The 2020 Awards Luncheon (which had previously been rescheduled to July 14) has been postponed to 2021 so we can properly recognize and honor our award recipients. We will be in touch as details are confirmed!
Impact of COVID-19 on the Food Supply Chain
The Council’s July 14 webinar will focus on how the food supply chain is dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. Panelists will discuss the implications for producers, feeders, and meatpackers. Dr. Dan Thomson, chair, Department of Animal Science at Iowa State University will lead the discussion. He will be joined by Kansas Secretary of Agriculture Mike Beam, Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health & Environment Lee Norman, and Dr. Glynn Tonsor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University.
Dr. Dan Thomson is Professor and Chair of the Department of Animal Science Department at Iowa State University. A third generation bovine veterinarian from Clearfield, IA, Dr. Dan previously held the Jones Professor of Production Medicine and Epidemiology at Kansas State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. He has served as the Global Co-leader for McDonald’s Beef Health and Welfare Committee, sits on the YUM! Animal Welfare Council, chairs the Animal Welfare Committee of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and serves on the Animal Welfare Advisory Board of Tyson Fresh Meats.
Mike Beam was appointed secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture by Governor Laura Kelly in January 2019 and confirmed in April. Secretary Beam came to KDA following 38 years of experience in association management for the Kansas Livestock Association. He has served as the Executive Director of the Ranchland Trust of Kansas, an affiliate of KLA, for 15 years and is a past Chairman of the Agricultural Business Council of Kansas City.
Dr. Lee Norman is the Secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), appointed by Governor Laura Kelly. Norman received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota, did his residency in family medicine in Texas and his aerospace medicine training in the United States Air Force at Brooks AFB in San Antonio. After serving in the USAF as a family physician, flight surgeon, and combat medicine instructor, he practiced medicine in Seattle for 20 years, also serving as clinical associate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Norman has served as a chief medical office for over 26 years, most recently at the University of Kansas Health System and before that the Swedish Health System in Seattle, beginning in 1991. He currently is clinical assistant professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine.
Dr. Glynn Tonsor joined the K-State Agricultural Economics faculty as an Assistant Professor in March 2010. He obtained his Ph.D. from K-State in 2006 and was an Assistant Professor in the Dept. of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics at Michigan State University from May 2006 to March 2010. Dr. Tonsor’s current efforts are primarily devoted to a range of integrated research and extension activities with particular focus on the cattle/beef and swine/pork industries.