Contact: Jim Laird
Global food safety and security issues will come into focus as leading international experts, researchers and state and federal policymakers join Mississippi State University President Mark E. Keenum and U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) for a daylong conference Sept. 10.
Organized by the MSU International Institute and titled "Technology Implementation at the Local Level: Food Security for the Future," the conference will explore new opportunities for Mississippi agriculture, building capacity through technology and investment, global challenges and university engagement, and other issues related to the world's growing food needs.
Cochran will open the morning session in MSU's Colvard Student Union Foster Ballroom with a look at America's commitment to global food security, followed by Daniel Yohannes, Millennium Challenge Corporation CEO, who will give a global view of the challenges.
Cochran, Keenum, and Yohannes will be available to media at 10 a.m., immediately following the opening session, in the second floor lobby of Colvard Union.
Throughout the day, the world's leading experts in food production, safety and security will share their insight.
Among other authorities visiting campus are Raj Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Daniel Gustafson of the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations.
Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, will deliver the luncheon keynote address.
No-cost registration for the conference, as well as an agenda and list of participants, is available at https://www.research.msstate.edu/foodsecurity.
In addition, live streaming of the day's proceedings will be available on the conference website on Sept. 10.
For more information, contact Benjy Mikel at wbm50@msstate.edu or 662-325-5508 or Lokesh Shivakumaraiah at ls10@msstate.edu or 662-325-8632.
Please direct media inquiries and interview requests to Allison Matthews at amatthews@ur.msstate.edu or 662-325-7457.