Ag economist to examine future of food in Oct. 11 York lecture at Auburn

Jayson Lusk, an Oklahoma State University food and agricultural economist whose research focuses on what we eat and why we eat it, will deliver the 2016 E.T. York Distinguished Lecture, titled "The Future of Food," Tuesday, Oct. 11, at the Auburn Alumni Center on South College Street in Auburn.

The free public lecture, sponsored by the Auburn University College of Agriculture's E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series, will begin at 4 p.m. For those attending from off campus, the gravel parking lot behind the alumni center will be open to the public.

Lusk, who serves as Regents Professor and Willard Sparks Endowed Chair in Oklahoma State's Department of Agricultural Economics, received his doctorate in agricultural economics from Kansas State University in 2000 and then served on the faculty at both Mississippi State and Purdue universities before accepting his current position in 2005.

Thus far in his career, Lusk has published more than 175 peer-reviewed scientific journal articles on numerous topics, ranging from the economics of animal welfare to consumer preferences for genetically modified foods to the impacts of new technologies and federal policies on livestock and meat markets. He also has authored two books—"The Food Police: a Well-Fed Manifesto about the Politics of Your Plate" in 2013 and, in 2016, "Unnaturally Delicious: How Science and Technology are Serving up Super Foods to Save the World."

The E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series at Auburn University was established in the College of Agriculture in 1981 through an endowment from E.T. York and his wife, Vam Cardwell York, both native Alabamians and Auburn graduates. York was head of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service from 1959 until 1962 and had a long, successful career, retiring in 1980 as chancellor of the State University System of Florida. He passed away in April 2011.

For more information on the Lusk lecture, email Elizabeth Scarborough at mew0071@auburn.edu or visit www.agriculture.auburn.edu/yorklecture. More about the speaker can be found at www.prhspeakers.com/speaker/jayson-lusk.