Young farmers: Win a trip to Australia

Young farmers have an opportunity to win an all-expenses paid trip to Australia to discuss the future direction of agriculture with like-minded people.

Farmers between 18-25 are being invited to take part in an essay-writing competition to secure their place at an international conference on strategies to feed the world.

The Youth Ag Summit will take place in Canberra, Australia, from 24-28 August and will involve 100 young leaders from about 20 countries.

It follows the success of an inaugural summit in Canada last year which was attended by three young farmers from the UK.

See more: Youth Ag Summit: Women central to food security

The theme of the 2015 event will be “Feeding a hungry planet” and participants will be encouraged to share their ideas on how to feed a growing population.

Over the course of the week they will be encouraged to debate various options with their peers. To stimulate discussion they will be addressed by speakers including business leaders, elected officials and scientists.

“Our winners will have a fantastic opportunity to connect with current and future agricultural leaders from all over the world, and bring fresh and innovative thinking about the challenges and opportunities we face in feeding the world in the future.”
Mike Abram, Bayer CropScience

The event is being sponsored by Bayer CropScience which is offering two Farmers Weekly readers the opportunity to have their say on how agriculture faces up to the challenges of the future.

For a chance to win a place at the conference, entrants must write a 1,500 word essay about outlining their ideas on the causes, impacts and possible solutions to global food security.

Using their own village, town, city or country as a point of reference, they must outline the underlying causes of food insecurity, and the effect it can have on a population, both at a local and global level.

Based on this, they will need to explain what changes to agricultural or food chain practices, or personal and community behaviours could help solve these issues to create a more sustainable local and global society.

All entries must be in by 30 January 2015 and have to be uploaded direct to the Youth Ag Summit website where more details of the competition, event and essay question can also be found.

The winner will be someone who can display original ideas and a passion for the subject. They will also need to be professionally and academically interested in agriculture, international development, environmental stewardship, food security and biotechnology.

“Our winners will have a fantastic opportunity to connect with current and future agricultural leaders from all over the world, and bring fresh and innovative thinking about the challenges and opportunities we face in feeding the world in the future,” said Mike Abram, Bayer CropScience’s public relations and communications manager.

“We want, through the summit, to help this next generation of thought-leaders learn and develop, to drive a sustainable future for agriculture.”