Sustainable Agriculture - Identifying farming systems that are profitable, environmentally sound, and good for communities

Thursday, June 27th
1:30-3:30 PM
Washington, DC
Room 107A in the Jamie Whitten Building
Located at the corner of 14th Street and Independence Avenue (Smithsonian Metro stop on the blue/orange lines).

In preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, US
Department of Agriculture (USDA) Council on Sustainable Development is
hosting a seminar to raise awareness and understanding about topics/issues
related to sustainable agriculture, sustainable forest management, and
sustainable community development.

The next seminar will feature Jerry DeWitt, Interim Director of the USDA
SARE Program and Acting Director of Agriculture and Natural Resource
Extension at Iowa State University, will speak about Sustainable
Agriculture - Identifying farming systems that are profitable,
environmentally sound, and good for communities.

The seminar will feature eye-catching photographs of sustainable farming
and ranching enterprises taken by DeWitt on journeys through rural America.
DeWitt will detail the connection between his subjects and USDA's
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. Since 1988,
SARE has helped improve the lives of farmers and ranchers by awarding more
than 200 grants each year to innovative researchers: university
scientists, nonprofit organization representatives, agricultural educators,
and producers carrying out experiments on their farms and ranches. Many of
DeWitt's photographs have been featured in SARE publications, which
spotlight relevant project results and exemplary producers who put some of
those ideas into practice across the country.

Contacts:

Adela Backiel, USDA Director of Sustainable Development (202.720.2456; adela.backiel@usda.gov)
and
Marc Safley, USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service (202.720.3921; marc.safley@usda.gov)