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 conducts a wide range of program activities that include discussion groups, forums, round tables, workshops, briefing papers, and lectures on various parts of the food, agricultural, forestry, and environmental-resource system. RMF’s goal is to have all world citizens involved in creating a sustainable food and agriculture enterprise within a responsible rural landscape.
A major current RMF activity is a collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the World Food Prize Foundation (WFPF) to present an annual Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture in Washington, DC. The selection committee is made up of world leaders in science and agriculture.
The 2010 AAAS Lecture was presented by Roger Beachy, Director of USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, on June 15, 2010. Dr. Beachy’s presentation was followed by a panel discussion with Molly Jahn, University of Wisconsin; Neil Conklin, Farm Foundation; and Gebisa Ejeta, Purdue University and 2009 World Food Prize Laureate.
Click on the following links for more information: summary for a summary of the lecture and the panel discussion and for a link to listen to both events and presentation for the full text of Dr. Beachy’s presentation.