Network for the future: Young talents in the agricultural & food industry in intensive dialogue
For the second time, the Network Future - powered by Junge DLG offered a unique platform for the exchange and networking of young professionals, students and trainees from the agriculture and food industry, which took place this year at the Triesdorf Campus of the Weihenstephan-Triesdorf University of Applied Sciences (HSWT) and the Agricultural Education Institutes (LLA).
Under the motto „Innovation connects: The future of the value chain“, the event offered a varied programme. The moderator duo from the Triesdorf university team of the Junge DLG, Tamara Beck and Tobias Böttinger, accompanied the participants through the three days. The event started on Thursday, 7 May at the Triesdorf campus of the HSWT. Prof. Dr Wilhelm Pflanz, department chair of the Agriculture, Food, and Nutrition department, emphasised in his welcome address: „The entire value chain is important to us in our degree programmes: our aim is to teach the entire path from the field, the meadow, the barn, through processing and refinement, to the consumer. Together with networks like the Young DLG, we can tackle the major challenges of our present and future - the world around us needs young people like you.“ Afterwards, an interactive programme to get to know each other, a networking event and a joint dinner awaited the participants.
The second day of the event, Friday 8 May, focused on innovation and exchange. After the welcome coffee, the participants listened to a keynote speech by Prof Dr Peter Breunig, Professor of Innovation and Transformation in Agriculture at HSWT. The workshops that followed organised the first part of the day:
Digital tools for animal welfare and efficiency in livestock farming(Carsten Hümmer, HSWT and Katrin Wagner, smaXtec)
Sensory workshop: How perceptive are you? (Lena Heimler, Young DLG Food and Labor Kneißler GmbH)
Plant breeding of the future(Prof. Dr Franziska Wespel and Prof. Dr Bernhard Bauer, HSWT)
Criticism in the agricultural sector - classification, special features and strategies for dealing with it confidently (Friederike Schulze, entra Hof Schlamann GmbH & Co. KG)
Launch Ready - Developing a product. Founding. Take off. (Lena Kuschel and Sina Schmidt, Rawry)
Smart, Electric, Efficient: New technologies for sustainable agriculture (Nils Detleffsen and Jonas Schellhorn, AGCO GmbH and Steffen Kümmerer, HSWT)
(How) Is climate-neutral Agriculture possible(Prof Dr Peter Breunig and Prof Dr Simon Walther, HSWT)
Four company visits filled the second day, which ended with a joint dinner and a party on the HSWT campus.
On the third day of the event, Saturday 9 May, Prof. Dr Ulrike Machold, Vice President Permanent Representative of the President at the Triesdorf Campus and Site Development Triesdorf, gave the participants impulses for a sustainable value chain before the insights and aha-moments gained were collected during the „harvesting of ideas“. Urgent questions for the future and concrete examples of success were recorded and will serve as a basis for future dialogue.
Those interested can find more information about the network meeting in the DLG press release.
