Land O’Lakes challenges food leaders

Ensuring the roughly nine billion people who are estimated to inhabit the planet by 2050 have enough to eat is a big challenge. That’s why Land O’Lakes has introduced new program to fund big ideas from future food leaders.



The company created the Global Food Challenge Emerging Leaders for Food Security fellowship, a unique internship and development program for 10 students at five universities. The fellowship will support the emerging leaders of tomorrow as they work to identify innovative and practical ways to meet the world's need for a 70% increase in global food production. The students, sophomores at the University of Minnesota, Purdue University, Iowa State University, Northwestern University, and George Washington University, will be matched with university professors who will help guide the research they conduct.



"Today we are expanding our investment in the leaders of tomorrow and giving them the tools and experience to start addressing one of society's most significant issues - ensuring food security," said Chris Policinski, president and CEO of Land O'Lakes. "There is no better way to help drive global security than to ensure food security. We are pleased to partner with these universities and hope to inspire these students to engage in the challenge of feeding a growing global population."



The fellowship will provide these students with the opportunity to engage with other future leaders and advocates for food and agriculture as they help educate others about the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture in the coming decades. Students were selected through a competitive application process from a broad range of education programs that deliver the mix of skills and experience necessary to bring news ideas to feeding the hungry around the world.



Plans call for the students participate in a series of "challenges," assignments designed to spur their thinking about food security issues throughout the academic year. The experience will culminate in an 11-week paid summer internship, which will begin in May 2015 and include travel to Africa, Washington, D.C., and key Land O'Lakes locations. The students will present their final projects to industry experts and leaders at The Global Food Challenge Summit, hosted in Fall 2015 at Land O'Lakes headquarters in Arden Hills, Minnesota.