Annual Meeting 2003
The 39th Annual Meeting of
The Association for International Agriculture 
and Rural Development

"On Renewing Commitment to International Agriculture and Rural Development"
Speakers and Panelists

David Beckmann
Bread for the World

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The Rev. David Beckmann is president of Bread for the World, a nationwide Christian citizens' movement against hunger. Bread for the World mobilizes about a quarter of a million letters to Congress each year on issues that are important to hungry people in the United States and worldwide. In recent years, Bread for the World has worked for increased development assistance, debt relief, and emphasis on agriculture in international development programs. Bread for the World Institute, which does research and education on hunger, devoted its annual report this year to the question of how agricultural subsidies and protectionism affect struggling farmers in developing countries. Beckmann is a Lutheran pastor as well as an economist. After a term with Lutheran World Relief in Bangladesh, he worked at the World Bank for 15 years and led the Bank's early thinking about popular participation in development. In 1991, Beckmann became president of Bread for the World and Bread for the World Institute.