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Young Earth Solutions contest, or BCFN YES! BCFN YES! is
working with people under 30 to develop the most sustain-
able solutions to alleviating hunger and creating a better food
system. In 2012, the centre presented its first YES! award
to Federica Marra for the Manna From Our Roofs project.
Federica hopes to engage young people in an international
network of activities combining education, communication
and business. Participants will actively take part in cultiva-
tion, preservation, cooking and sale of their own urban food
products. Through roof gardens, window farms and edible
walls, they will be rescuing abandoned city buildings, trans-
forming them into multi-layered urban farms. These will
provide the community with fresh, local produce while taking
care of their own energy supply, water and waste.
In 2013, BCFN awarded the prize to students from the
University of Dhaka in Bangladesh. Their solution is to
provide safe, affordable, nutritious food to the 6 million
people living in urban slums in Dhaka. Their model focuses
on local food production, manufacturing and marketing to
low-income slum dwellers and the entrepreneurs believe it is
highly replicable in other cities around the world.
And at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison),
the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the Wisconsin Institute
of Discovery (WID) and the US Department of Agriculture
helped establish the Agricultural Innovation Prize to encour-
age cutting-edge technology in agricultural and food systems.
The prize encouraged students to think about achieving food
security while also protecting the environment and creat-
ing resilience in the food system. The prize provides more
than US$200,000 to winning teams – the largest cash prizes
awarded to any agricultural student contest in the world. The
grand prizewinner receives US$100,000 to implement their
project, while the finalists get US$25,000 each. “This project is
about inspiring the next generation of food system innovators
to believe that they can create the future they dream of and
the future we need,” says Molly Jahn, professor of genetics at
UW-Madison and Discovery Fellow with WID, who led efforts
to organize the Ag Prize. This year, the winners included strat-
egies for reducing food waste for farmers in India, technology
for pasture-raised chicken and mobile poultry houses in the
US, and edible mealworm powder to help improve food secu-
rity in sub-Saharan Africa.
Prizes for young farmers and entrepreneurs, however, are
not enough. Youth in agriculture need to have opportunities
to connect and network with others – across communities,
regions, and national borders.
The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy
Analysis Network (FANRPAN), based in Pretoria, South
Africa, is doing innovative work engaging a variety of stake-
holders, including young people, across Africa. Recognizing
the role of Africa’s farmers as powerful agents for increasing
food security, FANRPAN set a goal to create conducive policy
environments that include and empower Africa’s farmers,
especially youth and women farmers. By opening up commu-
nication channels and advocating for common-sense policies
and reforms that promote and support youth involvement
in agriculture, FANRPAN is helping to create a food-secure
Africa that can feed itself.
The CEO of FANRPAN, Dr Lindiwe Sibanda, says “farmers
know what to do” when it comes to the environmental and
food challenges we face. The real difficulty is getting those
ideas and methods from the farmer in the field to government
officials drafting and implementing policy.
As the future farmers, policymakers and business people,
youth are central to FANRPAN’s overall work. Additionally,
engaging youth is especially important in sub-Saharan Africa
where there are over 200 million young people aged between 12
and 24 – the world’s youngest population. FANRPAN launched
the Youth in Agriculture initiative to encourage integration of
youth into decision-making on food and agriculture issues and
to advance policies that create opportunities for Africa’s youth.
The Young Professionals for Agricultural Development
(YPARD), housed at the Global Forum for Agricultural
Research in Rome, is also helping connect young farmers,
researchers and scientists to one another. By connecting
members (all under 40 years old) both online and in person,
YPARD is trying to help young agricultural professionals share
ideas, innovations and news of what’s working in their own
communities. In addition, YPARD alerts members to educa-
tional opportunities, grants and events to help them develop
their skills. “Increased access to education means that young
people can be a force for innovation on family farms, increas-
ing incomes and well-being not only for farmers, but also
for local communities,” says Mark Holderness, Executive
Secretary of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research.
“Young people can develop the agricultural sector by apply-
ing new technologies to current work methods.”
It’s clear that the future of agriculture is in the hands of
young people – whether they’re family farmers, cooks and
chefs, entrepreneurs, teachers or scientists. To cultivate that
next generation, governments, academics, businesses and the
funding and donor communities need to provide the invest-
ment and funding they need to nourish both people and planet.
The future of agriculture is in the hands of young people
Image: Bernard Pollack
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