To examine the forces working against tomorrow's young farmers in today's changing world and the problems of domestic food security, Cornell will be a viewing site for the 16th annual World Food Day teleconference, "Tomorrow's Farmers: An Uncertain Future."

The program is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 15, from noon to 3 p.m., in the Martha Van Rensselaer Hall Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

As part of the televised event, the World Food Day organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture will air the "Community Food Security Summit" from Chicago, premiering a new video and outlining the problems and solutions to domestic food security. This special broadcast will be from 1 to 2 p.m.

The teleconference will examine the challenges, opportunities and prospects facing young, potential farmers in the developing world and how the same issues will affect career and citizenship choices for students in the developed world. An unprecedented number of poor, rural young people find traditional farming opportunities increasingly difficult due to population increases and the competitive advantages of mechanized agriculture. Furthermore, their access to the "agricultural revolution" -- especially for young women -- is virtually unobtainable because of illness, illiteracy and the lack of political power. The teleconference will examine what is inequitable, what is inexorable and what should be done about millions of future farmers being pushed off the land.

Ray Suarez, host of the National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation," will moderate a panel of experts, including: Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, general manager, Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority and a leader of the Committee of 144 Like-Minded Nations; Kevin D. Gallagher, global integrated pest management expert and adviser on participatory development for the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization; Rebeca Grynspan, economist and former vice president of Costa Rica; and Rekha Mehra, vice president of the International Center for Research on Women in Washington, D.C.

The Ithaca location of the teleconference is sponsored by Cornell's Division of Nutritional Sciences' Community Food Systems Program, the International Agriculture Program (IAP) of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development.

In addition to the video teleconference, representatives of several projects and programs will be on hand with their displays and posters. These programs will represent the wide range of activities of Cornell Cooperative Extension, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Division of Nutritional Sciences and other activities in Tompkins County.

For more information about this World Food Day event at Cornell or if you would like to set up a display, contact: Jennifer Wilkins, senior extension associate, Community Food Systems Program, Division of Nutritional Sciences, at (607) 255-2730, or Jim Haldeman, associate director, IAP, at (607) 255-2283).

For more information about viewing the national World Food Day teleconference or for other World Food Day resources contact: Patricia Young, national coordinator, at (202) 653-2404.