🌱🌎 Youth Ag Summit – Meet our 2019 mentors + learn the latest from the YAS community

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Hello Agvocate,

Across the world, the mercury has been hitting record levels. Countries across Europe and Africa are experiencing their hottest summers on record, with heatwaves and associated extreme weather also affecting the US and Canada. In the southern hemisphere too, the winter storms have grown increasingly fierce, marking a truly global period of climate extremes. With summer 2019 on track to be the warmest ever measured on Earth, what does this mean for the future of food? Read on for a deep dive into how climate change is changing everything from the food on our plates to the way we farm.

In other news, ready to face the challenges and opportunities ahead will be our alumni mentors, who we are thrilled to introduce in the runup to the Youth Ag Summit. Coming from all corners of the globe and with backgrounds ranging from biotechnology to hydroponics, get to know them and learn their advice to incoming agvocates!

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Food systems under pressure: a leaked report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts major climate disruption ahead.
MIT Technology Review takes a look at the top 10 food and farming technologies which could combat climate change. And with an arable land gap the size of two Indias required to feed a hungry planet, we’ll be needing them.
The BBC continues its unmissable Follow The Food multimedia series: five global food system leaders share their solutions for a food-secure future.
Land degradation, declining soil carbon levels, rising greenhouse gas emissions: predictions of the future may be alarming, but global farmers have a role to play in fighting climate change, argues the World Economic Forum. Here’s how.
Goodbye strawberries and chocolate, hello Beyond Burger? Vox takes a look at what’s for dinner in a hotter, drier, more crowded world.
Addressing the carbon ‘hoofprint’: Fast Company weighs up the likelihood of carbon-neutral cows.

EMPOWERING AFRICA
Meet Risper Wanja Njagi (YAS 2017, Kenya): empowering youth in agriculture is her mission; AgriKUA is her platform. She joins Bayer’s Jesus Madrazo to share her love for Africa and the need to upskill young women in agriculture in the latest episode of The AgVocate podcast. Listen here.

ADVOCATING FOR YOUTH
Cassie Hayward (YAS 2017, Canada) headed to the FAO’s headquarters in Rome for discussions on launching an international Youth Council for youth in agriculture. Catch up.

GIVING YOUTH A VOICE
Elsewhere on the policy stage, Sophie Healy-Thow (YAS 2017, Ireland) returned to the European Development Days in Brussels to share her experience of making it as a young agriculturalist. Top of her wish list? For youth to have a real seat at the table. Learn more.

TURNING THE TIDE
In the Philippines – a country where the average age in agriculture is 57 – incoming YAS delegate Christine Jodloman is on a mission to infuse young blood into national agriculture. Get inspired.

TOMORROW'S LEADERS
Incoming YAS alumni mentor Leticia Marques has a passion for promoting biotechnology – a passion which saw her selected as the only Brazilian ‘Leader of Tomorrow’ to attend the 2019 GAP Summit in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Read more (translated).

CHAMPIONING AUCKLAND
A huge congratulations to James Robertson (YAS 2015, New Zealand), who took home FMG’s Young Farmer of the Year title! Learn more.