Agriculture and Entrepreneurship: Creating a Way Forward
My name is Keegan Kautzky. I’m the director of global education programs at the World Food Prize Foundation, which is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture.”
Welcome to Agripreneurship: We will review what we mean when we talk about agriculture and the importance of a strong agricultural sector. We’ll talk about food security and its benefits to society. We will look at the key challenges in agriculture. And we’ll explore the role that young professionals can play in advancing the agricultural economy.
I grew up on a diversified family farm in Iowa, a predominantly rural agricultural state in the midwest United States. On our farm, we grew corn and soybeans and raised purebred cattle, pigs and chickens. Throughout college and graduate school, I studied rural sociology and political science, development economics and public health, but always with a focus on food security, agricultural systems, rural livelihoods and youth empowerment.
I worked in Malawi with women farmers on agroforestry and other sustainable agriculture practices.I spent five years working with rural families in South Africa, Mozambique and Botswana to better understand ways to improve their food security. Now, at the World Food Prize, I have the opportunity to work with over 10,000 young leaders around the world every year to help them solve the world’s greatest challenges through agriculture, innovation and entrepreneurship.
