Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia Center for Integrative Conservation Research will host a free workshop that will explore the links between food production, policy and sustainability on Oct. 1 starting at 9 a.m. in the Richard B. Russell Building Special Collections Libraries.
The workshop, titled “The Future of Food,” is expected to draw faculty, staff and students from across campus as well as community members interested in the challenges and potential of reshaping food systems. Rashid Nuri, founder of the Truly Living Well Center for Urban Agriculture in Atlanta and president of the board of Georgia Organics, will deliver the keynote address at 3:45 p.m. in room 271.
The complete workshop schedule is:
• 9 a.m. A panel discussion on food production will feature Amy Trauger, an assistant professor of geography in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences; Frank Horne, a farmer; and Jack Matthews, a farmer and graduate student in the UGA College of Environment and Design; with Cesar Escalante, an associate professor in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, moderating.
• 10:15 a.m. A panel discussion on food policy will feature Jennifer Owens, Georgia Organics’ advocacy director; Susannah Chapman, a UGA graduate student studying anthropology; and Alice Kinman, the Athens-Clarke County District 4 commissioner; with Craig Page, ACC special projects coordinator/planner, moderating.
• 11:30 a.m. A panel discussion on food systems research will feature Hilda Kurtz, an associate professor of geography in the Franklin College; Julia Gaskin, a sustainable agriculture coordinator in CAES; and Virginia Nazarea, a professor of anthropology in the Franklin College; with Fenwick Broyard III, a community garden organizer with the Athens Land Trust, moderating.
• 2:30 p.m. Breakout discussions will take place.
• 3:45 p.m. Nuri will give the keynote address.
The UGA Center for Integrative Conservation Research was established in 2007 with the support of a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The center works to identify conservation practices and policies that simultaneously preserve biodiversity and serve human needs. Last fall, the center launched a doctoral program that allows students to choose one of four areas of focus—anthropology, ecology, forestry and natural resources and geography—while also learning to work among disciplines to reach integrative solutions to complex problems.
The workshop is sponsored by the UGA Center for Integrative Conservation Research, the Graduate School, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the Franklin College, the department of geography and the Odum School of Ecology. For more on the Center for Integrative Conservation Research, see https://cicr.ovpr.uga.edu/.
