gatherings of agricultural leaders in government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), businesses and academia brought together to discuss the world’s growing population and the impacts on food, fuel, fiber and water in both emerging and developed markets:
Keynote speakers for the 2009 World Congress include: Right Honorable James Bolger, ONZ, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and Ambassador to the United States, and current chairman of the WAF advisory board, Honorable Raghuveera Reddy, the
Minister of Agriculture for Andhra Pradesh, India and Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion and professor at Oxford University.
“The World Congress is particularly important as this year’s agenda is designed to encourage world leaders to discuss what financial, technical and trade strategies need to be developed, adopted or enhanced for a food-secure world,” said Ambassador Bolger.
“Progressive, far-reaching solutions to global problems are needed now more than ever, with the expansion of the agribusiness industry beyond food and into innovative energy sources, industrial products and pharmaceuticals. This World Congress will seek
solutions to issues concerning agricultural production and supply, the crucial resource of water and the impact on agricultural economies and resources during a period of economic uncertainties.”
“Each participant in the Congress will have an active role in developing plans for change,” said Kathleen Moldthan, executive vice president and chief operating officer, WAF. “The World Congress is one of the only opportunities where government, NGOs
and the private sector can share an equal voice. We have seen many partnerships emerge from these gatherings that would have never come to fruition in a different setting. Its these partnerships that illustrate the value of WAF and initiate the actions for change.”
I’ll be there for part of the sessions with Cindy picking up the the second half. We’ll either see you in St. Louis or on the Web here at Agwired.com!