Six former U.S. Secretaries of Agriculture were featured in Kansas State Universities Landon Lecture Series, on public issues, Monday night.

The six former Secretaries included Mike Johanns, Ann Veneman, Dan Glickman, Ed Schafer, Mike Espy, and John Block. The each discussed multiple topics ranging from the Farm Bill to advancements in agriculture technology as well as the Government and debt problems.

It was also brought up that it is estimated that producers will need to double their production by 2050. Block said that he knows it can be done because it he has already seen production double over the past fifty years. ” Look at what we did over the past fifty years and we’re still hard at it. We are creative in this country and we are creating things yet. We just have to continue to move ahead and use the new technology. We cannot let the critics stop us from using new technology.”

Glickman said that production will also have to be increased because incomes and economic conditions are growing in places such as China, India, Indonesia and Africa. At the same time it must be done without ripping up the soils and forests of the world to maintain sustainability. He mentioned that in order to do that it will be necessary for land grant Universities, such as Kansas State, to help and be a part of finding answers to those challenges.