Capitol Hill Forum 2004
The Critical Role of International Agricultural Development
in the Fight Against Undernutrition and HIV/AIDS
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
January 27, 2004

Speakers

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Robert Horsch
Monsanto Company

Dr. Robert Horsch is Vice President, Product and Technology Cooperation, at Monsanto Company, with responsibility for public-private partnerships to help smallholder farmers in developing countries gain access to better agricultural products and technologies. He received his Ph.D. in Genetics at the University of California, Riverside, in 1979, and then conducted postdoctoral work in plant physiology at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1981 he joined Monsanto Company and led the company's plant tissue culture and transformation efforts until 1995. In 1996 he became Vice President and General Manager of the Agracetus Campus of Monsanto Company's Agricultural Sector in Middleton, Wisconsin, serving in that capacity until the end of 1999. Dr. Horsch has served on the editorial boards of several leading journals in the plant sciences and also as an advisor to the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. He has published more than 50 articles on plant biology and plant biotechnology and is a frequent speaker on these subjects, including Congresssional testimony. In 1999 he was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Clinton for contributions to the development of agricultural biotechnology. He is currently a member of the CGIAR Private Sector Committee and the United Nations Millennium Goal Task Force on Hunger.