I have been asked to be a panelist to speak on agriculture law and policy issues at the Sigma Alpha/Alpha Gamma Rho Leadership Seminar in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on February 20th from 1:15 to 2:45 pm at the Holiday Inn – Historic District Hotel located at 400 Arch Street.  I’m really excited about this event for a few reasons.

First of all, I haven’t spent much time in Philly since I interned at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office after my first year of law school.  Philly is a great city and I particularly love the area near City Hall.  I remember going to a Phillies baseball game and spending a lot of time around the University of Pennsylvania.  I really enjoyed my time there and I particularly loved getting some exposure to criminal law.  I’m going to make sure to get a Philly cheese steak sandwhich while I’m in town at either Pat’s or Geno’s in South Philly.

Second, I am excited to participate in this leadership seminar with the most renown agriculture sorority and fraterity in the country.  Sigma Alpha and Alpha Gamma Rho (“AGR”), a sorority and fraternity respectively, do some wonderful work promoting agriculture at the college level.  I never joined a sorority in undergrad because:  1) my livestock judging team became my own family in college, and 2) Texas A & M University didn’t have a strong Greek presence.  However, because of my graduate experience at the University of Illinois, I know that sororities and fraternities are a big part of the undergraduate experience at many universities throughout the country.  My brother was an AGR member at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois and he still feels a strong sense of brotherhood with his fraternity.

Third (and most importantly), I am looking forward to talking about agriculture law and policy issues to young leaders in agriculture.  The panel will be speaking on the following issues:

1) urbanization vs. production agriculture land use;

2) animal agriculture and public relations;

3) runoff and groundwater concerns;

4) impact of carbon reduction policies on farmers;

5) renewable fuels; and

6) impact of education funding cuts to agriculture education.

I am looking forward to participating.  If you have questions about the event you can contact Jessica Andersen at jessica.j.andersen@gmail.com.