Ed Kee Guest Lecture – Sean Michael

Today, UD alum (and former Delaware Agriculture Secretary) Ed Kee taught us about the “Foodshed” of the Delaware area. One very surprising fact I learned was that 76% of Delaware’s land is preserved open space, which is way more than my home state of Pennsylvania. Our area, in relation to agriculture, is super important, because a third of the US population lives within 8 hours of the area, with NYC, Boston, and Philadelphia nearby. The most shocking statistic I learned was that 60% of farm families have other significant incomes, like having someone in the family work in town as a teacher or mailman. Kee’s lecture taught me about the mega trends that we, the future of agriculture, will face soon, such as climate change, shifts in economic and trade flows, and rapid urbanization. Climate change is obviously a big deal, and the shifts in economics and trade will just over complicate taking care of this massive problem. Lastly, rapid urbanization means that we will have to feed more people with less space, so the challenge of vertical farming will be dealt with.

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