Food and AgriCultural Transformation for Agroecosystem Health - Dr. Casey Hoy, the Ohio State University
| Date/Time: | Thursday, 13 Sep 2018 from 4:00 pm to 5:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | 2050 Agronomy Hall |
| Cost: | Free |
| Contact: | Cassie Winn & Teresa Middleton |
| Phone: | 515-294-1306 |
| Channel: | Agronomy Department |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
The challenge of food security has never been met for all of humanity. It's a classic wicked problem - complex,multidimensional, and laden with values and tradeoffs at every turn. It's a challenge that will require transformational solutions. The Ohio State University is committed to meeting food security challenges with scholarship and education on new conceptual and physical models of food systems that promote health while balancing technology, ecological capacities, economics, justice and equity, from our own campuses to Ohio communities to the rest of the world. To build capacity toward these goals, the Initiative for Food and AgriCultural Transformation, InFACT, has been established with an initial investment in 30 new faculty hires across the University. This seminar will describe our systemic approach toward sustainable and resilient food and agriculture for food security. The background and guiding principles for the initiative are rooted in research on agroecosystem health, which will be described and discussed along with examples of the work that is emerging. We give equal weight to the two roots of the word agriculture. Ohio's agriculture has largely remained unchanged over the past 200 years in its focus on export markets. But changes in population and consumer preferences are opening new opportunities for supply chains that begin on farms. Climate change is creating new challenges for Ohio agriculture as well. A particular focus of InFACT is supporting diversity in producers, production systems and consumers, as a key ingredient for resilience.