Looking back, amazing developments have been made in the variety and production of food crops through extensive plant breeding, mechanization, irrigation, fertilization and other changes. Looking forward, St. Edward's University School of Natural Sciences presents "Harvest of the Future: Exploring Genetic Alteration of Food." The symposium — organized as a scholarly exchange — will focus on the increasingly common practice of genetic modification of plants. Speakers will address the potential benefits of and concerns about such endeavors and the role of consumers in decisions about science and food.

The symposium will be held from 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Friday, April 1 in the Mabee Ballrooms in the Robert & Pearle Ragsdale Center on the St. Edward's campus. The event is free and open to the public, though attendees should RSVP online by March 25 at www.stedwards.edu/science/events/lucian/2005. The agenda and guest speakers are as follows:

• 10:00 a.m. Introductions

• 10:15 a.m. Agricultural Biotechnology: Locally Relevant Around the World

Robert B. Horsch, PhD, Vice President, International Development Partnerships, Monsanto Company

• 11:05 a.m. The Wages of Hype: Agricultural Biotechnology After 25 Years

Margaret Mellon, PhD, Food and Environment Program Director, Union of Concerned Scientists.

• 11:55 a.m. Open discussion

• 2–7:30 p.m. Senior Seminar Symposium

Organized by the St. Edward's University School of Natural Sciences, the symposium honors Brother Lucian Blersch, CSC, a longtime professor of engineering who died in 1986 and in whose name a professorship in the School of Natural Sciences was endowed.