Some of us on the verge of retirement wonder at times who will be taking over the reins of leadership of ag organizations, ag academia, the ag government bureaucracy, and the industry in general.
It’s a real concern as the never-ending efficiencies in ag production mean fewer and fewer people are needed to produce more food. In addition, agriculture is just not that sexy a career choice for many smart, ambitious young people, especially in this province as the energy industry regularly scoops up the brightest university grads.
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However, a recent Calgary conference saw many of those concerns put to rest by an outstanding display of youthful exuberance, enthusiasm and commitment to agriculture on a global scale. The conference entitled “Feeding a Hungry World — Youth Ag Summit,” sponsored by Bayer CropScience, celebrated the 100th anniversary of 4H in Canada and the 150th anniversary of the global Bayer company. Kim McConnell, prominent Alberta ag industry advocate and summit participant, put it all into perspective when he said at the event, “Agriculture is in good hands with these young people.”
At one session, the young delegates were asked to come up with ideas on alleviating hunger in the world. That question has plagued the human race for millennia, but these young folks were undeterred and came up with some excellent ideas. Those with old cynical attitudes (yes, I am guilty) would dismiss many of the ideas as unrealistic, considering the political, economic, cultural and religious hurdles that play such a large part in perpetuating hunger around the world. The delegates, some of whom were from developing countries, were aware of the confounding realities that would frustrate the implementation of their ideas. What is encouraging is that a conference like this would seem to open possibilities, and that, yes, these ideas are achievable if only some effort, however small, was made to start the process. If nothing else, these ideas would seem to plant some seeds in these young minds that might grow, whilst they advance into ag leadership roles in their various countries.
Another real benefit is the networking connections made by these young people. Unlike the past when it was difficult to maintain connections, it is now much easier to continue the conversation through blogs, websites and social media. But the concern is: Will all this enthusiasm and hope just fade away with the memory of this conference? This was a costly event and it takes big sponsors to keep them going. Bayer CropScience got the ball rolling, now others will need to step up to the plate and join in. This type of youthful excitement over critical food issues needs to be nurtured now — it will pay off down the road for the entire human race. To further future related initiatives, Bayer CropScience Canada and 4-H Canada announced that each organization will donate $20,000 to the cause. I would suggest such generosity and commitment will indeed help nurture the future of global agriculture leadership and, yes, help moderate world hunger. We need a lot more of that!
