Thursday, April 7th

Opening Keynote Speaker:
Kathleen Merrigan, USDA Deputy Secretary

THE NEXT GENERATION OF SOIL AND WATER CONSERVATION

Moderator:                       
USDA NRCS Chief, Dave White
Forum Blue Ribbon Panel:
   Roger Allbee
   Varel Bailey
   A.G. Kawamura
   Teresa Lasseter
   Patrick O’Toole
   Ross Racine

Speaker:                                 
A.G. Kawamura, former California Secretary of Agriculture

ENVISIONING HEALTHY RURAL COMMUNITIES OF THE FUTURE: THE CONVERGENCE OF WATERSHEDS, ENERGY SHEDS AND FOOD SHEDS

Moderator:                           
Patrick O’Toole, President, Family Farm Alliance
Panel:
Jose Aguto – Policy Advisor, National Congress of American Indians
Jeffrey Jacobs — Scholar, National Academy of Sciences
G. Tracy Mehan — Principal, Cadmus Group
Kristen Saacke Blunk— Director, Agriculture and Environment Center, Penn State University
Marc Thalacker – Three Sisters Irrigation District, Oregon

Moderator:
Roger Allbee, former Secretary, Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food & Markets
Panel:
Dr. J. Gordon Arbuckle, Jr. — Iowa State University
Richard Barringer — Research professor, University of Southern Maine
Craig Cox — Senior Vice President, Agriculture and Natural Resources, The Environmental Working Group
Jeff Herrick — Research Soil Scientist,  USDA Agricultural Research Service
Walter Hill– Dean, College of Agricultural, Environmental and Natural Sciences, Tuskegee University
Charles W. Rice — President, Soil Science Society of America

DINNER

Speaker:  
Krysta Harden, Chief of Staff, Secretary of Agriculture

Moderator:
Varel Bailey, Bailey Farms, Anita, Iowa
Panel:
John Copple — President/CEO, Sanborn Total Geospatial Solutions
Dr. Raymond Forney — Global Stewardship Manager, DuPont Crop Protection
Leonard Gianessi — Director, Crop Protection Research Institute, CropLife Foundation
Mark Kieser — Senior Scientist, Kieser & Associates, LLC

This session is designed to lay the ground work for private sector solutions to the challenges of 21st Century conservation – what combination of seeds, equipment, tools, management systems (no weeds vs. no till?) will be both most effective and economical to adopt? Can environmental markets help address concerns like water quality and climate change? How do we address invasive species, disease challenges and native species gone wild when our protection against these challenges is limited because of inadequate funding, but our ability to respond is strong?

Moderator:
Otto Doering – Purdue University
Panel:
Buddy Hance — Secretary of Agriculture, Maryland
Bruce Knight — Principal/Founder, Strategic Conservation Solutions
Doug O’Brien — Acting Deputy Under Secretary, USDA Rural Development
Ross Racine – Executive Director, Intertribal Agricultural Council
Steve Robinson — Immediate Past President, National Association of Conservation Districts

What are the conflict issues between the urban and rural interface on farmland and open space needs and the increased interest in local food supply and renewable energy? How can federal policy help small and rural communities hold off the powerful forces of growth? How can we create policies to level the playing field so municipalities and residential landowners abide by the same rules as producers?
Twenty-first century solutions will require greater cooperation between federal, state and local governments and private partners to focus on conservation outcomes instead of jurisdictional authorities. This session will address the interplay between land use planning and the agricultural landscape, incorporating issues including private property rights, state water rights and inter-jurisdictional authority.

Moderator:                           
Charles Stenholm, Former Congressman, Texas
Panel:
Larry Elworth — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Tom Hebert — Bayard Ridge Group, LLC
Bill O’Conner — Senior Agricultural Policy Advisor , McLeod, Watkinson & Miller
Will Shafroth — Deputy Assistant Secretary, Department of the Interior
Dave White — Chief, Natural Resources Conservation Service

How do we do conservation differently in the 21st Century—given the need for greater governmental efficiency, more collaborative, intra-agency efforts? This session will engage high level officials from USDA, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior and other agencies to address the resource issues of landscape integrity, water security and climate variability. They will talk about the need for and role of partnerships, markets, incentives and regulations in achieving shared environmental and economic outcomes and answer: How do we use partnerships to sustain conservation gains in the context of tight budgets by working across agencies?