What changes are needed to sustain the Pacific Northwest’s agriculture? How will spiraling fuel prices and potential labor shortages play out in the future? What roles will genetic engineering and biofuels play?
These are a few of the hot topics that will be discussed during “Sustainable Agriculture, Communities and Environments,” a research symposium scheduled for May 18-20 on the Tri-Cities campus in Richland. Details are available online at https://www.tricity.wsu.edu/crs/.
“We’re bringing together scholars from across the West to address these issues,” said symposium co-coordinator David Sonnenfeld. “About 50 scholarly research papers and posters will be presented, and our keynote presenter is Dr. John C. Allen, director of the Western Rural Development Center at Utah State University.”
Allen’s presentation, which will be given at 7:30 p.m. May 18 in the East Building Auditorium, is titled “The Role of Community in Supporting Entrepreneurial Sustainable Agriculture.” That session and the rest of the symposium are open free to the public. The symposium is sponsored in part by a grant from Humanities Washington.
Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect more than a decade ago, the dynamics of agricultural production and trade have changed dramatically in the Pacific Northwest. Sonnenfeld said the symposium, the first of its kind at WSU Tri-Cities, will explore the use of pesticides and their alternatives, global business cycles and competition from low-wage producers.
