Free tickets available now for first Heuermann Lecture

Four former U.S. secretaries of agriculture – two with Nebraska ties – are the lead-off speakers when the second season of Heuermann Lectures begins at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28, at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. Free tickets for this lecture are now available.

The four former agricultural secretaries – U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns, Clayton Yeutter, John Block and Dan Glickman – will discuss "The Land-Grant Mission of 2012 – Transforming Agriculture for the 2050 World."

Panel moderators are Jeff Raikes, chief executive officer of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Ronnie Green, University of Nebraska vice president and Harlan vice chancellor, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Heuermann Lectures focus on providing and sustaining enough food, natural resources and renewable energy for the people of the world, and on securing the sustainability of rural communities where the vital work of producing food and renewable energy occurs.

Heuermann Lectures are free, but the Sept. 28 lecture requires tickets, which are now available from the Lied Center ticket office – 402-472-4747 or 1-800-432-3231. Unclaimed tickets will be released at 7:15 p.m. that night.

The Sept. 28 Heuermann Lecture will be streamed live at heuermannlectures.unl.edu, and broadcast live nationally on RFD-TV and RURAL TV.

This lecture is the highlight of a week celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Morrill Act, which created land-grant universities. Events throughout the week are found at landgrant.unl.edu

Other Heuermann Lectures in the 2012-2013 season are:

Nov. 15 – Catherine Bertini, "Where America Must Lead: Ensuring the World Can Feed its People;" 3:30 p.m., Hardin Hall auditorium. A 3 p.m. reception in the Hardin Hall lobby precedes the lecture. Bertini is 2003 World Food Prize Laureate and professor of public administration and international relations at Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, and co-chair of the Global Agricultural Development Initiative, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Nov. 30 – Kym Anderson, "Recent and Prospective Developments in Agricultural Trade Policies;" 3:30 p.m., Hardin Hall. A 3 p.m. reception precedes the lecture.
Anderson is George Gollin Professor of Economics, University of Adelaide, and professor of economics at Australian National University, and a former researcher at the World Trade Organization and the World Bank, with expertise in global food and agricultural policies and market trends.

This lecture is jointly sponsored with the Clayton Yeutter International Trade Center Program funded by the U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration.

Jan. 15 – Temple Grandin, "Improving Animal Welfare and Communication with the Public;" 7 p.m. Hardin Hall, reception following. Grandin is professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University and author of several books including "Livestock Handling and Transport" and "Thinking in Pictures."

Feb. 12 – Pamela Ronald and Raoul Adamchak, "Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food;" 3:30 p.m., Hardin Hall; 3 p.m. reception.
Pamela Ronald is a professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis, and director of grass genetics at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, while her husband Raoul Adamchak is market garden coordinator at the U.C. Davis Student Farm, where he teaches organic agriculture. They are co-authors of the book "Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food."

April 9 – Per Pinstrup-Andersen, "The Global Food System and Related Policy Challenges;" 3:30 p.m., Hardin Hall; 3 p.m. reception. Pinstrup-Andersen, 2001 World Food Prize Laureate, is H.E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and professor of Applied Economics at Cornell University.

Heuermann Lectures are made possible through a gift from B. Keith and Norma Heuermann of Phillips, long-time university supporters with a strong commitment to Nebraska's production agriculture, natural resources, rural areas and people.

- Dan Moser, IANR News