Our History
The Farming First plan was developed as a joint call to action in response to the global challenges posed at the 2009 United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-17).
For the first time in CSD’s history, three of the nine major civil society groups — which offer policy recommendations to the UN delegates — have formed an agricultural coalition to present a joint plan, which is farmer-centric, comprehensive, and inclusive of all groups along the food production supply chain.
While CSD-17 provided the initial platform for the conception and launch of Farming First, the Farming First principles provide a relevant resource for many international fora. We hope it can provide the basis for collaborations at the international level across a range of settings.
Together, these supporters illustrate the strength and value of a multistakeholder collaboration as it acknowledges the specific concerns of each of these groups while building consensus and a common framework for future action. It also shows the importance of including civil society’s voice within these international negotiations.
As partners, we aim for our programmess, projects and activities to feed into the realisation of the six principles of the Farming First plan and we encourage others from various fields to join as supporters of Farming First to strengthen our approach and collaborative potential.
Governments have welcomed the Farming First initiative as they see it as an opportunity to raise awareness of the collective contributions of some of the most important agricultural and rural stakeholders: namely, farmers and cooperatives, researchers and extension workers, companies and entrepreneurs.
Mission
The Farming First framework proposes six interlinked imperatives for sustainable development:
1. Safeguarding natural resources
2. Sharing knowledge
3. Building local access and capacity
4. Protecting harvests
5. Enabling access to markets
6. Prioritising research imperatives
Returning farmers to the centre of policy decisions is fundamental to sustainable development. Governments, businesses, scientists and civil society groups must focus attention on the source of our food security. All these groups must work together to enable the many millions of farm families, especially smallholders, to grow more crops sustainably through effective markets, more collaborative research and committed knowledge sharing.
Becoming a Supporter
Farming First eagerly welcomes new endorsers of the Farming First principles. Endorsers are generally organisations/associations which are related to agriculture and food or promote science and technology in this area. Participation in all projects and events is strictly voluntary.
Please download our full governance guidelines to learn more about joining Farming First, or email the coalition at info [at] farmingfirst [dot] org
(Photos courtesy of IISD/Earth Negotiations Bulletin)
The Farming First plan provides a call-to-action for policy-makers and practitioners to develop locally sustainable value chains for global agriculture. It is focused on returning farmers to the centre of policy decisions related to sustainable development.
