Students from around the country are converging on Waterford Institute of Technology for the fourth Great Agri-Food Debate this Thursday.

Six other third-level colleges will make this the largest competition so far, with teams from University College Dublin, University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology, Queens University Belfast, IT Tralee, and CAFRE, Loughry Campus.

Environmental themes will provide topics for the day's six debates, culminating in the final in which students will debate the motion: “Vegan diets are better for people and planet”.

The world can’t feed 10bn people and prevent catastrophic climate change.

Other motions include: “Farm supports drive sustainable agriculture”; “The consumer will pay a premium for sustainable food”; and “The world can’t feed 10bn people and prevent catastrophic climate change”.

The judging panel will include industry leaders from finance, food safety, retail and agriculture, such as Tara McCarthy, chief executive of Bord Bia; Niall Browne, chief executive of Dawn Meats; Deike Potzel, ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Ireland; Brendan Gleeson, secretary general of the Department of Agriculture; and Pamela Byrne, chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

"In continuing the trend from previous years, we are not shying away from presenting controversial topics to students for debate," said Niall Browne of Dawn Meats, which is sponsoring the event alongside McDonald's.

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