Plans for the 2014 Agricultural Outlook and Policy Conference, sponsored by the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC) at the University of Maryland, are being finalized, with expert speakers scheduled to share their thoughts about the current state of economic affairs and provide insights on where we may be going from here.
This highly anticipated event will take place December 16th at the DoubleTree Hotel, located at 210 Holiday Ct., Annapolis, MD, from 8:30 to 3:30. Lunch will be served.
Conference planners are tapping into the wealth of knowledge available in the University of Maryland’s (UMD) renowned Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics as well as other experts and have confirmed the following speakers:
Kevin McNew is the President and Founder of GeoGrain, and an adjunct professor, AREC. He is one of the well-respected industry experts in cash markets. As an analyst, Kevin’s unique commentary on cash markets can be seen weekly in Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Reuters and other publications. He also currently serves on the CFTC Sub-Committee on Futures Market Convergence issues. In addition, he is a frequent speaker at conferences on topics of risk management, biofuels and new trading techniques. Kevin will provide an outlook on commodity prices for 2015.
Sebastien Houde is an assistant professor in AREC. Sebastien will lead a discussion along with Dean Fisher, Maryland Energy Administration on state and federal energy programs available to the Maryland agricultural community.
Colby Ferguson is the Government Relations Director with Maryland Farm Bureau and will provide a legislative update on the upcoming legislative session.
Associate Professor Howard Leathers from AREC will provide an update on the decision process in the 2014 Farm Bill. Along with Dr. Leathers, Jon Hall, State Conservationist USDA-NRCS, provide an update on the expansion of conservation compliance in the 2014 Farm Bill and how it impacts Maryland’s producers.
The day will conclude with David Newburn, Assistant Professor in AREC, will moderate a panel on agricultural conservation practices and water quality in Maryland. This panel will feature, along with Dr. Newburn, Colin Jones and Susan Payne from the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
If you have any questions, please contact Jim Hanson at 301-405-8122 or mjhanson12@umd.edu. If you know others to whom this conference might be of interest, please pass on the information, which can be found at https://www.arec.umd.edu/news/events.
Registration for the event is $30.00.
Registration forms are available at https://www.arec.umd.edu/news/events