Meeting the Food and Environmental Challenge: Sustainable intensification of food productionBuilding on a rich five year history of frank and open debates around the future of agriculture, the 6th annual Forum for Agriculture (FFA) returns on March 5, 2013 with a thought provoking line-up of opinion makers. Poised to dive into policies which will shape the food security imperative in an environmentally sustainable way, FFA convenes luminaries from the European Commission, European Council, European Parliament, food/farming chain, NGOs, and industry.Themes will include Africa's new ways for food production and economic development, reform of the Common Agriculture Policy hanging in the balance, protection of the consumer, and the challenges around resource extraction, efficiency, and waste. Discussions will be moderated by BBC's Stephen Sackur, and Matthew Dempsey from "Irish Farmers Journal". International decision makers including President Barroso of the European Commission, and Bob Zoellick, president of the World Bank (2007-2012), headline the event. The debates seek to uncover how best to boldly reconcile crop production with ecological preservation.As world population hits the seven billion mark on its way to 9 billion by 2050, and Africa approaches critical mass in its capacity to become an agricultural powerhouse, FFA panellists will examine what these issues and others mean for the future of EU agriculture and the balance to be struck between production, ecology and EU consumer well-being.To register for free, follow the webiste link.