International Association of Students in Agricultural and Related SciencesThe 1,000 dollar grant from Monsanto Company went to fund 47 students to attend the Universities Fighting World Hunger 2016 Summit and more. The conference took place February 25th through February 27th on the University of Missouri campus.

After receiving funding from Monsanto, IAAS published an application. IAAS members who are active in the club and completed the application were guaranteed funding. We were happy to be able to approve all applicants who had an interest in food security from Mizzou’s campus. As part of the application, we asked students why they were interested in attending the three day summit.

Answers varied and showed the passion of the students approved for funding.

Chelsey Kroese said, “I will be starting an M.S. degree in soil science in July 2016. I think many of the seminars will be applicable in my future career.”

Sarah Denny said, “My classes in development, policy, and sustainability have sparked my interest in how food insecurity is being solved. I am interested in what research is being done on the subject, and how I could possibly contribute in the future.”

Abbie Walker said, “I would like the opportunity to hear about how the U.S. is specifically handling the issue and I would like to be a part of the discussion towards a better solution. Furthermore, this is a very unique experience Mizzou students are offered and I want to represent our student body well by being an active participant.”

Clayton Evans said, “I would like to gain a greater understanding of challenges that lead to global food shortages. Also I would like to see how change is being invoked by outside entities interested in the common good of humanity.”

The summit was three days of intense, hands-on learning about food security. The focus was “From Poverty to Promise.” Students packaged macaroni for local food pantries, participated in discussions on difficult topics including media representation of hunger and private/public partnerships, and heard speakers including the renowned author Roger Thurow, 2013 Nobel Laureate, Catherine Bertini, and Tiger Pantry creator, Nick Droege.

The grant also funded four graduate students to create and print posters for his or her food security focused research. The topics were: Adaptation of Soybean to Tropical Climates for Smallholder Farmers, Enriching Biodiversity of Grain Crops as a Basis for Optimizing the Present and Future Global Food Demands, Drought-Induced Phenotypic Differences in Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation in Common Bean, and Analysis of ICT Use by Smallholder Farmers in Rural Mozambique.

Additionally, the grant funded the creation of videos by an MU student-run business, Big Tree Videography, to share the experience of the summit with students who were unable to attend the events - locally and abroad. Over 30

countries were reached with these videos, thus far.

IAAS has 432 dollars remaining to use to fund students to attend other educational events in the future. We appreciate Monsanto Company for its generosity and its investment in students interested in food security.

Universities Fighting World Hunger 2016 Summit

47

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Students funded to attend the

summit

Students funded to share their

research

Videos created for students

unable to attend the summit