Global Family Farming Forum

In 2024, the UNDFF is at its halfway point. To mark this important milestone, a Global Family Farming Forum was held at FAO Headquarters between 15 and 18 October 2024. Co-organized by FAO and IFAD, the event celebrated family farming as the backbone of diverse, innovative and dynamic agrifood systems; identified policy innovations that support family farming and showcased examples of successful experiences from all over the world. With innovation, gender equality, science, investment and support for family farming at its forefront, the Forum was be led by young farmers, who helped guide discussions on priorities for the future of agrifood systems.

Commitment to support family farmers at the highest levels was decisively marked through the presence of many high-level personalities, including ministers, vice-ministers and parliamentarians from different countries, with key initiatives to support family farming in the coming years identified. 

Thousands of people visited and joined the Global Family Farming Forum in person and remotely, sharing experiences and taking part in dynamic and thought-provoking discussions ready to shape the future of family farming. You can access all of the session recordings below.

Session recordings:

• Welcome and introduction to the Global Family Farming Forum
• Public policy innovations for family farming
• High-level opening ceremony of the Global Family Farming Forum
• Trends affecting the future of small-scale family farming, rural employment and rural transformation
• The evolution of collective action of small-scale family farmers in the context of digitalization and concentration of market power
• Sowing rights: uptake of global policy instruments
• Investing in family farming
• Equitable access to and use of land, water and other natural resources
• Family farming for climate-resilient food systems
• Diversified market opportunities for family farming
• Strategies for follow up: Continued implementation of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming
• Global Family Farming Forum Closing
• United Nations Decade of Family Farming Young Farmers' Roundtable (post-Forum)

Rural Radio Station: Voices for Change

Our Rural Radio station: Voices for Change, a fully operational radio station streaming live from the FAO headquarters reaching out to rural audiences, broadcasted talks, roundtable discussions and other reportage live, with interviews from 105 high-profile speakers in three languages, resulting in 171 on-demand radio clips, potentially reaching more than 8 million listeners in rural areas all over the world.

Click here for the Voices for Change interviews

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Family farmers are food heroes! 

The Global Family Farming Forum paid homage to family farmers worldwide, taking place in a special farm building on FAO premises. Participants explored an exhibition celebrating the diversity of family farming, examples of innovative and interactive solutions – including the winner of our global call for videos – virtual reality, an exciting programme of sessions, and an on-site radio station, which broadcasted discussions and interviews to listeners all over the world!

Government representatives, governmental agencies, representatives of UN agencies, family farmers and their organizations, civil society organizations, non-governmental organizations, private sector entities, academia and the media all came together for the event, with big conversations on big topics.

United by the theme “Good food for all, for today and tomorrow”, the Global Family Farming Forum was held in the same week as the World Food Forum. Click here to find out more.

Family farming is…?

Social media lit up with the Family Farming is… campaign – with FAO’s posts garnering an impressive 58,000 views so far! What does family farming mean to you? Share your thoughts on family farming in this milestone year for the UNDFF using the hashtag #FamilyFarming and following @FAOFFKP on X (formerly Twitter).

 

 

Global call for videos – innovation by and for family farmers

Earlier this year, we launched a worldwide call for videos featuring innovations both by and for family farmers. We received 191 videos from 43 countries – an incredible showcase of the many technological, social, policy, legislative, financial, marketing, and institutional aspects of family farming and the innovations that are unfolding in many different parts of the world, spanning traditional and modern approaches.

Our winning video comes from a family farm in northern Chile. Click here to discover their story.

Here’s a compilation of just some of the videos we received:

 

The Global Family Farming Forum closes – and a new chapter begins!

As we close the doors on the barn, its story doesn’t finish. We continue to share knowledge and support everyday decision-making for farmers, policymakers, researchers, civil society and many others through more than 41 000 free and factual resources on family farming and related topics on the Family Farming Knowledge Platform. You can also stay up to date on the latest developments in family farming through our Communities of Practice.

Other events in 2024

2024 has set the stage for a series of seminars focusing on the future of family farming:

Why is family farming persisting?	Aided by statistical evidence and real-life testimonies, we explore how family farms are adapting to changing circumstances and continue to be vital, both for rural and urban communities. View the webcast.
Family farming and climate-resilient food systems	Agrifood systems face many environmental challenges, but family farms have great potential to drive sustainable transformation. With coherent, holistic and integrated policies, family farmers could increase their contributions to climate-resilient agrifood systems. View the webcast.
A global reference tool for family farming policies	The Learning Framework for Inclusive, Integrated and Innovative Public Policy Cycles for Family Farming is a global reference tool for family farming policies that is tailored to meet local, national and regional priorities; helping conceptualize, design and implement contextualized public policies.
Public procurement programmes for family farming	Exploring the role of public procurement programmes for family farming, we look at the global challenges, the enabling tools and good examples of school feeding policies and programmes. Session one: Family farming in various public procurement mechanisms Session two: Enabling tools for public procurement programmes and policies for family farming
Rural Communication Services (RCS) and inclusive innovation approaches for family farming	Looking at perspectives, trends, and experiences with RCS, we explore approaches to inclusive innovation for family farming, and a framework to highlight ideas and cross-fertilize between RCS and innovation to advance family farming. View webcast (morning session) View webcast (afternoon session)

 

Why family farming is important

Family farmers produce 80 percent of the world’s food in value terms, meaning that a good portion of the food you eat everyday probably comes from a family farm. As well as contributing to food security and nutrition worldwide, family farmers also manage natural resources, innovate in the face of climate events, ensure the cohesion of rural communities and preserve cultural heritage.

But family farming has greater potential still. With stronger support through public policies and investments, more could be done. The United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019–28 (UNDFF) provides just such a framework to develop, improve and implement public policies and investments supporting family farming. Since its launch in 2019, it has facilitated the adoption of policies in countries all over the world, increasingly brought governments into the conversation on family farming, and raised commitments supporting family farming globally.

 

Webcast