The FFAR Board of Directors held the Foundation’s seventh Public Conversation on October 7, 2021, at 12:30 pm EDT. The Public Conversation is an annual opportunity for the public and members of the food and agriculture community to hear from FFAR’s leadership and interact with them during the public comments and Q&A session.
Dr. Mark Keenum and Dr. Sally Rockey at 2021 Public Conversation
During this year’s Conversation, FFAR’s Board Chair and Mississippi State University President Dr. Mark Keenum recognized FFAR’s Executive Director Dr. Sally Rockey in anticipation of her retirement. FFAR honored Dr. Rockey’s legacy by renaming the FFAR Fellows Program to the FFAR Fellows Program. United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack provided remarks on research priorities such as USDA’s new Climate-Smart Agriculture and Forestry Partnership Initiative and also paid tribute to Dr. Rockey.
At the time of the event, FFAR had awarded 253 grants, increased our matching ratio to 1:1.38 and provided $292 million in funding. FFAR had been especially focused on building public-private partnerships to cultivate climate-smart solutions. Dr. Rockey highlighted research updates, such as our continued COVID-19 research and our recent $10 million grant supporting the dairy community in adopting technologies and practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This year, FFAR also committed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to optimize organizational practices.
FFAR received numerous thoughtful public comments from members of the food and agriculture community. All comments were shared with the board of directors.
United States Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack