Mission

WE SEEK TO SUPPORT AND EXPAND AGROECOLOGY AND REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE BY AMPLIFYING THE VOICES AND PARTICIPATION OF SMALL-SCALE FARMERS AND BUILDING DEMOCRATIC, PARTICIPATORY AND INCLUSIVE GOVERNANCE AT ALL LEVELS. WE WORK ON POLICIES TO SUPPORT SMALL-SCALE FARMERS AND AGRICULTURAL BIODIVERSITY BECAUSE THESE COMMUNITIES AND RESOURCES ARE ESSENTIAL TO PLANETARY HEALTH AND THE FOOD AND NUTRITION SECURITY FOR ALL OF US WHEREVER WE RESIDE.

Inclusive Policy

We work globally on policies to support small-scale farmers and agricultural biodiversity because these communities and resources are essential to food and nutrition security for all of us wherever we reside. 

The real Food system

Small scale farmers and agricultural biodiversity are essential for the resilience and stability of agricultural production systems and our ability to adapt to climate change and other stressors. 1.5 billion small-scale farmers produce over 70 percent of the food consumed on this planet.  Without these communities and the resources they manage we will be unable nourish ourselves and the planet.

Governance

In September 2015 the global community adopted Agenda 2030 for “people, planet, prosperity, peace and partnership” and 17 Sustainable Development Goals to achieve this agenda. Agenda 2030 commits all UN Member States to “pursue policy coherence and an enabling environment for sustainable development at all levels and by all actors.”  Our work supports institutional and policy coherence across sectors recognizing small-scale farmers and agricultural biodiversity to are a living link amongst the SDGs as well as being critical component in their achievement and to the vision of Agenda 2030.

Our Story

Outside small, specialized groups it is not widely known that:

1. 1.5 billion small-scale farmers produce 70% of the food consumed on the planet today and in some areas up to 90-100% because they are, and need to continue to be, the backbone of global agricultural production, and

2. Agricultural diversity: agrobiodiverse systems and agricultural biodiversity because these systems and resources are the key to the health and nutrition of people, as well as to the resilience and health of our planet particularly in an era of climate change.

These communities are being displaced by modern, intensive, industrialized agricultural systems that are major contributors to climate change and the primary cause in homogenization of diets that has shifted the global burden of disease to now be primarily diet-related.

We work with clients like the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture and on our own directly funded projects to help build institutions and policies that reflect the very real connectivity between small-scale farmers, agricultural diversity and issues such as health and nutrition, climate resilience, sustainable agricultural production, disaster preparedness and sustaining peace.