Youth Stories and Innovations for a Food Forward World

18 October 2022, Washington, DC - To celebrate youth stories and innovations to create a sustainable future of food, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Liaison Office for North America and Planet Forward co-hosted a regional satellite event during the World Food Forum featuring youth voices from across the United States of America and Canada.

The event was part of the flagship World Food Forum that took place in Rome, Italy, from 17-21 October 2022. WFF is an independent global network of partners, led by youth to spark a movement for agrifood systems transformation, facilitated by FAO.

Emmy Award-winning journalist and creator of Planet Forward, Frank Sesno, moderated the hour-long discussion. Planet Forward is an initiative of the George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs that engages students to share stories and inspire others to act. 

From the South Side of Chicago, Candace Clark, Ph.D. candidate at Tuskegee University and a Specialist-Public Policy and Development at the Carver Sustainability Center, shared her work linking members of her community to farmers through The Farm Plug. By engaging youth in a variety of events and activities, The Farm Plug is “a movement for black-led land-based healing and career development.” During her remarks, Clark underlined the importance of garnering interconnectedness in her community and creating space for young ideas to be “uplifted and amplified.”

Joining from Quebec, Canada, Mariève Dallaire-Lamontagne, a Ph.D. candidate at Université Laval, highlighted her innovative work of using insects in animal feed to minimize the environmental impact of the livestock sector. She is the co-founder of Inscott, a business model that aims to introduce a circular economy perspective to the agro-industry as an alternative to conventional animal waste management. The initiative won the 2022 Commission for Environmental Cooperation Youth Innovation Challenge. During her remarks, Dallaire-Lamontagne emphasized the need to look at overlooked subjects of animal waste to address environmental issues along the food and agriculture value chains.

Mariah Gladstone, founder of Indigikitchen, joined the session from Rome, where she was attending the World Food Forum. Through her work Gladstone aims to connect Indigenous communities to their Indigenous food systems by sharing recipes. Her work was inspired by her experience living in Montana, where the nearest grocery store was 40 miles out, which made her look into the native plants and animals nearby, thus helping her community access healthy and more nutritious food using Indigenous knowledge.

The session highlighted diverse ways that youth are taking leadership roles in their communities to promote “Healthy Diets. Healthy Planet,” which was the theme of the Forum. From promoting healthy Indigenous foodways, to creating alternative sustainable animal feed and connecting communities to their food systems, Mariah Gladstone, Mariève Dallaire-Lamontagne and Candace Clark are all working to transform global food systems for the better.