In November, Glynwood, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture and the Airlie Foundation co-sponsored a national conference on “New Perspectives on Food Security” to influence the growing debate about how to protect the American food supply from threats from natural sources and terrorists.  Speakers included Chef Michel Nischan, Mary Hendrickson, Ph.D., author Brian Halweil, Michael Hamm, Ph.D., Craig Watson, and Fred Kirschenmann.  Working sessions focused on the systems perspective, legal and economic issues; environmental and public health concerns and public policy. By inviting leading thinkers from various disciplines to offer new perspectives on food security issues, we:

• Challenged participants to assess the potential impact of current trends in the structure of our food system.

• Expanded our collective thinking about a model of food security that includes the security of our economy, the environment, and local communities.

• Encouraged participants to suggest new policies and economic approaches that might improve our food system and protect the food supply.

To read the conference proceedings, including the plenary presentations and working papers, click here.  Individual hard copies of the conference proceedings may be purchased at www.cafepress.com/conferencebook