Land O'Lakes, Inc. Selects Six College Sophomore Students for Global Food Challenge Emerging Leaders for Food Security Program

ARDEN HILLS, MINN. (Nov. 12, 2018) – Land O’Lakes, Inc. is proud to announce its 2019 Emerging Leaders as part of the cooperative’s efforts to invest in the leaders of tomorrow to identify innovative and practical ways to solve issues facing the agriculture and food industries.

The six leaders, college sophomores from six partner universities, were selected from a competitive field of candidates for the fifth class of the Global Food Challenge Emerging Leaders for Food Security^™ Program. They will be paired with mentors from Land O’Lakes, Inc. to become ambassadors for the agriculture and food industries. The emerging leaders come from both rural and urban backgrounds and are pursuing degrees in fields from food science to supply chain to biological and agricultural engineering.

"I've had the pleasure of seeing former classes of the Global Food Challenge go on to fulfilling professional careers in government relations, supply chain, and agribusiness, and we are thrilled to welcome six new sophomores to Land O'Lakes, Inc. this summer," says Brandi DeVries, Community Relations Manager at Land O’Lakes, Inc. "The Global Food Challenge is about connecting whatever these ambitious students are passionate about and showing them how that can translate into the agriculture industry."

Land O’Lakes, Inc., a farmer-owned cooperative, created the Global Food Challenge program in 2014 to engage future leaders in the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture in the future. The program has immersed 41 students in the company’s farm-to-fork operations, in areas including supply chain, sustainable food production, IT and agricultural policy.

Over the course of the summer of 2019, the six Global Food Challenge Emerging Leaders will be engaged with mentors at Land O’Lakes headquarters in Minneapolis to develop business projects with Purina, WinField United, Dairy Foods and Land O’Lakes SUSTAIN. Students also travel to key locations including Land O’Lakes headquarters in Minnesota, member cooperative and farm locations, international business Villa Crop Protection in South Africa and Land O’Lakes International Development projects in East Africa.

For the program’s fifth year, the 2019 Emerging Leaders for Food Security are:

• Anna Jaspers (Steamboat Rock, Iowa) attending Iowa State University
• A'ysha Callahan (Waukegan, Illinois) attending Alabama A&M University
• Claire Lentsch (Farmington, Minnesota) attending University of Minnesota
• Erik Ohman (Plymouth, Wisconsin) attending University of Wisconsin – Madison
• Logan Glassburn (Earl Park, Indiana) attending Purdue University
• Riley Sleichter (Abilene, Kansas) attending Kansas State University

Learn more about the Global Food Challenge and join the conversation here.