2011-12 Season

A Heuermann lecture crowd gathered in a auditorium.
Dr. M. S. Swaminathan on stage during his lecture.

October 10, 2011

Food Security in an Era of Price Volatility and Climate Change

Guest: Dr. M. S. Swaminathan 

Swaminathan is known as a world leader in sustainable food security, and as the catalyst of the green revolution movement in India from 1960-1982 that moved the country from having the world's largest food deficit to producing enough grain to feed its people.

Dr. P. Stephen Baenziger on stage during his lecture.

November 10, 2011

Setting the Stage | Why Agriculture

Guest: Dr. P. Stephen Baenziger

P. Stephen Baenziger, University of Nebraska-Lincoln small grains breeder, brought his passion about his work to a talk titled "Setting the Stage: Why Agriculture?" Baenziger was the second speaker in the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources' Heuermann Lecture series, which focuses on meeting the world's growing food and renewable energy needs while sustaining natural resources and the rural communities in which food grows.

Bob Kerrey on stage during his lecture.

December 12, 2011

Conflict and Resolution on the Missouri River

Guest: Bob Kerrey

Lack of local authority over the Missouri River basin "guarantees that the politics over the river are at best dysfunctional and at worst counter-productive," said Bob Kerrey, former Nebraska senator and governor.

Stewart Brand on stage during his lecture.

January 17, 2012

Green Ag Biotech

Guest: Stewart Brand

The world is entering a "wild and woolly" time of genetic engineering of food, when some of the most significant advancements may come from "amateur biotech" practitioners and in the developing world, says Stewart Brand, a self-described ecopragmatist and founder of the "Whole Earth Catalog."

Prof. Roberto Lenton on stage during his lecture.

February 20, 2012

Water for Food | Think globally, act locally

Guest: Prof. Roberto Lenton

Dr. Jay Keasling on stage before his lecture.

The Bold Future of Alternative Energy

Guest: Dr. Jay Keasling

Replacing foreign oil with domestically grown biomass would revolutionize world politics and economies, with states such as Nebraska emerging as potentially huge winners, says a former Clay County farm boy who's now one of the world's leading biotechnology scientists.