Lifting Society to Greater Heights
The Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation (RMF) is committed to promote a broader and more complete understanding of agriculture and to build upon Charles Valentine Riley’s legacy as a “whole picture” person with a vision for enhancing agriculture through scientific knowledge. RMF, founded in 1985, recognized that agriculture is the most basic human endeavor and that a vibrant, robust, food, agricultural, forestry, and environmental-resource system is essential for human progress and world peace.
RMF is involved in a range of program activities “to promote a broader and more complete understanding of agriculture as the most basic human endeavor and to enhance agriculture through increased scientific knowledge.” A major current RMF activity is a collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the World Food Prize Foundation to present an annual Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture in Washington, DC.
The 2012 AAAS Riley Lecture will be presented by Rob Horsch, Deputy Director for Research & Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on June 14 in Washington, DC. The lecture will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Catherine Woteki, USDA’s Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. Obtain more information and register here.
The 2011 Lecture was presented by Pamela C. Roland, Professor of Plant Pathology, University of California, Davis, on “Tomorrow’s Table: Organic Farming, Genetics and the Future of Food”. The 2010 Lecture was presented by Roger Beachy, then Director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture on June 15, 2010. Dr. Beachy’s presentation on “Agricultural Research: Changing of the Guard, Guarding the Change.” View the proceedings of the 2010 lecture here, and the proceedings of the 2011 lecture here.
In 2011, RMF joined with the Farm Foundation NPF and five scientific societies to organize the Agriculture, Food, Nutrition, and Natural Resource R&D Round Table: Research Partnerships Yield Greater Societal Returns. Presentation of exemplary cases of collaboration among different segments of the public sector were integrated with presentations by top level science administrators. View a summary of the round table and obtain a link to the full proceedings here.
In 2012, RMF prepared a position paper entitled “Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Research: Collaborations Yield Greater Societal Returns” for consideration by the President’s Council of Advisors for Science and Technology Working Group on Agricultural Preparedness. The paper reviews the value of and need for research, provides examples of collaborations between the public and private sectors, and highlights the possible collaborative role of foundations. The paper may be viewed here.