International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council

Seminar

Transforming United States Agricultural Policy:
Converging Domestic and International Policy Imperatives

May 24, 2005

8:30 to 18:00
Capitol Hill
Washington, DC

In 2007 the United States Congress must pass a new Farm Bill. Because of its particular importance for the federal budget on the domestic side and the Doha Round of WTO negotiations on the international side, the discussion on the Farm Bill is expected to begin very soon. The Bill's final design and the debate around it will be driven by multiple policy objectives, including:

• Enhancing the competitiveness of US farmers

• Conserving natural resources and promoting environmental stewardship

• Creating a more open trading system for agricultural products

• Supporting rural communities in the United States

• Complying with WTO and other international commitments

• Reducing the US Federal budget deficit

• Promoting economic development in developing countries

On May 24th, the International Food & Agricultural Trade Policy Council (IPC) will hold a seminar on Capitol Hill, which will explore ways that US agricultural policies could be designed to meet these policy goals. The seminar will feature speakers from government, farming, food and agribusiness, as well as experts in hunger and poverty alleviation and environmental stewardship. Confirmed speakers include:

• Cal Dooley, President of The Food Products Association and former Member of the United States House of Representatives

• Mark Drabenstott, Vice President and Director, Center for the Study of Rural America, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank

• Franz Fischler, Former EU Commissioner for Agriculture

• David Beckman, President, Bread for the World

• Craig Cox, Executive Vice President, Soil and Water Conservation Society

• Luis de la Calle, former Mexican trade negotiator

• Isabelle Garzon, former Agricultural Advisor, European Commission Directorate General for Trade

• Mike Gifford, Canada’s Uruguay Round agriculture negotiator

• Tim Josling, Emeritus Professor at Stanford University

• Rolf Moehler, former European Commission Deputy Director General for Agriculture

• Raul Montemayor, National Business Manager, Federation of Free Farmers Cooperatives in the Philippines

• Per Pinstrup Andersen, Cornell University Professor and World Food Prize Laureate

• Marcelo Regunaga, former Argentine Secretary of Agriculture

• Ajay Vashee, President of the Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions

• Don Villwock, President of the Indiana Farm Bureau