Some 200 representatives from agriculture, banking and academia will gather May 3 at the University of California, Davis, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics, which was established to provide economic analysis and information to support California agriculture.

The celebration commemorates the 1928 gift of $1.5 million to the University of California by A.P. Giannini, founder and president of BancItaly Corporation, which would later become the Bank of America. That gift financed construction of Giannini Hall at UC Berkeley to house the Giannini Foundation. It also established an endowment for California-focused programs in agricultural economics and rural studies, now housed at the Berkeley, Davis and Riverside campuses.

News media are invited to cover the invitation-only symposium, which will be held from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., followed by a reception, in the ballroom of UC Davis' Activities and Recreation Center.

"The symposium is an appropriate celebration of the impact the Giannini Foundation has had as it studied issues of price instability; management of surplus production; design of marketing institutions; impacts of water development; and competition for water, land, and labor," said Alex McCalla, a UC Davis professor emeritus of agriculture and resource economics and symposium coordinator.

He noted that the 400 to 500 graduate students who have passed through the agricultural economics programs at UC Davis and UC Berkeley have benefited from the Giannini Foundation and its world-renowned library.

Guest luncheon speaker will be distinguished historian Kevin Starr, emeritus state historian of California. The event will conclude with a panel discussion on the future challenges of the Giannini Foundation. Among the panel members will be A.G. Kawamura, secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Also speaking will be faculty members from UC Davis and UC Berkeley, as well as journalists, representatives from Bank of America and alumni of the Giannini Foundation. During the afternoon, symposium speakers will evaluate how well the foundation has addressed three mandates set forth at the time the Giannini Foundation was established: the supply-side of California agriculture, profitable marketing of California production, and implications of the national and global context of California farming.

A complete program for the symposium is available online at: http://giannini.ucop.edu//events.htm.