Youth Ag Summit wraps up in Australia

Sep 09, 2015

Youth Ag Declaration will be presented in Rome in October 2015

Nearly 100 young leaders ranging from 18-23 years old and representing 33 countries converged in Canberra, Australia to participate in the Youth Ag Summit.

The summit, which took place from August 24-28, focused on the roles science and agriculture play in feeding a planet that’s estimated to have a population of nearly 9 billion people by the year 2050.

“To drive real outcomes from the 2015 Youth Ag-Summit we need to ensure the solutions and actions identified by the 100 delegates are communicated with key global policy and decision makers,” said Georgie Aley, Chair of Future Farmers Network Australia.

Youth Ag Summit
Laura Grubb, right, and Samba Ouma

During the summit the delegates, which included four from Canada and five from the United States, were charged with the task of coming up with a declaration to be presented at the United Nation’s Committee on World Food Security, scheduled to take place in Rome sometime in October 2015.

The themes and solutions involved in the Youth Ag Declaration include:

Developing a fair and open multi-channel platform for formal and informal educators in the agricultural industry to build greater skills through ongoing education
Globally promoting and enhancing the image of farmers and the breadth of opportunities in the agricultural industry
Enhance socially acceptable and responsible consumption through better education and utilization of current resources
Create a global network that links young innovators to agricultural needs to drive information sharing, funding and solutions
Develop a global youth platform to build a movement, and develop youth leaders through mentorship and education via youth groups

“It’s a huge opportunity; normally at conferences the information and ideas shared stay within the body of people that attended, but we have a unique opportunity to spread this around the globe to both developed and developing countries, across a range of different ecosystems, production systems, and cultures,” said Laura Grubb, an Australian delegate. “That means we can really put the goals we’ve developed at the Summit into practice and make a difference.”

Grubb, along with Kenyan delegate Samba Ouma will be presenting the declaration in Rome. Ouma said his first priority is to use social media to keep conversation about agricultural issues relevant and ongoing.

Video: Sweetener Effects on Gut Health - Dr. Kwangwook Kim

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Dr. Kwangwook Kim, Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, discusses the use of non-nutritive sweeteners in nursery pig diets. He explains how sucralose and neotame influence feed intake, gut health, metabolism, and the frequency of diarrhea compared to antibiotics. The conversation highlights mechanisms beyond palatability, including hormone signaling and nutrient transport. Listen now on all major platforms!

“Receptors responsible for sweet taste are present not only in the mouth but also along the intestinal tract.”

Meet the guest: Dr. Kwangwook Kim / kwangwook-kim is an Assistant Professor at Michigan State University, specializing in swine nutrition and feed additives under disease challenge models. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in Animal Sciences from the University of California, Davis, where he focused on intestinal health and metabolic responses in pigs. His research evaluates alternatives to antibiotics, targeting gut health and performance in nursery pigs.