WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant to the Administrator for Food Security Tjada McKenna will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, October 14-16, to participate in the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium as part of the 2014 World Food Prize events.

McKenna, who also serves as USAID’s Feed the Future Deputy Coordinator for Development, will speak at a high-level panel on Wednesday, October 15, at 3:15 CST, on the challenges of feeding more than 9 billion people by 2050. McKenna will highlight how the U.S. Government is mobilizing public and private innovation, civil society organizations, and local leaders to end global hunger and extreme poverty through Feed the Future, the U.S. Government’s global hunger and food security initiative. Other USAID officials, including newly named Chief Scientist Robert Bertram, will also attend.

In 2013, Feed the Future reached more than 7 million farmers and other food producers with new technologies and management practices on more than 4 million hectares of land, while reaching more than 12.5 million children with nutrition interventions that improve health and development. Last month, a bipartisan group of Congressional leaders introduced Feed the Future legislation in both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives in a powerful statement of support for ending global hunger and undernutrition.

Members of the press interested in registering, please visit: www.worldfoodprize.org/credentials.