Kansas State University

WHAT: As a precursor to the Monday, Nov. 17, lecture by Jules Pretty about agricultural sustainability in the coming decades, media are invited to discover some of the research and experts working to help sustainability feed the world's 9.6 billion people by 2050.

INTERVIEW SOURCES: Experts and international students from Kansas State University will be available to share how the university and others are conducting research in the field of sustainable intensification — producing more food with fewer resources and less stress on the environment. The schedule on Nov. 17:

• From 2 - 2:30 p.m. in Dole Hall — Jules Pretty, professor of environment and society and deputy vice chancellor at the University of Essex in the U.K. and one of the world's leading scholars in agricultural sustainability. At 4 p.m. he is speaking about the challenges humans face in the coming decades to sustainably feed a growing world population that will require twice as much food as is currently produced.

• From 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. in Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center — Vara Prasad, professor of crop ecophysiology, director of the Great Plains Sorghum Improvement and Utilization Center, and director of the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab; and Gary Pierzynski, head of the agronomy department, university distinguished professor of soil science and co-principal investigator of the Sustainable Intensification Innovation Lab. Several student researchers affiliated with the U.S. Agency for International Development also will be available for interviews beginning at this time.

In September, Kansas State University received $50 million from the U.S. Agency for International Development to lead the world's efforts in agricultural sustainability through the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Sustainable Intensification.

TOUR: From 2:30 - 3:30 p.m., a shuttle service will take media to one of Kansas State University's research fields. The fields are used to grow wheat, sorghum, corn and other crops year-round. On display will be the portable heat tents, automated rain blocking sheds and other technologies that are used to study the effects of climate change, sustainable crops and sustainable intensification on a section of arable land.

LECTURE DETAILS: Pretty will give the lecture "The Sustainable Intensification of Agricultural Systems" at 4 p.m. Nov. 17, in 1018 Throckmorton Plant Sciences Center. Media are invited to attend. Pretty will be available for interviews at 2:30 p.m. in Dole Hall.

MEDIA RSVP: Media are asked to RSVP to gtammen@k-state.edu or call 785-532-4486 by 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14.

NEWS MEDIA PARKING: Four parking spaces at Dole Hall will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Media also may park in the K-State parking garage, south of the K-State Student Union, where parking is $1.50 an hour on a space-available basis. Please allow ample time for parking.