The 2024 Science Film Festival, organized by the Goethe Institut and the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) College of Development Communication (CDC) - Department of Science Communication, featured the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA)'s Sowing Seeds: Cultivating Youth's Future in Agriculture. Sowing Seeds is a career orientation initiative aimed at encouraging Southeast Asian youth to engage in agriculture. It was implemented through SEARCA's Partnerships Unit (PU) as part of the Center's Young Forces for Agricultural Innovation (#Y4AGRI) program.
Four Sowing Seeds sessions held on 11–12 December 2024 at the SEARCA Drilon Hall, showcased two episodes of the SEARCA Youth in Agri Talk Show. Episode 1 promotes agriculture as a fulfilling career and highlights its importance in ensuring food security, while Episode 2 discusses insects' crucial role in maintaining the ecosystem. The sessions were attended by basic education students of The Learning Place and Los Baños National High School in Batong Malake, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines, as well as UPLB CDC students.
After each session, the young viewers were asked to share their thoughts and opinions about the episode themes, the guests, and the overall production to better understand their preferences in order to improve future episodes. The viewers were also given a tour of the SEARCA Hub for Agriculture and Rural Innovation for the Next Generation (SHARING) AgriMuseum.
Since 2005, the Science Film Festival has made scientific topics accessible and entertaining to a wide audience, showcasing that science can be enjoyable even to young audiences. This year, the festival spotlighted films on net zero, carbon neutrality, and the circular economy, with the goal of promoting good practices and innovations that address the challenges posed by the climate crisis. The Science Film Festival was hosted by SEARCA.