The Winthrop Rockefeller Institute and the Winthrop Rockefeller Distinguished Lectures Advisory Committee welcomed Peter G. McCornick, Ph.D., to Petit Jean Mountain on March 17, 2023, for a special event focused on Arkansas’s water and food resources. The Institute partnered with Arkansas PBS to broadcast Dr. McCornick’s keynote lecture and an expert panel discussion live on YouTube.
Agenda
The morning program, titled “Securing Water and Food in a Changing World,” featured a keynote address by Dr. McCornick. It was followed by “The State of Water in Arkansas” panel, moderated by Dr. Deacue Fields, vice president for agriculture for the University of Arkansas System. Panelists included:
- Sec. Wes Ward, Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture
- Ed Swaim, Executive Director, Bayou Meto Water Management District
- Chris Colclasure, Director, Arkansas Department of Agriculture – Natural Resources Division
- Evan Teague, Vice President of Environmental Issues, Arkansas Farm Bureau
After the presentations, attendees participated in a lunch and networking session.
“Living in the Natural State it might be easy to forget that water is a limited resource, yet Arkansas faces challenges that require us to think smartly about how we conserve our water supply,” Janet Harris, Institute Executive Director/CEO, said. “Dr. McCornick’s expertise and global perspective will inspire a thoughtful discussion with agriculture and conservation communities, sparking the kind of collaborative thinking that the Institute is proud to support, just as Winthrop Rockefeller did during his time on the mountain.”
Dr. Peter G. McCornick is the executive director of the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska, where he leads efforts to advance global water and food security. He also serves as a tenured professor in the Department of Biosystems Engineering at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and holds the Robert B. Daugherty Chair of Water for Food.
Dr. McCornick led interdisciplinary programs focused on sustainable water management in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Canada, and the United States.
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