The Youth Institute experience offers challenge, opportunity and inspiration for Iowa high school students. They learn about the importance of food production and security to human life worldwide and about the necessity of cooperation among nations to adequately feed our world. They participate with such luminaries as Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug and other World Food Prize laureates for three days of dialogue, presentations and interaction. Each participating high school designates a student and faculty member to attend the Institute, which takes place in Des Moines during a three-day period that includes the Laureate Award Ceremony and International Symposium. Development of the papers can be a project of a single student, a group of students, or an entire class.
Faculty members serve as advisors.
The papers are published in the Youth Institute Proceedings. The World Food Prize focuses attention on providing the world with a sustainable, secure food supply. Both The Prize and the Institute are administered by The World Food Prize Foundation, also headquartered in Iowa. The primary goal of the Youth Institute is to increase student awareness of The World Food Prize mission among Iowa youth. As an extension of the Youth Institute, the Summer Internship Program offers selected students the opportunity to work at research centers around the world for eight weeks during summer breaks.