On Tuesday, November 17, the Seminar "Public Policies and Agroecology in Family Agriculture" was held within the framework of the XXXIII Specialized Meeting on Family Agriculture (REAF) of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR), under the Pro-Tempore Presidency of Uruguay.

The purpose of the seminar is to contribute to strengthening agroecology at the country level while improving opportunities for the development of instruments in the region; to assess the state of public policies for promoting agroecology in the countries of the expanded MERCOSUR, the approaches and prospects for development that will enable the REAF MERCOSUR to accumulate a body of knowledge for policy dialogue in the construction of regulations, decisions and recommendations, and differentiated public policy instruments in this area.

Participants included government representatives from Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile and Colombia, and representatives of FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Confederation of Family Farmers' Organizations of the Expanded Mercosur (COPROFAM).

The technical secretary of the REAF, Lautaro Viscay, recalled that the Specialized Meeting on Family Farming advises the most important bodies in the bloc on differentiated public policies for family agriculture. He highlighted the dialogue and process of co-construction between family agriculture organizations in the expanded MERCOSUR and the governments and said that this seminar was in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).