As leading global figures in agriculture gather in Abu Dhabi, UAE March 9-11 for the “Global Forum for Innovation in Agriculture,” they will be joined by Colorado State University administrators and researchers. In fact, CSU is one of only two universities named as “knowledge partners” for the GFIA, and CSU Professor of Soil and Crop Sciences and Assistant Dean for International Programs Raj Khosla has been invited to deliver a talk as part of the GFIA’s Hosted Scientist Program.
Precision agriculture
Khosla’s talk, “Precision Agriculture for Small Scale Farming Systems,” will focus on how precision agriculture can be used for small scale farming systems from Asia to Africa. Khosla has significant international engagement and research experience and served as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the US State Department from 2012-2013. There he was associated with the Office of Science and Technology Advisor to the Secretary of State and placed in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Office of Economic Policy. He was a leading figure in the development of the Roadmap Towards 2020, which focused on establishing food security in the Asia-Pacific Region by 2020.
Khosla will be joined at the forum by CSU Vice President for Engagement Lou Swanson, CSU Vice President for Research Alan Rudolph, and Dean of the CSU College of Agricultural Sciences Craig Beyrouty. CSU will also host an exhibition table highlighting some of the innovative and groundbreaking research taking place across the university in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station, Extension, and the School of Global Environmental Sustainability.
Growing international stature
“CSU’s participation in the GFIA testifies to the growing international stature of our university,” said Beyrouty. “Our faculty members and researchers are sought-after for their expertise by institutions and organizations from around the globe, and our inclusion as a knowledge partner for the forum speaks to CSU’s commitment to tackling grand global challenges in agriculture including food sacristy, nutritional security, and water availability.”
In conjunction with the forum, CSU representatives have been invited to join the Global-Alliance on Climate Smart Agriculture (GS-CSA) strategic meetings. The GS-CSA was announced by US Secretary of State John Kerry at the UN Climate Summit in fall 2014, and CSU is a founding member of the Global Alliance.
About the forum
The forum is held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and in strategic partnership with the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA). The exhibition and conference will feature more than 300 next-generation agricultural solutions that could shape the future of sustainable farming around the world. GFIA will bring together participants from the entire agricultural value-chain – from agribusiness and academia to policy and investment – to witness more than 400 presentations of game-changing ideas with the potential to fundamentally change the way food is produced, processed, stored, distributed and consumed.
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