Speakers

Beth Bechdol is Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In this role, she continues her service to food and agriculture – now on a global scale. Ms Bechdol is responsible for FAO’s work on Emergencies and Resilience, which involves providing emergency agricultural assistance from the onset of a crisis, preventing and addressing acute hunger, and supporting countries experiencing food crises. She oversees FAO’s work on Resource Mobilization and South-South and Triangular Cooperation. She also leads programmes in the area of Plant Production and

Protection and oversees FAO’s main technical advisory committee on agriculture, the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) as well as the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat.

Before joining FAO, Beth was President and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana, the Midwestern state’s economic development initiative focused on advancing the agbioscience sector and developing 21st century talent.

Beth’s dedication to public service in agriculture and her extensive trade and farm policy experience started in Washington, D.C. where she served in key roles as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and as Economist on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Beth was raised on a multi-generation family grain farm in rural Indiana. She received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in international law and international affairs and her master’s degree from Purdue University in agricultural economics.