Leading Sustainability Economist to Conduct Forum at University of Arkansas

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Applied Sustainability Center in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas — in partnership with Tyson Foods Inc. — is sponsoring a half-day forum on global agriculture, featuring John McArthur, chief executive officer of Millennium Promise, Wednesday, Dec. 17.

In addition to Tyson Foods, the forum is also sponsored by the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Center of Agricultural and Rural Sustainability.

The “Feeding the World: Developing a Roadmap to Sustainable Global Agriculture” forum will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon. in the First Security Auditorium, Willard J. Walker Hall, University of Arkansas campus. Parking is available in the Harmon Avenue parking garage. The event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are requested through e-mail to jquinton@walton.uark.edu. For additional information, contact jenise.huffman@tyson.com.

“We are deeply grateful to Tyson Foods and Jenise Huffman for bringing John McArthur to northwest Arkansas,” said Michele Halsell, managing director, Applied Sustainability Center. “This global sustainability forum features experts across a wide range of disciplines discussing the means for feeding the world through a sustainable world agriculture system. The forum should provide an educational and inspiring look at how we here in Arkansas can be part of the efforts to end world hunger.”

• Matt Kistler, senior vice president of sustainability, Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

• Jim DeVries, executive vice president of international programs, Heifer International

• Archie Schaffer III, senior vice president of external affairs, Tyson Foods Inc.

• Marty Matlock, area director, Center for Agricultural and Rural Sustainability, University of Arkansas

• Jon Johnson, executive director, Applied Sustainability Center

• Kevin Ingli, senior vice president, environmental, health and safety, Tyson Foods Inc.

McArthur is a leading economist in the field of sustainable development. In addition to his work at Millennium Promise, he has served as deputy director and manager of the United Nations Millennium Project, authored a book on how to implement the Millennium Development Goals and taught sustainable development at Columbia University, New York City.

While working for Tyson Foods, Huffman did a nine-month internship in New York working on a project to build Millennium Development villages in sub-Saharan Africa.

An interdisciplinary initiative of the Sam M. Walton College of Business, the Applied Sustainability Center works with a wide range of partners, including other University of Arkansas colleges, for the rapid development of sustainable business practices and to promote their application across the retail and consumer goods industries. Recent center initiatives include: a sustainability speaker series; training and executive education on the business benefits of sustainability; a sustainability business plan competition; a study of production and distribution of American produce; a forum to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the dairy industry; and a project to assess a product’s environmental impact by creating an open source life cycle inventory.