No module Published on Offcanvas position

Switch your eyes and ears off, for a moment, to the on-going discourse about agriculture as an “ageing sector” that doesn’t attract the youth anymore. Instead, step into YPARD: a vibrant international network of young professionals for agricultural development, which counts thousands of members all around the world,

We are living in an era in which rapid urbanization has led to a decline in rural populations, and for the first time ever the majority of the world’s population lives in a city. The UN World Health Organization predicts that “by 2030, 6 out of every 10 people will live in a city, and by 2050, this proportion will increase to 7 out of 10 people”. This means that more young people than ever before are moving to cities and towns to find work, leaving few behind to work in rural areas.

The Food Innovation Summer School Mediterraneo, sponsored by the Future Food Institute, brought students together to explore how tradition and innovation can share space in the future of food using the Mediterranean diet as a focal point for discussion.

What do chocolate, salami, tomato sauce, and fried sage leaves all have in common? To start, they are all being made in Sicily. They are food products that have been around for ages, sometimes stemming from family recipes (tomato sauce) and other times adapted to fit local ingredients (beer made with hints of basil) and they are being revived in parts of rural Sicily to share with the rest of the globe. Each product and producer had its own story, and students of the Food Innovation Summer School Mediterraneo recently had a chance to discover their rich stories.

“Young scientists need to take part in policy debates and discussions about agricultural research for development!” So claimed a group of young agriculture professionals in 2005. They wanted to create a global network through which young professionals could be given a voice and contribute towards agricultural development. 10 years later YPARD has become a worldwide collective platform with over 10 000 members from 168 countries.

YPARD Nepal, a branch of global youth network in Nepal which is aiming to support young professionals in agriculture sector. We are delighted to share following opportunities among Nepalese young professionals.

1.      Call for Participation in Workshop

Today, the average age of an American farmer is 58.3 years, an increase of 8.3 years since 1980. The steady rise in average farmer age over the past three decades underscores the need to bring new farmers into the U.S. agricultural sector.

To help attract the next generation of American farmers, Congress created the Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP), the only federal program that focuses on training the next generation of farmers and ranchers. BFRDP operates as a federal grant program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), that provides funding to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions to establish new farmer training programs.