Henry A. Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture

John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture

Pesek Colloquium

Each year, the two-day Colloquium presents lectures that take place on the Iowa State University campus and a public forum off-campus. The event encourages discussion and community response on topics vital to sustainability in agriculture.

2011 John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture

About 360 people attended the 2011 Pesek Colloquium, which was held on October 24. Andrew Revkin was the featured speaker for the colloquium; the title of his lecture was 9 Billion People + 1 Planet = ? An abstract of the presentation can be found here. An audio podcast of the lecture can be downloaded here.

Revkin is a senior fellow and lecturer at Pace University’s Academy for Applied Environmental Sciences, the former science columnist at the New York Times, and current author of their Dot Earth blog, a widely read source of information on agriculture, energy, and sustainability issues. His work on the Dot Earth blog recently earned him a National Academies Communications Award, making him the first two-time winner of this prize.

The event was sponsored by: Bioeconomy Institute; Graduate Program in Sustainable Agriculture; College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; College of Liberal Arts and Sciences; Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture; Wallace Chair for Sustainable Agriculture; Agronomy; Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology; Plant Science Institute; Natural Resource Ecology and Management; Practical Farmers of Iowa; Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication; and Committee on Lectures (funded by GSB).

John Pesek

Dr. John Pesek, Iowa State University Emeritus Professor of Agronomy, has enjoyed a long and distinguished professional career. His contributions in the areas of soil fertility, crop production, and the economics of soil fertilizer use led scientists to a better understanding of the effects of management practices on the environment and crop production.

Dr. Pesek was named a fellow of the American Society of Agronomy, the Soil Science Society of America, Crop Science Society of America, the Iowa Academy of Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He served as president of both the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America and helped establish the nation's first National Soil Tilth Center. He was named a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor of Agriculture in 1981 and received the Agronomic Service Award in 1989.

2010 Pesek Colloquium

The 2010 Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture was held on Thursday, October 14 at the Iowa State University Memorial Union. This year's speaker was Bill McKibben, writer and American environmentalist. McKibben spoke on Sustaining life on a tough new planet. A podcast of the lecture can be found here. About 700 people attended the lecture. A story about the event was featured by the ISU Daily. The article can be read here. McKibben is an advocate of alternative energy, localized economies, sustainable practices, and the author of many books, including The End of Nature. His essays have been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, Harpers, and Mother Jones. His latest book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, was released in April 2010. The link to an interview with McKibben on NPR's Speaking of Faith can be found here. Information about Bill McKibben and his work can be found here.

2009 Pesek Colloquium

The 2009 John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture was held on October 27 in the Great Hall at the Iowa State University Memorial Union. This year's lecturer was Dr. Shahid Naeem, Professor and Chair of Columbia University's Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology. The title of his lecture was The environmental significance of biodiversity in managed and unmanaged ecosystems:  From China, to Sub-Saharan Africa, the Great Plains, and Iowa. A PDF version of his presentation can be found here. More than 400 people attended this year's Colloquium.

2008 Pesek Colloquium

Dr. Robert Costanza, the Gund Professor of Ecological Economics and the Director of the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont, spoke at the 2008 John Pesek Colloquium on Sustainable Agriculture. The title of Dr. Costanza's lecture was Ecological Economics: Creating a Sustainable and Desirable Future. The Colloquium was held Thursday, September 11 on the ISU campus. A copy of the text of his speech is here (PDF 78 KB). An audio file of the lecture is available here. The PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded in these three parts: Part 1 (PDF 5.8 MB), Part 2 (PDF 16 MB), Part 3 (PDF 7 MB).

Colloquiums and Presentations

Below is a listing of past Colloquium presenters with links to their presentations.

2007 Pesek Scholar, Cynthia Rosenzweig (PDF 823 KB)

2006 Pesek Scholar, Calestous Juma (PDF 465 KB)

2005 Pesek Scholar, Hunter Lovins (PDF 811 KB)

2004 Pesek Scholar, Daryll E. Ray (PDF 1155 KB)

2003 Pesek Scholar, Frances Moore Lappé (PDF 618 KB)

2002 Pesek Scholar, Per Pinstrup-Anderson (PDF 25 KB)

2001 Pesek Scholar, John Pesek (PDF 65 KB)

"The science of sustained yield, whether with soil, trees, or with life that lives on the grass and wanders through the forests, or fishes that swim in the water, is paramount to human welfare."
--H. A. Wallace