U.S. Sustainable Agriculture Outreach Activity in France

FAS and U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Paris worked together on a grant project proposal to bring to France a speaker to provide an overview of sustainable agriculture programs and activities in the United States.  There are many major misconceptions in Europe and especially in France about U.S. agriculture in general and efforts on sustainable agriculture.  Dr. Marty Matlock, a recognized expert on U.S. government policy and public and private sector initiatives in the area of sustainable agriculture, was invited to Paris and Toulouse to discuss the U.S. perspective of sustainable agriculture with an emphasis on the extent to which modern U.S. farming practices incorporate sustainability concepts, as well as the environmental and economic benefits of these practices. 

In 2013, Dr. Marty Matlock was part of a USSEC (U.S. Soybean Export Council) delegation in travel to Paris to meet with a French animal feed organization.  FAS Paris assisted USSEC in organizing the meeting and met with Dr. Marty Matlock who is the Executive Director of the Office for Sustainability and a professor in biological and agricultural engineering at the University of Arkansas. 

From March 14 to March 18, Dr. Matlock met and gave presentations to the French media, representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Environment, academics, researchers and students, senators and members of Parliament, French agricultural organizations, think-tank, and NGOs.  He traveled to Paris and Toulouse in southern France to meet with different audiences and deliver our core message.  Dr. Matlock’s presentations on developments and trends in the United States in sustainable agriculture helped educate public and private sector French audiences on what is actually happening in the U.S. agricultural sector. 

La France Agricole, the main agricultural magazine in France, published a very good article online. 

Two articles have also been published in the Arkansas newsletter and in the Saf Agr’iDées newsletter in June 2016. 

And finally another article on the contribution of Dr Marty Matlock at the French Academy of agriculture has been published in the journal of the Academy (n° 34 de la Lettre de l’Académie, juillet 2016): L’agriculture durable : quelques initiatives des Etats-Unis – conférence du Dr Matlock.