Applications for 2021 Youth Ag Summit now open
Applications are now open for the 2021 Youth Ag Summit, a global forum and biennially organized conference where young leaders collaborate to develop sustainable solutions for food security and global agriculture as they work toward becoming global instruments of change.
While this is the 5th biennial Youth Ag Summit, it will be the first virtual YAS event. This year’s cohort will also benefit from another exciting YAS first. As an official global partner with Bayer for this year’s forum, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), in partnership with technology company Babele, will also provide a virtual idea incubator called YAS University where delegates will continue to learn entrepreneurship and leadership skills, receive coaching from mentors, and improve their own “Thrive for Change” project concepts throughout a 10-week period following the November summit.
The summit’s overall theme, “Feeding a Hungry Planet,” is based on the United Nations’ prediction that the planet’s population will reach 9.7 billion people by 2050 and will be faced with food security challenges. The 100 delegates selected to participate in this year’s Youth Ag Summit will be tasked to work on developing solutions to this challenge using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations as their framework.
“We believe there is a strong need for young leaders to be engaged in developing a healthier food and agricultural system,” said Joerg Ellmanns, Managing Director of the Crop Science Division of Bayer in Australia. “Through their work at the 2021 Youth Ag Summit young leaders will broaden their network, be empowered through new transferrable skills and knowledge, and be inspired to take action.”
Application for the 2021 Youth Ag Summit is open to young people of any background aged 18-25. Potential delegates will be asked to share their motivation to join the summit, their previous advocacy experience and a 3-minute video pitch explaining their project idea on “How to feed a hungry planet.” Guy Coleman was selected as an Australian delegate to the the 2019 Youth Ag Summit where he was able to further develop his project idea that used machine learning to identify and target weeds in broadacre crops and then use technology that would automatically spot-spray or even target a laser directly on the growing point of the weed.
Applicants should be personally, professionally, and academically interested in agriculture, international development, environmental stewardship, food security, biotechnology, and/or farming.
To apply for the Youth Ag Summit 2021, please visit www.youthagsummit.com. To learn more, follow #AgvocatesWithoutBorders on Twitter and Youth Ag Summit (@youthagsummit) on the YAS Instagram channel.
About the Youth Ag Summit
The Youth Ag Summit movement is a community of global young leaders championing sustainable agriculture and food security and working to bridge the understanding gap between those who produce our food and those who consume it. Every two years, 100 delegates are chosen to take part in the Summit. Previous editions have been hosted in Canada, Australia, Belgium and Brazil. Due to COVID restrictions, this year’s summit is the first completely virtual event.
About the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN)
The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) was set up in 2012 under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General. SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement. For more information, visit www.unsdsn.org.
For more information, contact:
Lachlan Bird, phone +61 407 885 209
Email: lachlan.bird@bayer.com
ljb (2021-YAS01)