News Room » Press Releases: Media Advisory
For Release March 15, 2007
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| Karl Glasener, ASA/CSSA/SSSA 202.408.5382 karlglasener@agronomy.org |
Nadine Lymn, ESA 202.833.8773, ext. 205 Nadine@esa.org | Tamara Wagester,
C-FARE 202.408.8522 tamarawagester@cfare.org |
Agriculture, Biology, and Conservation
The ABCs of How Nature Serves the Nation
WASHINGTON, D.C. March 15, 2007 -- Human society remains dependent on environmental ingredients in order to produce food, fiber, and energy. These “ecosystem services” are the conditions and processes that sustain human life and provide the basis for meeting the challenges of a growing global human population. The public policy community has recognized the importance of these services and has begun to offer interdisciplinary proposals to improve the provision and quality of ecosystem services. A multi-disciplinary group of organizations will examine ecosystem services and their implications with policy at a Congressional Briefing on March 20, 2007, from 12 Noon – 1:15 PM (House Rayburn 2325) and from 2:00 – 3:00 PM (Senate Russell 328A ). Three experts will address the issues by shedding light on ecosystem services and their key role in the nation's food production enterprise and overall quality of life.
Sponsoring the Hill briefings are the American Society of Agronomy, the Crop Science Society of America, the Soil Science Society of America (ASA/CSSA/SSSA), the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE), and the Ecological Society of America (ESA).
“Given that the reauthorization of the Farm Bill is on the horizon, we believe that it would be very timely and helpful to provide scientific information highly relevant to agriculture in this country,” said Karl Glasener, Director of Science Policy with ASA/CSSA/SSSA.
Steven Kraft, an agricultural economist and Co-Director of Environmental Resources and Policy at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, will provide examples of various economic goods provided through ecosystem services derived from working agricultural landscapes and rural America. Kraft's talk will also focus on the lack of formal markets in ecosystem services which frequently leads to resource degradation and other problems.
Katherine Gross, a plant ecologist and Director of Michigan State University's Kellogg Biological Station, will discuss how managing agricultural systems for environmental benefits does not necessarily translate into lower crop yields. For example, she will explain how insect diversity can help control alien pests such as the new soybean aphid now invading the U.S. Midwest.
John Havlin, a soil scientist with North Carolina State University will address the future demands on agro-ecosystem services. He notes that global food aid is projected to double in the next 25 years with the U.S. fulfilling the bulk of the demand. This challenge will need to be met while the U.S. is losing its agricultural land to urbanization.
The research conducted by all three scientists is supported by federal investment in agencies including the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's competitive National Research Initiative program.
Members of the press may RSVP to any of the contacts above if interested in attending either briefing.
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The Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE) is a non-profit organization dedicated to strengthening the national presence of the agricultural economics profession. C-FARE's governing board includes prominent agricultural economists representing a wide range of public and private sector interests.
Founded in 1915, the Ecological Society of America ( ESA ) is North America 's professional membership organization of 9,700 ecological scientists. Through ESA reports, journals, and members, the Society seeks to promote the responsible application of ecological data and principles to the solution of environmental challenges.
The American Society of Agronomy (ASA), Crop Science Society of America (CSSA) and Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) are prominent international educational societies headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin. Because of their common interests, ASA, CSSA, and SSSA share a close working relationship as well as the same headquarters office staff. The more than 11,000 members of the three Societies are dedicated to the conservation and wise use of natural resources to produce food, feed, and fiber crops while maintaining and improving the environment.
