2017-18 Season

Headshot of Lourdes Goeuvia.

October 3, 2017

IMMIGRATION | Nebraska: If Not Immigrants, Who?

Guest: LOURDES GOEUVIA 

Gouveia examines the role that immigrants have played, and continue to play, in the social, economic and cultural development of Nebraska and its diverse communities. She considers the impacts of immigration policy, and the roles of specific sets of governmental, business and community actors in the shaping and reshaping of immigrant Nebraska, then and now.

Headshot of Donnie Smith.

January 9, 2018 

GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY | The War of the Words

Guest: DONNIE SMITH

Donnie Smith serves as a consultant for Tyson Foods, while focusing on his continued work to feed the world. The story of agriculture must be told truthfully in order to strengthen our ability to feed the growing population. Understanding the role conventional farming must play in the world we face should propel the public to defend it vigorously and vocally, but will we? And what might be the consequences if we don’t?

Headshot of Andrea Durkin.
Headshot of Brian Kuehl.

March 13, 2018

International Trade | Local Impact of Global Change: What does this mean for me and what can I do about it?

Guests: ANDREA DURKIN and BRIAN KUEHL 

Andrea Durkin is the founder and principal of Sparkplug, LLC an independent consulting firm whose clients include Fortune 200 companies in the life sciences, food and agriculture sectors as well as major industry trade associations. She serves as Editor-in-Chief of a website launched in September 2016 called TradeVistas, dedicated to engaging the public in ways that relate trade to own lives and communities. She recently founded Consensus Learning, LLC which is developing a digital tool to teach trade negotiation techniques.

Brian Kuehl serves as Executive Director of Farmers for Free Trade, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting and expanding export opportunities for American farms and ranches. www.FarmersforFreeTrade.com In addition to working with Farmers for Free Trade, Brian serves as a principal and Director of Federal Affairs for K·Coe Isom, the nation’s leading agriculture accounting and consulting firm.