Local agvocate to attend international summit
By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter
Photo Courtesy of Grace Heuver
Heuver is one of the youngest of the 100 chosen delegates from 45 participating countries, out of over 3,000 submitted applicants, to participate in the fourth installation of the summit that takes place every two years since its inauguration in Canada in 2013.
The event, sponsored by Bayer, was created as a platform to connect and empower young agricultural change-makers aged 18 to 25 for networking, debates, skills training and project development in an attempt to equip the participants to take action and find solutions to the predicted global food crisis.
“I have always had a passion for agriculture and global citizenship, so with the Youth Ag Summit being a blend of those two things, I think that my passion and dedication makes me a good candidate to represent Canada at such an exciting event,” said Heuver. Her application consisted of a video representing her idea of a sustainable agriculture project, along with a written essay where she expressed her passion for agriculture and explained what she wanted to learn from the summit.
Heuver lives with her family on the Eagle Lake Turf Farm east of Strathmore and is working there this summer. She got her start in animal agriculture nine years ago through a local 4-H chapter raising a flock of sheep, before turning to beef and more recently expanding her animal husbandry skills to include raising a colony of rabbits.
In her video application, Heuver outlines how she believes meat rabbits can be an excellent and sustainable source of alternative protein in comparison to traditional livestock options.
“I was surprised by how comparatively easy the rabbits were, as they need very little space to thrive and can have several litters of kits per year with the litters generally consisting of five to 10 babies,” said Heuver who currently owns and breeds five California Florida White rabbit crosses, a medium sized rabbit mix that grows to an eight-pound weight within a 12-week period before they are ready to be butchered.
“When compared to other types of meat they actually have a higher protein percentage. In regions where water or space, such as urban areas, limit what livestock can be raised, I believe that rabbit can be a sustainable alternative to traditional livestock,” she said.
Heuver hopes to share her ideas at the summit as well as learn about what is being done around the world in terms of food security and opportunities available locally.
She also hopes to become a part of the new face of agriculture, a sector that is seemingly gravitating away from tradition and towards a modern model with new ideas and new innovations that are “even more important in the face of a changing climate and predicted global food crisis.”
Heuver believes the face of agriculture is changing and the diversity of delegates who are attending the Youth Ag Summit supports that change. She said solutions to current and future food production problems can be found in the young people who are coming up in the agricultural sector.
Heuver will join four other young Canadian agvocates on the international stage: Emmet Sawyer, Karly Rumpel, Kelcie Miller-Anderson and Leah Davidson. Folllowing the summit, she will extend her travels in Brazil with her father to experience more of what the continent has to offer.
In the future, Heuver hopes to attend a post-secondary school to study biology and ultimately attend veterinary school.
“I’m hoping to become a more informed global citizen and return home armed with information about sustainable agriculture that I can take with me into my future to help educate others… I hope that I can be a strong voice to show what the future of agriculture could look like,” said Heuver.