Charles City man targets world hunger
Trey Forsyth knows that growing more food is not the only answer to reducing world hunger. He is working at Iowa State University on solutions to reduce food waste in developing countries. ISU News Service photo.
Members of the 2015 Land O' Lakes Global Food Challenge fellowship pose for a photo while visiting a dairy farm in Wisconsin, a point of comparison prior to visiting dairy farms in Africa.
Trey Forsyth and fellow Global Food Challenge intern Linnea Cline of Purdue University visiting with Dale Unger at his farming operation in 2015 in Indiana. Submitted photo.
Trey Forsyth of Charles City visits a small dairy village in rural Malawi, Africa, as part of a 2015 Land O' Lakes Global Food Challenge fellowship two years ago during his sophomore year at Iowa State University. The group of 10 students from five universities learned about dairy production and met citizens of all ages from the village. Photo submitted.
By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com
A college student from Charles City plans to play a role in feeding the world after he graduates from Iowa State University in a few weeks.
Trey Forsyth’s interests have already resulted in internships involving trips to sub-Saharan Africa as well as Washington, D.C., landed him a job with Land O’ Lakes and won him a prestigious university honor.
The 22-year-old is one of seven ISU students to receive this year’s Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award, given to recognize outstanding seniors who display “high character, outstanding achievements in academics and university/community activities, and promise for continuing these exemplary qualities as alumni.”
Forsyth, a 2013 Charles City High School graduate, said his passion for food security and feeding the world began in high school, where agriculture instructor and FFA advisor Jim Lundberg “did a good job pushing me and directing me.”
Extensive involvement in FFA at the local and national levels might indicate an agriculture background, but Forsyth never lived on a farm.
His parents are Todd and Lisa Forsyth of Charles City. Todd is the activities director for Charles City Schools and Lisa is nursing director at Mercy Health Center-North Iowa in Mason City.
FARM CONNECTIONS
Forsyth was familiar with farm life, though. His grandfather and uncles farm west of Charles City and he spent significant time with them while growing up.
“I was very involved in FFA, and interested in the World Food Prize organization,” Forsyth said. “I developed a passion for feeding the world, taking care of the planet.”
In his second year at Iowa State he was selected as one of 10 sophomores from five universities around the country for Land O’ Lakes’ Global Food Challenge fellowship.
The program identifies “emerging leaders for food security” for a program tasked with finding new ways to feed the world using fewer resources.
The fellowship included visits to Malawi, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa in Africa.
“I really enjoyed the trip to Africa,” Forsyth said.
“We spent a week visiting farms. I saw dairy, goat and crop farms,” he said, adding it impressed upon him the differences in how people farm in different parts of the world and what some of the challenges are.
“It’s beautiful country,” he said.
While in Africa he was also able to go on safari, experiencing some of the wildlife of the continent, visited Victoria Falls in Botswana and even went white-water rafting.
It was “a little more intense” than the white-water course in Charles City, he joked.
THE NATIONAL SCENE
The fellowship also included time in the nation’s capital.
“I have an interest in policy,” Forsyth said, and last summer he had an internship with Land O’ Lakes in Washington, D.C., doing policy research, examining what’s going on in agriculture and in government ag programs.
Research he did there led to a trip to Tucson, Arizona, to present his findings at a national conference on international trade.
His involvement with Land O’ Lakes led to a job offer from the company, which he has accepted.
“Land O’ Lakes is working in sustainability, continually improving how we take care of the soil, air and water around us,” Forsyth said.
He noted the company is a farmer-owned cooperative and “has a really special message to share.”
Its goal is to communicate more with farmers and consumers and “be more conscious of what we’re doing to take care of consumers and the environment.”
At Iowa State, Forsyth has been involved in the Agricultural Business Club, the Agricultural Business Peer Mentor Program, the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative, Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity, ISU Bacon Expo, and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ Dean’s Student Advisory Council.
He has also been on the Student Alumni Leadership Council’s Homecoming Central and Senior Class Council committees, ISU Ambassadors, the National FFA Organization, Story County GOP Central Committee, Relay for Life and is a Student Alumni Association member.
Forsyth is the 2016 president of Iowa State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council. He has been inducted into the Alpha Zeta, Order of Omega, and Cardinal Key honor societies.
He said he will be graduating magna cum laude with a degree in agriculture business and public service and administration in agriculture.
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