August 26, 2002
URBANA - Food safety and security is the theme of a series of free public lectures to be presented at the University of Illinois this fall. William Masters, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University will be the featured speaker from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 3 in the ACES Library, Information and Alumni Center.
Masters has done research on food production, policy and trade in Africa and around the world. The title of his talk will be "Institutions and Technology for Food Security: Peril and Progress."
"America has traditionally viewed food security as a problem of the developing world, but no more," said Steven Pueppke, associate dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at U of I. "One of the many lessons of September 11 is that food security is a global challenge from which no nation is exempt."
Because of this new, heightened awareness about food safety and security, Pueppke said that America's Land Grant universities, including the U of I's College of ACES, are vitally interested in the complexity of global food production and movement. "This system," Pueppke said, "affects not only the welfare of millions of people, but also our markets, our international policies, and the security of our own food supply."
Masters said that there is abundant food available in most of the world, but Africa and South Asia still suffer from widespread malnutrition.
"For decades, poverty in these regions was linked to social institutions and policy choices," said Masters. "Those policies are now changing, and there is a critical need for appropriate new technologies. Without government-funded research and development, no amount of market reform will give farmers the right kinds of seeds, or new medicines for tropical diseases."
Masters’ research points to the key role of science-based innovation to the global economy, and the large payoffs from investing in public-sector research and development on tropical agriculture and public health. But Masters admits that building political support for this may be particularly difficult now because of the relative abundance of food elsewhere in the world.
ACES Library, Information and Alumni Center is located near the South of the University of Illinois campus. From Pennsylvania Ave., turn North to the octagonal library building. Metered parking is available on surrounding streets.
The seminar is part of a series of public lectures on Global Food Security sponsored in part by ACES Global Connect, the international arm of the College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois.
The final lecture in the series will feature Werner Kiene, representative of the United Nations World Food Programme to the Bretton Woods Institutions and will be held from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 7th.
For more information visit: http://www.aces.uiuc.edu/global/seminar
-30- Source: Steven Pueppke, (217) 333-0240; pueppke@uiuc.edu | 
U of I Lecture Series Analyzes Food Security 
