According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, global food markets are changing: long-term consumer spending trends in most foreign markets indicate declining expenditure on staples such as rice and wheat, and increasing expediture on higher valued food items such as meat, dairy, fruits, and vegetables.”  IDFA’s Dairy Forum 2012 is focusing on these changing global markets and their implication for the global and U.S. dairy industries.

During Monday’s General Session: “What in the World is Driving Global Food Demand and Where Will Production Come From,” renowned agriculture economist Robert L. Thompson, Ph.D., will help Dairy Forum attendees better understand how population growth and distribution, income, dietary changes and climate change affect global patterns of food supply and demand.

Thompson is a visiting scholar at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is also a senior fellow in global agricultural development and food security with the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and serves on the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council.  He has served as Director of Agriculture and Rural Development and as Senior Advisor for Agricultural Trade Policy at the World Bank.

Thompson has extensive international experience and has lectured, consulted, or conducted research in more than 90 countries worldwide. He is a former president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists.

Dairy Forum will be held January 15-18 at the La Quinta Resort & Club in La Quinta, Calif. Be sure to register and make hotel reservations soon.