One hundred and eighteen youth from 20 countries worldwide, including Rockwood resident Cassandra Chornoboy, met in Calgary in August to tackle one of the world’s biggest challenges: feeding a hungry planet.
These leading youth were delegates at the 4-H Youth Ag-Summit, a first of its kind, global event organized by 4-H Canada and Bayer CropScience Canada.
“The goal of the Summit was to invite youth from around the world to come to the table, share ideas and have an open dialogue about how we’ll feed a hungry planet,” says Kamel Beliazi, President and CEO of Bayer CropScience Canada. “Feeding the planet is a topic we think about everyday as a science-based agricultural company.”
Organizers received more than 500 applications from youth around the world between the ages of 18 to 24 who wanted to be part of the event.
“It’s estimated that by 2050, less than 37 years from now, there will be an additional two billion people on the planet to feed,” explains Mathieu Rouleau a delegate from Quebec, who grew up on his family’s dairy farm.
The week-long summit, which took place between Aug. 19 and 25, had the delegates participating in a full schedule of presentations, debates, discussions, group work, tours and networking. After almost a week of working together, eight delegate groups presented their visions for how to will feed more people. For the delegates the major issues included increasing consumer awareness of the agriculture industry, reducing food waste, battling the effects of climate change and coping with a growing human footprint.
