Distinguished Energy Lecturer Series - The Nexus Between Energy, Water, and Agriculture in the State of California

Featuring A.G. Kawamura
Secretary
California Department of Food and Agriculture

Location:  Engineering Hall Auditorium (Building 308, UC Irvine Campus)
Reception to follow in the National Fuel Cell Research Center (Building 323, UC Irvine Campus)

Free and open to the public
Parking is available in the Anteater Parking Structure at the intersection of Anteater Drive and East Peltason, Irvine, California  92697.

Please R.S.V.P. to Jana Santiago at js@apep.uci.edu with your name and affiliation by March 2, 2010, by 5 p.m.

Abstract:
California is one of the most productive agricultural regions in the world, ranking as the nation’s leading dairy producer; yielding almost half of U.S.-grown fruits, nuts and vegetables; and exporting food to more than 150 countries. This bounty would not be possible without water and the electrical energy required for irrigation and post-harvest processing. Electrical costs and power reliability are critical to the success and sustainability of the state’s agricultural concerns. In fact, almost every facet of the state’s economy relies on the transport and treatment of large volumes of water, two activities that require a continuous supply of electricity.

Water.  Food and electricity: The former are required to sustain life; the latter to sustain our way of life. Independently and collectively, they define California’s economy. Their increasing interdependence has national, indeed global, implications.

Join A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, to learn how California is playing a leading role in national and international efforts to put agriculture at the forefront of meeting increasing energy demands while “continuing to produce safe, abundant and affordable food, feed, and fiber.”

About the Speaker:
Governor Schwarzenegger appointed A.G. Kawamura as secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture in November 2003. Since then, Secretary Kawamura has represented California’s agricultural interests on numerous national committees. He chairs the Specialty Crop Task Force of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA), and is a member of the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee. Secretary Kawamura serves on the steering committees of the national 25x’25 renewable energy initiative, which calls for America’s farms, forests and ranches to provide 25 percent of the total energy consumed in the United States by 2025, and the Native Pollinator Initiative. He is the immediate past president of the Western Association of State Departments of Agriculture and was, in that capacity, a member of the NASDA board.

On other issues of domestic and international importance, he was an early supporter of renewable energy as well as being a vocal proponent of invasive species prevention, trade promotion, and farm bill reauthorization.

Prior to his appointment, Secretary Kawamura was active as a produce grower and shipper from Orange County, where his third-generation farming family still grows strawberries, green beans and other specialty crops. As an urban agriculturist, he has a lifetime of experience working along and within the expanding urban boundaries of Southern California.

Secretary Kawamura has a long history of public service to his community and to agriculture. At the time of his appointment, he was a member of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, where he had served since 1998. In addition, he served as chairman of the Agricultural Technical Advisory Committee for Trade in Fruits and Vegetables, a USDA advisory position for international trade; president of the Orange County Farm Bureau; and chairman of Western Growers Association. He has also served as a director on the board of the California Strawberry Commission and the California Celery Research Advisory Board. He was a founding trustee of Sage Hill High School in Orange County.

Secretary Kawamura is widely known for his passion for education and his commitment to the issues of hunger and nutrition. As president of Orange County Harvest, a nonprofit promoting agricultural partnerships with organizations combating hunger, he arranged for thousands of volunteers to harvest and glean over a million pounds of produce for area food banks. His urban community garden projects are nationally recognized.

Secretary Kawamura has received numerous awards and recognition for his work in and outside the agricultural community. Highlights include: Pacific Pioneer Award: Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, 2004; Orange County Second Harvest Food Bank: Humanitarians Against Hunger Award, 2000; and the California Hunger Action Coalition: Hunger Fighter Award, 2000.

Secretary Kawamura has a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from UC Berkeley.