NO, conferences about “How to feed 9 billion by 2050?” do not have to be boring, grey haired, PowerPoint- followed by - PowerPoint and 100 - times - already - heard - solutions.  They can be- YES! – A great party, inspiring, motivating, ideas generating, fresh and juicy! That’s how I’ve experienced the Thought for Food Global Summit 2016 which succeeded... More

By Martina Graf, YPARD Europe and Jakob Hoerl, IFSA Ever heard of the word METSÄ, or of a place called Rovaniemi? No? Ok - Metsä means forest in Finnish and is a very important word in a country where 76% (23 million hectares) of the land is covered by forest and around 3% of the population work in the forestry sector,... More

A YOUng FARMer‘s vision – A student’s project initiated by Martina Graf Waking up having THE project idea in mind! - Three short films; each of them portrays a young farmer, giving an authentic and positive picture about their daily life and their visions. - During the following days the idea comes back again and again while waiting for the bus... More

A story about a Cambodian “Friends Help Friends Saving Group”By Tha Kok, Martina Graf During a forest hike to an old monastery in the frame of the 26th International Leadership Workshop for Rural Youth in Germany I got the chance to get to know Tha Kok while walking next to him. This was the first time I heard his story, and... More

During three days, all participants of the 26th International Leadership Workshop for Rural Youth in Germany have the great opportunity to learn more about the OPEN SPACE methodology. By practicing we learn how to use it as an instrument to find solutions and develop concrete actions for our organizations. The main objective of our OPEN SPACE these days is: “How can... More

Travel report from the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) 2013by Martina Graf, Coordinator YPARD Europe Berlin, minus 12 Celsius degree outside, when I dive into the crowd of ministers, students, NGO representatives, groups of delegates, investors, ambassadors from governments and lobbyists. They come together in the frame of “Die Grüne Woche”, which is the world's biggest fair for food,... More

On the 8th – 9th of October, The European Forum on Agricultural Research for Development (EFARD) Steering Committee (SC) Meeting took place at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, School for Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL). As the European Coordination of YPARD is hosted by HAFL, I’ve got the chance to participate the meeting as a substitute of Codrin Paveliuc-Olariu.... More

It is a big pleasure and honor for me to take over the coordination of YPARD Europe! While thinking about my welcome text for YPARD blog, I started to realize that I’ve been working in agricultural business for almost 12 years now! And still, I belong to the young professionals!As I am new to the community, I’d like to give you... More