Media Advisory: CSU Ag Innovation Summit addresses global food security and biosecurity Sept. 21
CSU’s third annual AgInnovation Summit will spotlight agricultural research, technology and policy addressing global food safety and security.
The 2018 AgInnovation Summit, “Safe. Secure. Sustainable.,” will explore forces driving and shaping the future of food safety and agricultural biosecurity including prevention, prediction, mitigation and response. The event features a full-day program on Sept. 21 featuring prominent keynote speakers and engaging panel discussions.
The summit is part of Ag Week at CSU, an annual celebration of Colorado agriculture. The week will culminate on Saturday, Sept. 22 with CSU’s 37th Ag Day BBQ, a festive football-day tradition and showcase of Colorado commodities, with proceeds funding student scholarships for CSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences.
WHEN/WHERE:
The Ag Innovation Summit will be held Friday, Sept. 21 at the Lory Student Center on the CSU campus.
DETAILS:
This year’s summit will spotlight two keynote speakers: Kevin Shea, administrator of the federal Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, and Sally Rockey, executive director of the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research.
Shea will speak at 8:30 a.m. at the Lory Student Center Ballroom. As the APHIS administrator, Shea carries out the agency’s multiple missions of protecting the health and value of American agriculture; mitigating the impact of human-wildlife conflict to protect agriculture, environmental and human health and safety; and ensuring the safe and timely availability of new genetically engineered technologies.
Rockey will speak at 12:45 p.m. at the Lory Student Center Ballroom. Rockey spent 19 years as an award-winning leader in federal research at the Department of Agriculture before the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research named her its inaugural executive director in 2015.
Along with Shea and Rockey, the summit will also feature industry luminaries such as Mindy Brashears, director of the International Center for Food Industry Excellence; Blake Bextine, program manager within the Biological Technologies Office at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA); and Tom Vilsack, CEO and president of the U.S. Dairy Export Council and former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture who is now affiliated with Colorado State University.
CSU President Tony Frank and the College of Agricultural Sciences Dean Ajay Menon will also speak, along with faculty from the College of Agricultural Sciences.
For a full schedule, visit http://csuaginnovationsummit.colostate.edu/program/ and for more information visit http://csuaginnovationsummit.colostate.edu/.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Jennifer Dimas (970) 491-1543 or jennifer.dimas@colostate.edu or Chris Staten at (571) 217-2200 or chris.staten@colostate.edu.