According to HungerU, an advocate organization which educates college students on world hunger, malnutrition and hunger are responsible for more deaths worldwide than any other cause. Even in the United States, one in six Americans goes to bed hungry at night. One of the greatest dilemmas today's college students will face will be feeding the exploding population, which is expected to top nine billion by 2050. To bring awareness to this issue, the HungerU Tour is coming to the University of Nevada, Reno to ignite the conversation about how tomorrow's leaders can join the fight to end world hunger.

HungerU will be on campus Monday, Oct. 6 and Tuesday 7. Their interactive mobile HungerU exhibit will be located at Gateway Plaza in front of the Joe Crowley Student Union from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. HungerU will engage students in the ongoing hunger crisis and encourage them to take action in their communities to meet the growing demand for safe, nutritious and affordable food. The University will also hold a forum to discuss food-related security from 1-3 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 7 in the Joe Crowley Student Union Theatre. The event is free and open to the public.

"At this forum, we will discuss hunger and food insecurity at local, regional and international scales and talk about some of the social, political and technological challenges that are involved," Dean of the College of Agriculture, Biotechnology and Natural Resources William Payne said. "We will also discuss what the public, including students, can do to help locally and internationally."

Payne will be one of the experts on the panel for the Food Forum along with University President and Agricultural Economist Marc Johnson, Jocelyn Lantrip, director of marketing and communications at the Food Bank of Northern Nevada, and Christopher Partidge, Associated Students of the University of Nevada student engagement coordinator and supervisor for the ASUN Food Pantry. Brent Boynton, vice president of news and production at KNPB-TV, will be the moderator for the panel.

Building public awareness of world hunger and the critical role modern agriculture plays can provoke ideas and solutions of how future generations can solve the problem.

"As one who has spent many years in food-insecure countries and has devoted his career to reducing hunger in the world, this event is very important to me," Payne said. "We as scientists and educators cannot provide effective ways to achieve food security if the public does not better understand the causes and extent of hunger and malnutrition in our communities, and the dire consequences to future generations if these are not addressed."  

"In the next 50 years, we will need to produce more food than during the past 10,000 years combined, with fewer resources than before," said Margie Alsbrook, director of operations for the nonprofit Farm Journal Foundation and HungerU. "HungerU is about creating a greater understanding for agriculture and the food system, and more open conversations about how to alleviate the growing hunger crisis."

The HungerU Fall 2014 Tour kicked off at the University of Utah and will continue to 13 states during the next three months. The exhibit has been to more than 50 universities throughout the United States.

To learn more about the growing hunger issue and the platform to make a difference, visit HungerU.com or become part of the discussion today at #HungerCantWait.