The mind of the universe is an international vpro documentary series exploring the human destiny and the world of tomorrow through the eyes of the greatest thinkers and scientists of our time. In these series, 30 renowned scientists share their point of view and research, with you.

More than a documentary series, The mind of the universe is a unique and unprecedented open source project in its scope and intention to provide all its programs and raw footage for free to everyone.

Last week was an incredibly important week for the Decade of Family Farming. The Permanent Representative met with the new President of IFAD in Rome in order to discuss the Decade, while, in Madrid, the President of Costa Rica addressed the issue with his Spanish counterpart.

Since 1971, CGIAR has been responsible for some of the most innovative breakthroughs in agricultural research. The CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) takes CGIAR’s success in agricultural research to the next level, building on the notion that agriculture can do much more than reduce hunger and poverty.

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 16 May 2017 ― Leading international policymakers, experts and scientists have called for urgent action to engage more youth in agricultural production to tackle unemployment and food insecurity.

More than 100 delegates from different countries gathered at a special high-level seminar on the sidelines of the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) 42^nd Annual Meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to discuss approaches to making agricultural production more attractive to the younger generation.

Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a youth population bulge. To absorb the employment requirements and transform rural areas and the agriculture sector, there is a need to provide young people with agribusiness and digital opportunities.

The livestock sector is a complex one that touches not only on animal production and agriculture but on environment, health, and land-use rights. Addressing all of these topics within a policy is a delicate task especially where there is a wide range of competing objectives: economic growth, employment, equality, food and nutrition security, environmental conservation and climate change adaptation.

Wageningen University and Research (WUR) hosted a seminar and launch event on 11 May at its campus in the Netherlands to celebrate the second phase of the CGIAR Research Program on Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB) and its enhanced partnership with the university. The event brought together over 50 participants and included a lively discussion of the role of the private sector, seed systems and youth during a panel debate.

Matthew Lange from UC Davis put together a nice panel on "The Semantic Web of Food" for the Seeds&chips Global Food Innovation Summit in Milan, 8-11 May 2017.

The panel session was organized by IC3-FOODS and sponsored by SOP Srl. The invited panelists chaired by Matthew were (in order of speaking):