Cambridge: 8 May 2015: Two students and a young lawyer have won the trip of a lifetime to Australia to take part in a global Youth Summit set up to find innovative ways of feeding the world in the future.

Lydia Jeffs-Joory from Chipping Norton, Oliver Cassels from London, and Emma McIlveen from Ballymena won their place at the Bayer CropScience Youth Ag-Summit in Canberra by writing an essay under the theme of “Feeding a Hungry Planet”. In it they had to outline what they saw as the main causes of food insecurity and propose solutions to tackle these issues.

Every day the world’s population is estimated to increase by 233,000 people, and the world’s population is forecast to grow to more than 9 billion by 2050, according to the United Nations.

Producing enough food to feed this larger global population is a challenge that requires creativity, vision and long-term perspective. For that reason, Bayer CropScience joined with Australian agricultural youth organization Future Farmers Network to organise the second Youth Ag-Summit. The week-long event will serve as a forum for young leaders to discuss opportunities, collaborate and act on solutions for a sustainable agriculture that will feed the growing global population.

A total of 1,932 essays from 87 countries were submitted, 40 of which came from the UK – an outstanding result which shows the passion and spirit of young people for food and farming.

Mike Abram, PR and Communications Manager at Bayer CropScience said: “We were impressed by the number and quality of this year’s entries. There were some excellent ideas to build on at the summit later in the year, but in the end we could only send two candidates.”

It was not an easy task, but a panel of judges from Bayer, Farmers Weekly and Anglia Farmers decided on the winners: Lydia Jeffs-Joory, 22, a final year Agriculture student at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Oliver Cassels, 25, studying an MSc in Agricultural Economics at the University of Reading, and Emma McIlveen, 24, a young lawyer from Northern Ireland.

The three winning essays impressed the judges through their creative take on the food security challenges we are facing and through the practicality of the solutions they proposed to tackle these problems. Lydia suggests a club scheme, where people would sign up to receive access to food past sell-by dates as a way to reduce food waste. Oliver says it is time we take advantage of all the advances being made in technology and apply them in agriculture to enable farmers to take smarter decisions on farm. Emma believes that investing in the skills and training of women, who already represent the majority of the developing world’s agricultural workforce, will significantly increase overall agricultural productivity.

Lydia said: “I heard about the competition through my university and thought it was a great opportunity. Many of us take for granted having food freely available. I’ve often wondered why preventing food waste hasn’t been prioritised. It’s essential we stay open minded and increase awareness on the topic of food security.”

Oliver said: “We face a huge challenge in meeting global food demand and I believe that technology will have a crucial part to play. I am excited by the rapidly changing way technology can help us produce more food, and I am looking forward to discussing and thinking of new ideas with other young and likeminded people from around the world, as part of the Youth Ag-Summit.”

Emma said: “I am delighted to be selected to represent the United Kingdom at the Youth Ag-Summit in Australia. Upon my return, I plan to share the knowledge which I have gained with decision makers, young influencers and farmers across Northern Ireland. By doing so, I hope that I will be able to assist Northern Ireland to better contribute to feeding a hungry planet.”

Oliver, Emma and Lydia will represent the UK at the Summit in Australia in August. They will be part of a team of 100 young thinkers from around the world trying to find innovative ways to feed the growing population.