Public policy expert to speak on agriculture 'culture war'

Robert Paarlberg, the B.F. Johnson Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College and adjunct professor of public policy at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, will visit Purdue University on April 18 to speak on international agricultural policy.

His James C. Snyder Memorial Lecture presentation will explore the question "The Culture War in Agriculture: Who's Winning?"

The 38th annual lecture will be at 3 p.m. in the auditorium of the Krannert School of Management building, 403 W. State St. Sponsored by Purdue's Department of Agricultural Economics, the lecture is free and open to the public.

Paarlberg's principal research involves international agricultural and environmental policy. He has conducted research on the regulation of modern technology, including biotechnology.

Paarlberg has worked intensively on policies regarding genetically modified crops and foods in developing countries. In recent years, he has conducted research on this topic in Kenya, Zambia, Brazil, Cameroon, Senegal, India, China and Argentina.

Paarlberg's 2008 book, "Starved for Science: How Biotechnology is Being Kept Out of Africa," explains why poor African farmers are denied access to productive technologies, particularly genetically engineered seeds with improved resistance to insects and drought. He wrote a book in 2010 titled "Food Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know."

Paarlberg also has published books on the topics of food trade and foreign policy, international agricultural trade negotiations, environmentally sustainable farming in developing countries, U.S. foreign economic policy, reform of U.S. agricultural policy and regulation of biotechnology in developing countries.

He is now completing a study of U.S. agricultural development assistance policy for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Paarlberg has been a member of the Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the National Research Council of the National Academies. He also has been a consultant to the United States Agency for International Development, the International Food Policy Research Institute, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the World Bank.

Paarlberg, a native of West Lafayette, received his bachelor's degree in government from Carleton College in Minnesota and his doctorate in government from Harvard.

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