National Corn Growers Association CEO Jon Doggett participated in the first session of the Farm Journal Foundation (Hunger U) Online University Speaker Series. The virtual event “Level Setting: The Global Food Value Chain Transformed” featured a panel, moderated by Roger Thurow of the Hunger Solution Institute at Auburn University, which included Keynote Speaker Dr. Olga Bolden-Tiller, Ag and Environmental Sciences at Tuskegee University and National President-Elect of MANRRS, Western Growers Association President and CEO David Puglia and Director of the Food and Ag Policy Research Institute at University of Missouri Dr. Pat Westhoff.
In addition to thought-provoking conversation, panelists shared their advice with students looking to enter the industry after graduation. Doggett challenged these future leaders to believe in science, get out of their comfort zones and help find ways to get food that might go to waste onto the plate of people in need.
The three-part Town Hall series was created in partnership with six universities: Duke, Cornell, Penn State, Iowa State, Tuskegee and Auburn. This platform will provide expanded engagement with multiple student-based organizations. Plans to expand the program in 2021 are already underway.