USDA’s 2012 Agricultural Outlook Forum, Feb. 23-24, will present 25 breakout sessions, including the international trade-focused sessions: “Export Opportunities and Competition in Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRIC) Countries” and “Trends in Agricultural Development & Trade in the Americas.”
In the BRIC-focused session, the individual topics and speakers are: William Westman, of the American Meat Institute, addresses Growth in China’s Domestic Meat Consumption and Implications for Trade. Rip Landes, with USDA’s Economic Research Service, discusses India’s Food Price Inflation: Is Demand Outpacing Policy? Seneri Kernbeis Paludo, Executive Director of the Federacao da Agricultura e Pecuaria do Estado de Mato Grosso, will cover Domestic Consumption’s Impact on Export Potential in Brazil. Eric Trachtenberg of McLarty Associates will discuss Russia: Looking Back, Looking Forward.
In the Trends in Agricultural Development & Trade in the Americas the focus turns to our North and South American neighbors, the speakers and topics include: Perspectives on Agriculture and Rural Development in Latin America and the Caribbean by Victor M Villalobos, Director General, Inter-American Institute for Cooperation of Agriculture (IICA); Changes in Canadian Agricultural Policy, presented by Al Loyns, President, Prairie Horizons Ltd, Former Professor, University of Manitoba; Cuban Agricultural Development and Implications for U.S. Exports, discussed by William Messina, Coordinator of Economic Analysis at the University of Florida.