USDA 2021 Agricultural Outlook Forum will be virtual and registration is free

Nov 23, 2020


Registration is now open for the 97th annual Agricultural Outlook Forum (AOF), the largest annual meeting and premiere event of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The two-day forum will take place on Feb. 18-19, 2021. Due to COVID-19 and current restrictions on large gatherings in the Washington, D.C. area, USDA will hold the 2021 Forum virtually for the first time and registration will be free for the event.

The 2021 Forum, themed “Building on Innovation: A Pathway to Resilience,” builds on USDA’s Agriculture Innovation Agenda, launched earlier this year to align USDA’s resources, programs, and research toward the goal of increasing U.S. agricultural production by 40 percent while cutting the environmental footprint of U.S. agriculture in half by 2050. The forum will feature a panel of distinguished guest speakers and 30 breakout sessions developed by agencies across USDA. Topics will include the food price outlook, innovations in agriculture, U.S. and global agricultural trade developments, and frontiers in sustainability and conservation. In addition, the USDA Chief Economist will unveil the Department’s latest outlook for U.S. commodity markets and trade, and discuss the U.S. farm income situation.

The 2021 Forum’s program will be announced in early December.

USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum began in 1923 to distribute and interpret national forecasts to farmers in the field. The goal was to provide the information developed through economic forecasting to farmers so they had the tools to read market signals and avoid producing beyond demand. Since then, the event has developed into a unique platform where key stakeholders from the agricultural sector in the United States and around the world come together every year to discuss current and emerging topics and trends in the sector. More than 1,800 people attended the 2020 Forum.

The Agricultural Outlook Forum, which is organized by USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist together with other USDA agencies, is independent of commercial interests and aims to facilitate information sharing among stakeholders and generate the transparency that supports well-functioning open markets.

Register for the 2021 Agricultural Outlook Forum
Visit the Agricultural Outlook Forum website to register. Follow the conversation at #AgOutlook USDA’s TwitterInstagram and Facebook.

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