Ag Weekly Online: Twin Falls, Idaho

KANSAS CITY, MO, (AgPR) - The national debate over food and fuel uses of grain will be in the spotlight October 23 in Kansas City, MO, at a one-day forum being sponsored by the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City and co-hosted by the AgriBusiness Club of St. Louis; the Agri-Business Council of Wichita; the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Committee; Sosland Publishing; and Vance Pub-lishing.

“The rapid emergence of bio fuels has brought changes to the agricultural economy that may be unri-valed dating back to the introduction of McCormick’s reaper,” said Bob Petersen, chairman of the Agricul-tural Business Council. “This trend has a huge impact on agricultural and food businesses as well as aca-demic and research institutions right here in the Heartland and surrounding states. They will, in fact, be among the nation’s solution-makers.”

The event, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the American Royal (lunch provided), will be moderated by Mike Adams of Agri-Talk and will feature nationally-recognized speakers including:

Keynoter: Morton Sosland, editor-in-chief, Sosland Publishing Company

Economic overview: Randy Schnepf, specialist in agricultural policy, Congressional Research Service

Biofuels proponents: Ken McCauley, chairman, National Corn Growers Association and Blake Hurst, vice president, Missouri Farm Bureau Federation

Food use proponents: Robb MacKie, president, American Bakers Association, and Dan Gustafson, direc-tor, North American Liaison Office, Food and Agriculture Organization.

According to Petersen, the goal of the forum is to lead to a greater understanding of differing perspec-tives of the food and fuel discussion. “The sponsoring organizations have gone to great lengths to ensure the forum will be a neutral venue for the differing perspectives, offering each the opportunity to make its case in an objective fashion,” says Petersen. The event costs $75 per person. Online information and regis-tration is available on the Council’s website at http://agribusinesscouncilofkc.com; or inquiries can be directed to erica@petersenconsultingllc.com. The American Royal is located at 1701 American Royal Court, Kansas City, MO.