How to Feed a Hungry Planet in an Era of Climate Change: Separating Fact from Fiction

Some argue that the use of technologies such as GMOs, gene editing, and synthetic biology are the only ways we will be able to provide food and nutrition security for all without harming the planet. Others argue that these tools are too dangerous to be deployed and should be heavily regulated, if not banned all together.

In this talk, Susan will put current debates regarding food systems and agricultural production into a historical context. The idea of “pure” science is a myth. The direction of research & development and the deployment of technology are a choice and the result of socio-economic and political situations. It is a reflection of power relations. Susan will discuss how our views about agriculture have evolved since World War II and how the forces of globalization are shaping what we grow and how we grow it. In exploring some of the dominant assumptions that drive decision-making concerning agricultural production systems, Susan will help separate fact from fiction to get a better sense of the core challenges, risks and how to evaluate pathways to food systems that are healthy for people and planet.

Susan Bragdon is an International lawyer, natural resource ecologist and U.S. patent agent with over 25 years of experience working with governments, United Nations agencies and multilateral institutions as well as donor organizations on policy related to sustainable food systems, biological diversity, small-scale farmers, and agroecology. Areas of expertise include governance, public international law and intergovernmental processes, intellectual property and trade rules, human rights law. Susan served as Legal Advisor to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Working Group II of the negotiating body to the treaty. She is the first attorney hired within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) at senior level to develop and implement policy strategy on plant genetic diversity and food security and to leverage its role through critical partnerships. Currently she serves as the Director of the Seeds for All, an organization focused on influencing and promoting coherence amongst multilateral institutions and treaty bodies in Geneva, Rome and New York in support agroecological approaches to agriculture with a focus on agricultural biodiversity and small-scale farmers.

The Straub Environmental Learning Center is located at 1320 A St NE, Salem, OR 97301 The program is open to the public with no registration required. A $5 fee can be paid at the door. For any questions contact Jon Yoder at joyoder73@gmail.com.