The Great Agri-Food Debate 2020 – Dawn Meats and McDonald’s supporting the next generation of business leaders
21st Feb 2020
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The Great Agri-Food Debate is a joint initiative between Dawn Meats and McDonald’s. Students of food and agriculture from the third-level education sector will gather in Belfast at Queen’s University, for the 5th Annual Great Agri-Food Debate on the 26th & 27th February 2020. Teams from University College Dublin, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Queen’s University Belfast, Waterford Institute of Technology, University of Limerick and CAFRE will all make the journey to Belfast for the two-day event, featuring six debates, culminating in the final, in which students will debate the motion “Global free trade, not subsidies, will deliver a sustainable future for European Agriculture”.
The judging panels will include industry leaders from finance, food safety, retail and agriculture, some of the judges are Nina Prichard, UK & Irl McDonald’s Purchasing Manager; Ambassador Deike Potzel, German Ambassador of Ireland; Pamela Byrne, CEO FSA Irl; Glenn Shanley from Ulster Bank; Niall Browne, CEO, Dawn Meats; Cathal O’Connor from AIB and Caroline Littleton from Kerry Group.
Commenting, Niall Browne, CEO Dawn Meats said: “This annual event was conceived to encourage debate amongst students and challenge our thinking on issues of importance to the agri-food sector. More than 30 participants with a wide breadth of perspectives, from 6 colleges across Ireland have chosen to take part this year. In continuing the trend from previous years, we are not shying away from presenting controversial topics to students for debate. As challenges in our society evolve, so too does the response of the farming and agri-business community.”
We would like to wish all the teams the very best of luck. Let’s get debating!!
#GreatAgriFoodDebate
Debate topics
- Global free trade, not subsidies, will deliver a sustainable future for European Agriculture
- Today’s vegan climate solutions will be the deserts of tomorrow
- The gender inequality issue in the agri-food industry has been solved
- Precision agriculture is the only viable future to feed 10bn people
- Zero waste to landfill is no big deal – waste prevention is the only conversation we should be having
- The impact of African Swine Fever is a wake-up call for everybody on the risks associated with intensive production of protein and a further reason to encourage sustainable grass-based production systems
We will be broadcasting The Final of the Great Agri-Food Debate 2020 live in real-time on Youtube.
Click on “Dawn Meats” Youtube page here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeqaszdJfbv8JMkkDj3jOYA
