Land O’Lakes, Inc., created the Global Food Challenge Emerging Leaders for Food Security fellowship in 2014 to engage future leaders in the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture in the coming decades. An expected increase in population from 7 to 10 billion by 2050 requires a 70% increase in food production, yet this needs to be accomplished in a sustainable manor.

Ten US college sophomores, each committed to finding innovative and practical solutions to world hunger, will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do just that through the Land O’Lakes Emerging Leaders program.

The 2015 fellowship recipients were announced recently at the 2015 World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue, they are: Elizabeth Alonzi (Bloomington, Minn.), Katie Enzenauer (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Blake Schweiner (Green Bay, Wis.), attending the University of Minnesota; Abby Adair (Crown Point, Ind.), Sydney Gray (West Lafayette, Ind.), attending Purdue University; Addison Bidwell (Grinnell, Iowa), Leah Ellensohn (Le Mars, Iowa), Megan Schnell (Charlottesville, Va.), attending Iowa State University; Diana Fu (Pleasanton, Calif.), attending Northwestern University and Ayse Muratoglu (Chicago, Ill.), attending The George Washington University.

2014 Emerging Leaders alumni, Trey Forsyth from Iowa State University, said, “We need people from different professional backgrounds, countries and viewpoints to make a difference in feeding the world.”

Throughout the academic year, Emerging Leaders work closely with their university professors, delving into challenging assignments designed to spur their thinking about food security issues and to educate others. The experience includes summer work in key Land O’Lakes, Inc. locations, including headquarters in Minnesota and producers and rural agriculture cooperatives across the United States. The students also will spend time in Washington, D.C. with policymakers and agricultural experts and will travel to Africa to visit smallholder farmers in rural African communities. They address issues such as sustainability, global supply chains, ensuring broader access to new developments in agriculture, and empowering change in communities here, near and far.

Learn more about the Global Food Challenge and join the conversation here!