Please join us for the weekly BAE seminar
TOMORROW, Wednesday, February 5, 2014
1:10 2 pm, 2045 BAINER HALL
Topic; Sustainability in Food Production: the Role of Peer-reviewed Science
Presenter:
Dr. James N. Seiber
Editor, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
Department of Environmental Toxicology
University of California, Davis
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Abstract
Sustainability is a hot topic and how it applies to food is still evolving. The term sustainability is used in connection with production of foods and beverages, as with many other products, and it is also used in connection with environmental awareness on the part of the food industry and consumers. In food production, sustainability can refer to use of less farm-level and processing inputs, such as energy, fertilizers, pesticides, and water, cycling of waste or byproduct into the soil, energy production, animal feed, or even human foods. Reduced greenhouse gas emissions, green packaging, locating production close to markets, animal welfare, water recapture and reuse, substitution of biopesticides and bio fertilizers for conventional synthetics and use of renewable construction materials are among other aspects considered to be associated with sustainable food production. This presentation will explore the scientific basis for some of these concepts, focusing on water use, energy conservation and bioenergy, organic production, and biopesticides, using the published literature and information from food-related industries as a guide. It will also pose questions which future research might address in developing sustainable food production practices.
Bio
Dr. James Seiber is the Editor of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. He has served in this position since 1999. Dr. Seiber was Director of USDA Agricultural Research Service Western Regional Research Center (WRRC), in Albany, CA, from 1998-2008. He was a faculty member at the University of California, Davis, in the Department of Environmental Toxicology, from 1969 to 1992, where he served as Professor and Department Chair, and as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Dr. Seiber returned to the University of California, Davis, serving as interim Chair of the Department of Food Science and Technology January 2009-June 2011. Dr. Seibers current interests are in agricultural, food and environmental chemistry, including the chemistry of pesticides, industrial byproducts, and naturally occurring toxicants. He is also interested in risk assessment for chemicals in the diet and in the environment, human exposure analysis, and trace organic analysis, and new methods for disposing or reusing chemical, agricultural, and industrial wastes and byproducts, biobased products from renewable resources, and food protection are also of interest.
Coffee and cookies will be served.
