The operational guidelines of the World Agriculture Watch (WAW) are now published in English. As a result of several years of pilot field activities and collaborative consultations, the WAW guidelines provide support for practitioners and relevant stakeholders involved in agriculture policies in ensuring that the diverse realities of farms are captured and represented in data collection efforts to address global pressing challenges.

This technical book is structured around three main sections. The first section presents the WAW harmonized analytical framework to characterize the diversity of farms, including a subsection linking farm level with landscape and territorial approaches. The second section provides simple and robust guidance to engage into data production at farm/family (household) level. The third section gives orientations on how to use data sets to define typologies and information systems to help designing and monitoring adapted investments strategies and programs that strengthen the productive capacities of family farms.

Family farming is a priority target, due to its importance in terms of demography, contribution to global food production, socio-economic challenges and natural resources constraints. The role of family farmers is central in providing global food security, rural development and to building resilient, inclusive sustainable agrifood systems.

WAW offers a long-term vision for amplifying the voices and challenges of family farmers both globally and through the UN Decade of Family Farming (2019-2028). The proposed tools outlined in the guidelines allow for the development of repeated observations over time, on smaller samples but with a more comprehensive understanding of family farming.