I had the pleasure last week of attending the YPARD China Week organized at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), the YPARD China hosting institution. Superbly organized by Bi Jieying, the YPARD China coordinator, this week was all about empowering Chinese young professionals (YPs) by giving them the necessary knowledge and skills to join the international community. Moving beyond... More

Currently, 2.5 billion people depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Globally, the average age of farmers is around 55 years. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Statistical Yearbook 2013, 27 percent of the world's population is under 10 years old compared to only 8 percent over 65 years old. It's clear that agriculture needs to attract younger farmers. In Europe, one-third of all... More

Big Facts, CCAFS-led website on facts and figures about climate change, agriculture and food security CCAFS, the CGIAR funded Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security, has recently relaunched the Big Facts website, a great source of information on the societal challenges that we face today for everyone, from researchers and policy makers to young professionals just getting started... More

The 2013 external review of YPARD was undertaken by a team of twinned senior-junior external consultants, from August to December 2013, with the Final Report approved by the Steering Committee (SC) in January 2014. We appreciate the work of the reviewers and welcome their recommendations for a "renewed YPARD". The SC agrees on the set of recommendations designed to bring YPARD... More

If we look into Africa‘s recent history, we see that this part of the world fits perfectly, at this time, into the growth limits stated by Reverend Thomas Malthus more than 200 years ago. With a population doubling every 25 years and an ecological decline hard to slow down, Africa is about to reach its “limits of growth”. But this is not a reason to despair. At the Forum... More

During my research on Global Food Security  I heard various opinions about the Food Crisis and how we should tackle it. Ranging from “we should do more” and “we should do less”, every government, NGO, company or researcher considers food security as a societal problem that must be dealt with now. But a statement left me utterly perplexed: “many don’t actually see a food crisis... More

With more than 200 million people aged between 15 and 24 years (comprising over 20% of the population and 70% of the population being under 30 years old), Africa‘s future seems bright. Young people usually bring new skills and abilities to the table, and tend to be highly competitive into sectors that use innovative technologies (such as ICT, social media or even... More

In the past few weeks I had the opportunity to be a mentor to 4 great teams in the Thought for Food (TFF) Challenge (check out my experience HERE). After being a mentee in other online programmes and discussing in several networks on how a good mentoring programme should look like, I can give some inside tips & tricks for a great mentoring experience. The organization that... More

A few years ago, when I first attended Syngenta`s Forum for the Future of Agriculture I found out about the TFF Challenge, a competition aimed at students of all levels that has set an objective to “feed 9 billion by 2050? by unleashing the creative potential of youth in designing innovative solutions for ending world hunger.At first, I was angry. I... More

It all started off as a challenge for a young group of social media enthusiasts that wanted to give a voice to young professionals in agricultural research for development (ARD) at the Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD 2012). From all walks of life, young spirited people have gathered between October 25th and November 2nd 2012 in Punta... More

The Second Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD 2012) brought together all groups of stakeholders: from researchers to donors such as the FAO, EC or IFAD, to farmers organizations or the private sector. The surprise at the conference co-organized by GFAR and the CGIAR Consortium was the recognition of the role that young professionals play in AR4D. For the... More

Dear YPARDians,  As food prices soar and, according to the World Population Prospects that the UN published in 2010, we will be 9.3 billion souls living on earth by 2050 (10.1 billion by the end of the century), it is time to set out on a journey to find the best solutions in order to ensure GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY.  At this... More

“The conference "New skills for a European Bioeconomy" hosted by the European Commission in Brussels on 20-21 November 2012 will bring together bioeconomy stakeholders at the European, national and regional level and also those active in the education and training sectors to discuss the role of skills development in driving and facilitating the transition towards a bioeconomy and seizing the employment... More

On June 12th – 13th June 2012, YPARD was present in Brussels as an official member at the Steering Committee Meeting of EFARD (the European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development) through Codrin Paveliuc-Olariu. Reporting back from the EFARD SC Meeting, Codrin mentions that the strategic objectives of the Forum are to encourage dialogue between European AR4D stakeholders by promoting awareness,... More

J'ai eu l'occasion d'interviewer un certain temps pour mes recherches de doctorat Campli Mario, le président de la "Agriculture, développement rural et environnement" section au sein du Comité économique et social européen. Je lui ai proposé quelques questions intrigantes et il a répondu avec un ensemble de réponses intrigantes ainsi. 1. Comment peut la régulation du marché européen fournir un appui aux agriculteurs et àl'environnement des entreprises locales? Indirectement, si l'on arrive à configurer un marché équilibré e à sauvegarder les... More