100 young leaders to address global food security challenges

Liam Condon and delegates from the Youth Ag-Summit 2015
Liam Condon and delegates from the Youth Ag-Summit 2015

One hundred young leaders will attend the Youth Ag-Summit to generate concrete solutions for agriculture worldwide.

The 100 bright young minds have been selected to participate in the third Youth Ag-Summit, which will take place in Brussels from October 9-13 2017.

This year’s Summit is themed "Feeding a Hungry Planet", and aims to address the UN Sustainability Goals of ending hunger, achieving food security and promoting sustainable agriculture.

Hailing from 49 countries and aged between 18 and 25, the chosen delegates share a passion for agriculture and a vision of a world without hunger.

During the summit, they will share their diverse experiences and work together to generate innovative, sustainable and actionable solutions to global food security challenges.

Across five days, delegates will undertake group projects and participate in industry tours, as well as learn from expert guest speakers. Their mission is to come up with concrete new ideas which can drive agricultural progress across the globe and be put into practice back home.

"The agricultural industry can contribute strongly to achieving some of the key UN Sustainable Development Goals, but this also requires the active involvement of the next generation. The Youth Ag-Summit aims to give young leaders the opportunity to foster their ideas, share best practices and explore the role of modern agriculture in feeding a hungry planet", said Liam Condon, member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and head of the Crop Science Division.

1500 word essay

To be considered for participation, prospective delegates were required to submit an essay of 1,500 words on the topic of food insecurity.

A total of 1,187 essays from 95 different countries were submitted; all of which were reviewed by a panel of industry experts.

"The applicants put a lot of effort into their essays. We reviewed them based on their views on sustainable food security and agriculture. Reading them was a valuable experience. Their contributions will form the basis for discussion at the Youth Ag-Summit in October", said Giel Boey, national chairman of Groene Kring.

The delegates hail from the following 49 countries: Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.