Wilbur-Ellis has just announced that the company is celebrating it’s 100th anniversary.
“Celebrating our 100th anniversary is a big moment for the company and its employees,” says CEO John Buckley. “It’s also an opportunity to thank all the people who’ve taken this incredible journey with us, our customers, suppliers, business partners, Board of Directors and, certainly, the extended Wilbur family. Your support has brought us to this milestone.
“At Wilbur-Ellis, we often say: ‘We’re proud of our history, but never stop looking ahead.” Over the past year, as we’ve reflected on our history, we’ve seen tremendous continuity between the past and how we operate today.”
As the culmination of a year-long celebration, the company is launching the “Wilbur-Ellis Innovation Award,” a program that engages young people in finding innovative ways to feed a growing world population and offers a $25,000 award for the best idea.
The Innovation Award invites student teams from U.S. colleges and universities to propose new and better approaches for providing food for more people, a critical imperative, since the world population is expected to increase by 2 billon people by 2050.
“It’s very clear. A world where people have enough to eat is a safer, more secure world,” says Buckley. “Since Wilbur-Ellis was founded 100 years ago, we’ve worked with our customers and suppliers to put food on tables around the world. So, it’s appropriate that as a legacy of our 100th anniversary, we’re engaging the next generation in this important work.”
At the end of the competition in 2022, a $25,000 award will be presented to the team that submits the best proposal, and $5,000 honorable mention awards may also be given. In the first year, the award competition is open to U.S.-based student teams (undergraduate or graduate), with a goal of expanding to other countries in the future. To learn more, please visit the Wilbur-Ellis Innovation Award web page and view CEO John Buckley’s video.
