Iowa State Livestock Scientist Youngs Named Top Agri-Food Pioneer by World Food Prize Foundation

Oct 02, 2026

Iowa State University Professor Curt Youngs has been named a 2026 Top Agri-Food Pioneer by the World Food Prize Foundation. He is among 40 global innovators from 30 countries selected for their transformative food systems work that is driving change in agriculture and global food security. TAP honorees will be recognized at the 2026 Borlaug Dialogue in October.

Youngs serves as a Morrill Professor, M.E. Ensminger Endowed Chair of International Animal Agriculture and associate director of Iowa State’s Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods livestock and animal health programs. He is widely known for laying a foundation for better use of artificial insemination in livestock to increase efficiency of milk and meat production.

The TAP Award announcement recognizes his scientific excellence, international leadership and practical impact to advance livestock systems, food security and agricultural capacity across multiple regions. It specifically references his work translating advanced reproductive and animal biosciences into real-world benefits and his publications, which represent sustained contributions to livestock reproduction, embryo technologies, biosecurity, dairy development, camelid production and sustainable livestock systems across Ethiopia, Kosovo, Peru, Algeria and Uganda.

Source : iastate.edu

Video: Learning to Wrench From Dad the Hard Way

Harvest is a week out and the farm picked this week to fall apart. The truck needs a battery, the barn curtain's got a problem, and the corn and beans are telling us we're out of time to get it all fixed.

So it's a full day of wrenching. Tork supervises while I get the truck back running, then we're out at the hog barn where one rusted up part has the whole curtain system hung up. Ladder work, cable work, and a little dad-and-son disagreement about the right way to do it. We close it out walking the fields, shelling beans and checking corn, because whether everything's fixed or not, harvest starts when harvest starts.

Chapters: 00:00 Everything breaks the week before harvest 01:00 Tork supervises while I fix the truck 12:30 Out to the barn to find the curtain problem 14:30 One rusty part hung up the whole curtain 20:00 Running the curtain cable from the ladder 24:00 Walking the beans and corn before harvest 26:30 Wrapping up

We're a 6th generation family farm in southeast Iowa showing the real ups and downs of pig farming and row crop farming. No script, just the work. Subscribe and follow along.

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