AMES, Iowa — Topics of interest to the nation's egg industry will be discussed April 8 at a forum hosted by Iowa State University's Egg Industry Center. "The goal of the forum is to update or increase people's awareness on the latest developments and priority issues concerning the U.S. egg industry, covering the topics of laying-hen welfare, food safety, controlling feed costs, economics and air quality," said Hongwei Xin, center director and professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State. Registration information is available online. The meeting will begin at 8:15 a.m. at the Embassy Suites on the River in Des Moines with welcome remarks by Wendy Wintersteen, endowed dean of College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, It will be followed by these sessions: * Egg Production and the Social Concern for the Well-being of Laying Hens by Janice Swanson, professor and director of animal welfare, Michigan State University * Antibiotics Risks in Egg Production by Paula Fedorka-Cray, research leader and microbiologist, USDA-ARS Bacterial Epidemiology and Antimicrobial Resistance Research Unit, Athens, Ga. * Limiting Feed Costs for Egg Production by Steve Leeson, professor and chair, animal and poultry science department, University of Guelph, Canada * Economic Issues of the Egg Production Industry by Don Bell, professor and poultry specialist emeritus, University of California-Riverside * Keynote Speech: The Economic Recession/Recovery, It's a Chicken and Egg Thing by John Lawrence, professor of economics, Iowa State * Air Emissions Research Relative to Egg Production by Hongwei Xin, professor and director of Egg Industry Center * Panel question-and-answer session involving all the speakers.
Egg Industry Center Hosts First Issues Forum April 8
March 23, 2009