Ryan Quarles, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
Ryan Quarles, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville kicks off its spring lecture series with a Jan. 24 discussion about food insecurity, featuring Ryan Quarles, commissioner of the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

Quarles’ free, public talk on “Unbridled Hunger: Food Insecurity Challenges and Solutions for Kentucky” is from 6-7 p.m. at Chao Auditorium, Ekstrom Library. It will cover a range of public policy issues, including the role of health care and education in rural and urban parts of Kentucky.

Quarles formed the Kentucky Hunger Initiative, a first-of-its-kind effort to bring together farmers, charitable organizations, faith groups, community leaders and government entities to help reduce hunger in the state. According to a 2016 study done by Feeding America, 17 percent of Kentuckians struggle with hunger.

The January lecture is part of the McConnell Center’s 2018 spring public lecture series, “Taking Kentucky’s Temperature: Future of Health Policy in the Commonwealth.”