UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- "Biotechnology and the Future of Agrifood Innovation: 'Someone is Messing with My Food'" is the title of the 2001 Alan R. Warehime Lecture at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 4 in 118 Agricultural Sciences and Industries Building on Penn State's University Park campus.

Sponsored by the department of agricultural economics and rural sociology in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences, the lecture will be presented by Nicholas Kalaitzandonakes, associate professor of agribusiness in the department of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri. Kalaitzandonakes is affiliated with that university's Agribusiness Research Institute and the Economics and Management of AgroBiotechnology Center. He also is the editor of AgBioForum, an on-line journal that discusses the economics and management of agrobiotechnology.

His lecture will address the recent consumer attention to food safety around the world, and how those attitudes have influenced the acceptance of biotechnology products in the marketplace and the regulatory environment. He also will discuss how fundamental structural changes in the global agrifood supply chain and relevant strategic positioning of key players are affecting biotechnology's market position.

The Warehime Lecture is part of an endowment established in 1988 by Alan R. Warehime, the late president of Hanover Foods, to promote the development of agribusiness leaders by bringing experienced professionals from the agribusiness sector, government and academia to campus to work with students in agribusiness programs.

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EDITORS: For more information, contact Spiro Stefanou at 814-863-8635.

Contacts: Gary Abdullah gxa2@psu.edu 814-863-2708 814-865-1068 fax