March 29, 2024

Baxter student participates in prestigious World Food Prize Global Youth Institute

DES MOINES — Marybeth Maggard, a Baxter High School student, was among the select students nominated to attend the World Food Prize Global Youth Institute in October in Des Moines, during the Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium. The event drew 1,500 people from more than 60 countries to discuss the world’s hunger and food security issues.

The World Food Prize was founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug to recognize and inspire great achievements in improving the quality, quantity and availability of food in the world.

This year’s World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue International Symposium focused on the theme “Let Food Be Thy Medicine” and gave special emphasis on issues such as: the crucial role of nutrition in global food security, leadership, biofortification, conflict and infrastructure. Global Youth Institute students and teachers had the opportunity to take part in symposium sessions with the top minds and foremost leaders in global agriculture, food, and development.

Global Youth Institute students and their teacher mentors attended symposium sessions featuring:

• His Excellency Akinwumi A. Adesina, President, African Development Bank Group;

• Her Excellency Dr. Joyce Banda, Former President of the Republic of Malawi and Founder of the Joyce Banda Foundation;

• Thomas J. Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, United States;

• Roger Thurow, Journalist and Author of The First 1,000 Days: A Crucial Time For Mothers and Children- And The World, United States;

• The CEOs of many of the world’s major agribusiness companies: DuPont, Hormel Foods, Monsanto, and Syngenta; and

• Researchers, nonprofit leaders and smallholder farmers from around the globe.

At the three-day Institute, Maggard and 200 other high school student participants of the program from across the United States and abroad researched global food security issues in the developing country of their choice and then submitted papers on those critical topics, which they also presented to a diverse group of internationally renowned World Food Prize Laureates and other distinguished experts and scientists.

Maggard wrote a paper on the theme “Feeding Innovation, Fighting Hunger” and took part in roundtable discussions with experts in industry, science, academia and policy on the culminating day of the program hosted by DuPont Pioneer at its Carver Conference Center in Johnston. During the Institute, participants also helped with a hands-on service project packaging meals for Outreach, Inc., a hunger-fighting organization that serves people in the United States and internationally, toured innovative research and industrial facilities in Adel, Des Moines, Panora and Slater — Hawkeye Breeders Service, Kemin Industries, Early Morning Harvest Farms, and Syngenta Seeds, respectively — and took part in an interactive Oxfam Hunger Banquet that brought to life the realities of hunger and poverty.

At the Global Youth Institute, Maggard interacted with students and teachers from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as Canada, China, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines and Tunisia.

High school educators and students interested in participating in the 2017 Global Youth Institute should visit www.worldfoodprize.org/youth and select their state on the U.S. map, or the link for other countries if living abroad, for more information.