Yesterday marked the kickoff of the third edition of the Youth Ag-Summit, with 100 bright young talents from around the world—including five from the United States—arriving in Brussels, Belgium, to tackle one of humanity’s biggest challenges: how to feed a growing population in a more sustainable manner. Organized by Bayer, together with the two Belgian young farmers associations Groene Kring (GK) and Fédération des Jeunes Agriculteurs (FJA), the summit aims to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end hunger, achieve food security and promote sustainable agriculture.
Over the next four days, the delegates from 49 countries—who range from age 18 to 25—will work together to generate innovative, sustainable and actionable solutions to global food security challenges. Their mission is to come up with concrete new ideas that can drive agricultural progress across the globe and be put into practice back at their respective homes.
“For the UN SDGs to be reached, everyone needs to do their part,” says Liam Condon, member of the board of management of Bayer Ag and president of the company’s Crop Science division. “By inspiring our youth to advocate for science and sustainable agriculture, we hope to tap into the creativity of great young minds to help solve a major societal challenge. The Youth Ag-Summit is always a hotbed of enthusiasm, creative thinking, and innovation. I look forward to seeing what projects will emerge this year.”
This year, Youth Ag-Summit delegates will hear from expert and inspirational speakers including Louise O. Fresco, president of Wageningen University & Research; Caleb Harper, director of the Open Agriculture (OpenAG) initiative at MIT Media Lab; Hugh Evans, CEO of Global Citizen; and many more.
In addition to talks designed to spark their creativity, delegates will have the opportunity to tour EU institutions and meet with European policymakers, visit one of Bayer’s innovative sustainable farming sites, and gain real-world insights into sustainability in action from companies and organizations such as Rabobank, CropTrust, Thought for Food, BioBest, International Society for Horticultural Science, VIB–Flemish Institute for Biotech, Inagro, University Ghent and Ahold Delhaize Group.
“We are very pleased to co-host this event, which gives young people the chance to collaborate and act on solutions for sustainable agriculture,” says Giel Boey, national chairman of Groene Kring. “Rather than just thinking, they will be doing.”
“We need to restore the connection between those who produce our food and those who consume it,” says Guillaume Van Binst, secretary general of the Fédération des Jeunes Agriculteurs. “We’re proud to be this year’s co-host and are certain that the delegates’ work will have a positive impact in their communities and beyond.”
Throughout the week, delegates will work to develop “Thrive for Change” projects—concrete ideas to help achieve the UN SDGs in their communities and countries. Following a pitch process, the strongest ideas will be selected for future funding and development by Bayer.