Five student teams have been recognized in the second annual Wilbur-Ellis Innovation Award.
The award honors students from universities around the country for their innovative ideas around feeding a growing world population.
This year, the top honor of $25,000 goes to the grain science team from Kansas State University for their proposal to increase production of perennial crops.
The team shared that perennial crops require less soil-intensive practices than annual varieties and outlined how increasing their production could promote soil health, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, water quality and agricultural systems that can adapt better to climate change.
A team from Kansas State also took the top Innovation Award honor last year.
Honorable mention awards of $5,000 were presented to four teams, representing Kansas State University, University of California, Davis, Iowa State University and University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
230 students have participated on 60 teams since the award’s inception two years ago to bring forward creative ideas to enhance agriculture and food production.
“The Innovation Award reflects the role Wilbur-Ellis has always played over its 100-plus year history in bringing innovative solutions to our customers,” said John Buckley, Wilbur-Ellis president and chief executive officer. “That pipeline of innovation begins with an idea – with creative people looking at a challenge in a new way and developing better approaches. That’s what we do every day at Wilbur-Ellis, and with the Innovation Award, we want to give young people the opportunity to think creatively and work together to explore solutions to big challenges. At Wilbur-Ellis, our purpose is to provide the essentials for the world to thrive. And I can’t think of anything more essential than providing food for a growing world.”
