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Ag policy, industry take stage at forum

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- The evolving global energy market and the challenges and opportunities it presents agriculture will be the topics of the Mississippi Agricultural Economics Association annual symposium in Starkville.

The symposium will be held June 22 and 23 at Mississippi State University in the Forest Products Auditorium. The public and those representing the ag industry, business and finance are invited to attend. A $20 symposium fee covers the Friday meeting and lunch.

Several speakers will be featured during the forum addressing a variety of topics. Sumesh Arora, director of the Strategic Biomass Initiative Mississippi Technology Alliance, will speak on opportunities in renewable energy production. Ed Hester, a soybean, cotton and rice farmer from Benoit, will address energy price effects on Mississippi crop producers, and Lyle Hubbard, a Jefferson Davis County poultry producer, will speak on energy price effects on the state’s poultry industry. Other speakers will discuss additional topics, among them an energy market outlook.

The conference will offer a roundtable of speakers, concluding with a question and answer session. At the catfish luncheon, MAEA Scholarship and Founders Scholarship awards will be made, and the Wall Street Journal Award will be presented.

The symposium begins Thursday afternoon with a scholarship golf tournament and steak social. The forum runs from 8:30 a.m. to noon Friday and ends with lunch. For more information on times and costs for Thursday’s events or to register for the symposium, call (662) 325-2671 or visit http://www.agecon.msstate.edu.

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Writer: Bonnie Coblentz

Released: June 1, 2006
Contact: John Black, (662) 325-7989