U.S. EPA Region 7 Administrator, Karl Brooks, will deliver the CCA Recognition Luncheon Keynote on February 7.  In his speech titled “EPA Partners with the Agribusiness Community to Protect the Environment,” Mr. Brooks will address a large number of topics that include: anhydrous ammonia updates, renewable fuels standard, SPCC rule, pesticide general permit, nutrient management and water quality, CAFO updates, and agricultural myths.

Appointed by President Barack Obama as U.S. EPA Region 7 Administrator in February 2010, Brooks supervises agency operations in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas.

Brooks earned his Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1996, and joined the faculty in 2000, teaching American environmental, political, and legal history, as well as environmental law and policy. He is the author of Before Earth Day: The Origins of American Environmental Law, 1945-1970 (2009) and Public Power, Private Dams: The Hells Canyon High Dam Controversy (2006); editor of The Environmental Legacy of Harry S. Truman (2009); and has written many articles for newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals.

Brooks practiced trial and appellate law in Idaho for a decade, representing individual, small-business and corporate clients in various American courts and agencies. A member of the Idaho Bar since 1983, he is also admitted to practice before the Supreme Court and several federal appellate courts.

Brooks was elected in 1986 to the first of three terms in the Idaho Senate, becoming co-chair of the Judiciary and Rules Committee and ranking Democrat on the Local Government and Taxation Committee. From 1993 to 1996 he served as executive director and legislative liaison of the Idaho Conservation League, Idaho’s largest citizens’ environmental organization.

The 2013 Agribusiness Showcase & Conference will once again showcase industry innovation and technology through our keynote speakers.   Past Keynote Speakers include: Karl Brooks, EPA Region 7 Administrator, Bryon Griffith, Deputy Director for EPA’s Gulf of Mexico Program,Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey and Iowa Governor Terry Branstad.