What is involved in feeding a growing world, a population predicted to be more than 9 billion people by 2050? What is at stake now and in the future?
Extension educators can help their students gain knowledge and develop skills to learn about these issues and more through the World Food Prize Nebraska Youth Institute (WFPNYI). Plus, students earn a $500 University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) scholarship.
Students choose from 20 factors and more than 100 countries to write their papers on. Student papers, due June 1 or before, earn them a place as a participant in the WFPNYI, held within the UNL’s CASNR, in collaboration with the World Food Prize and the Malaika Foundation. This year’s WFPNYI is Sept. 11 at the Nebraska East Union in Lincoln.
During the daylong event, students present their paper findings, hear and discuss the findings of others, and put science to work with CASNR faculty, staff and students. Mentors accompany students to Lincoln to take part in the day. Local 4-H club volunteers can serve as mentors, too, as do high school teachers. Please share this information with any high school teachers for whom it could be of interest, as well.
Based on their papers and presentations, six Nebraska students are selected to attend the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute in Des Moines Oct. 15-17 along with their mentors or another responsible adult. There students and mentors have the opportunity to hear and interact with Nobel and World Food Prize Laureates, as well as the world’s foremost thinkers and leaders in agriculture and food security. Food and lodging in Des Moines are provided by the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute. CASNR provides round-trip van travel from Lincoln to Des Moines for the six Nebraska students and their mentors. Students who attend the Des Moines event are eligible to apply for a Borlaug-Ruan international internship, or a USDA Wallace-Carver fellowship.
In CASNR, the World Food Prize Nebraska Youth Institute is led by the Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication. For more information on the program and to find out how your high school 4-H’ers might participate, visit http://casnr.unl.edu/worldfoodprize or contact Laura Snell, lsnell2@unl.edu, 402-472-9782. Also find us on facebook at World Food Prize Nebraska Youth Institute to view pictures of last year’s events.
-- Sue Ellen Pegg