CENTER FOR SCIENCE AND PUBLIC POLICY

Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition

The Keystone Center is proud to be at the forefront of public policy efforts to improve food production and promote healthier eating by bringing together interested stakeholders to find consensus-based courses of action that will meaningfully improve public health. We're leading a cooperative effort to define sustainable agriculture, and helping agricultural producers and advocacy groups work together to promote sustainable practices that will conserve the land and water resources essential for long-term viability. The Keystone Center’s Food and Nutrition Roundtable, comprised of food producers, advocacy groups, and government leaders, is helping define smarter food choices and working to implenment a packaging icon that consumers can use to make more careful food purchases – all in an effort to combat the rise in obesity and diet-related chronic illness.

Projects include:

Field to Market, the Keystone Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture (2006 - present)
Field to Market is a diverse, collaborative initiative involving producers, agribusinesses, food companies, retailers, and conservation organizations. Field to Market defines agricultural sustainability as meeting the needs of the present while improving the ability to feed future generations by focusing on increasing agricultural productivity while decreasing environmental impact, improving human health through access to safe, nutritious food and improving social and economic well-being of rural communities. The Alliance is working to facilitate quantification and identification of key environmental and socioeconomic sustainability outcomes and metrics, foster industry-wide dialogue, and generate processes for continued improvement in sustainable agricultural production. For more information, click here.
Contact:	Sarah Alexander

Monsanto Biotechnology Advisory Council (2001 - present)
The Keystone Center facilitates Monsanto’s external advisory council on biotechnology. Members include a diverse group of public opinion leaders from around the world who provide strategic advice on biotechnology issues to the Monsanto Corporation. The advisory council works directly with Monsanto’s CEO and senior management.
Contact:	Sarah Alexander

DuPont Biotechnology Advisory Panel (1999 - present)
Panelists from Africa, Brazil, France, India, and the U.S. offer diverse perspectives and opinions to guide DuPont's thinking on the development and commercialization of biotechnology-based products.
Final report:	http://www.keystone.org/about-us/publications
External website:	http://www2.dupont.com/Biotechnology/en_US/advisory/
Contact:	Janesse Brewer

The Keystone National Policy Dialogue on Trends in Agriculture (2001)
The Keystone National Policy Dialogue on Trends in Agriculture provided an opportunity for individuals representing diverse interests to discuss trends in agriculture, gain a collective understanding of diverse viewpoints and interests, and collaboratively contemplate a course for action. The group included representatives from livestock operations, commodity crop producers, food processing companies, the sustainable agriculture community, pesticide companies, environmental organizations, academia, state and federal agriculture and environmental agencies, state economic development agencies, cooperative extension services, farm advocacy organizations, farm cooperatives, financial institutions, and consumer groups.
Final report:	The Keystone National Policy Dialogue on Trends in Agriculture: Summary of Deliberations
Contact:	Sarah Alexander

Environmental Protection Agency Food Safety Advisory Committee (1996)
This report is a compilation of detailed summaries from meetings of the Food Safety Advisory Committee (FSAC), a subcommittee of EPA’s National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy. Deputy Administrator Fred Hansen and Assistant Administrator for Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, Lynn Goldman, led the committee. FSAC was formed to provide input to EPA on some of the broad policy choices facing the Agency upon enactment of the Food Quality Protection Act (FQPA) (P.L. 104-170) of 1996.
Final report:	Please call 970-513-5835 and ask for report #62.
Contact:	Mike Hughes

Summit on Environmental Issues Facing the Pork Industry (1996)
The National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and The Keystone Center convened a summit on environmental issues facing the pork industry due to the heightened concern about the environmental impacts of pork production. The summit focused on solutions to water quality (both surface and groundwater), soil, wetlands and odor problems.
Final report:	Please call 970-513-5835 and ask for report #55.
Contact:	Sarah Alexander

The Keystone National Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Management Systems and the Environment (1995)
This report contains consensus recommendations developed by participants in the Keystone National Policy Dialogue on Agricultural Management Systems and the Environment. Dialogue members offered this report as a contribution to the policy discussions that occurred in the context of the 1995 Farm Bill debate. Participants in the Dialogue included key decision makers from grower organizations (from both the commodity crops and the fruit and vegetable crops), farm organizations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, state agricultural and environmental agencies, chemical and food companies and their trade associations, Congress, and national and state environmental groups.
Final report:	Please call 970-513-5835 and ask for report #43.
Contact:	Sarah Alexander

International Dialogue Series on Plant Genetic Resources (1988 - 1991)
In the winter of 1987, The Keystone Center formed an International Steering Committee, chaired by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, comprising scientists and policymakers from developed and developing countries to initiate and guide an International Dialogue Series on Plant Genetic Resources. The purpose of the dialogue series was to develop consensus recommendations on the conservation and utilization of global plant genetic resources and strengthen an international commitment to plant genetic resources.
Final report	Please call 970-513-5835 and ask for report #33.
Contact:	Mike Hughes

U.S. FDA/ EPA/ USDA Proceedings of the Transgenic Plant Conference (1988)
This report presents the proceedings from the Conference on the Scientific Issues Associated with Transgenic Plants, held in Annapolis, Maryland, September 7-9, 1988. The Conference was jointly planned and sponsored by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. The purpose of the conference was to discuss the scientific issues concerning the development and commercialization of transgenic plants. The goal of the conference was not to reach consensus, but rather to provide an opportunity for a thorough, interactive examination of the scientific issues.
Final report:	Please call 970-513-5835 and ask for report #32.
Contact:	Mike Hughes