USDA Secretary Schafer And Undersecretary Keenum To Address International Food Aid Conference

WASHINGTON, April 2008 – Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer and USDA Under Secretary for Farm & Foreign Agricultural Services Mark Keenum will speak at the 10th annual International Food Aid Conference, "Future Pathways to Food Aid" which will be held in Kansas City, Mo., next week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are hosting the conference.

Secretary Ed Schafer will speak on April 16, and Dr. Keenum will speak on April 15. Dr. Keenum will also moderate a panel discussion on global agriculture and transportation price trends and the relation to food security on April 15.

More than 700 participants from 25 countries, including representatives from private voluntary organizations, commodity and transportation companies, government officials, university scientists and administrators, are planning to attend the conference at the Westin Crown Center Hotel. This is the largest food aid conference held in the United States.

The conference provides a forum for participants to discuss policy and operational issues related to the delivery of food aid among government, non-government private voluntary organizations and agricultural industry representatives. Topics include the 2008 Farm Bill, World Trade Organization negotiations, commodity and transportation supply and demand trends, emergency and developmental aid, nutrition and supply chain management.

In addition to Secretary Schafer and Dr. Keenum, speakers include Henrietta Fore, administrator of USAID and director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, U.S. State Department; Ambassador Gaddi Vasquez, U.S. Ambassador to U.N. Agencies in Rome; Josette Sheeran, executive director, U.N. World Food Programme; Michel Gabaudan, regional representative for U.S. and Caribbean U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees; Cris Muyunda, senior agricultural advisor of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa; Philip Shapiro, president and CEO of Liberty Maritime Corporation; John Reinhart, president and CEO of Maersk Line, Ltd.; Dean Hirsch, president and CEO, World Vision International; Rajiv Shah, agriculture development director, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Michael Usnick, director, U.S. Relations, U.N. World Food Programme; and Mary Wilson, Mine Action spokesperson, Humpty Dumpty Institute.

People with disabilities who need accommodations should contact Debbie Crow at (816) 926-6301, or email Deborah.Crow@kcc.usda.gov.

USDA’s Farm Service Agency has more information about the conference at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/ifac .