Download the leaflets:

Farming First on Agriculture and Climate Change
Applying the Farming First principles to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Enhancing Sustainable Development through Agriculture
Addressing the common need for food, feed, fibre and fuel requires a global action plan to increase agricultural outputin an environmentally-sustainable, economically-feasible, socially-responsible manner.

FarmingFirst.org

Farming First Videos

Farming First YouTube Channel

Farming First is an international public campaign in favor of sustainable agriculture. It is also a coalition of a number of organizations representing the world's farmers, scientists, engineers and agricultural businesses. IFA is one of the co-founders of Farming First.

It is a joint call to action to respond to the global challenges posed during the current round of the 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.
Farming First illustrates 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 programs, projects and activities to feed into the realisation of the 6 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.

Farming First: Challenges

Addressing the common need for food, feed, fibre and fuel requires a global action plan to increase agricultural output in an environmentally-sustainable, economically-feasible, socially-responsible manner.

At the heart of the solution are farmers - they are the ones who grow the crops, manage land, and safeguard biodiversity.

The global population has almost tripled since 1950. By 2030, there will be an additional 1.7 billion people. To cope with these facts, the world’s farmers need to double or even triple food production by 2050.

However, farming policies have neglected the critical role which farmers – especially smallholder farmers – play in making sustainable development a reality.

• The ratio of arable land to population is expected to decline by up to 55% by 2030.
• By 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living with acute water scarcity.
• Climate change will put regional and global food supplies at risk.
• The basic livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people in developing countries will be threatened by a more extreme and variable climate.

Supporters

The principles presented in Farming First have been developed by an agricultural coalition made up of the following organizations:

International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA)

CropLife International

International Council for Science (ICSU)

International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP)

The Principles

Returning farmers to the centre of policy decisions is fundamental

Governments, businesses, scientists and civil society groups must focus 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 committeed knowledge sharing.

A broad-based, knowledge-centred approach to agricultural development is needed.

The approach starts with focusing on farmers and the tools and information they need to steward land, grow crops, bring in their harvest and get it to market. Modern agricultural technologies and management approaches have doubled the production of world food calories over the past half-century, but still many smallholder farmers struggle to achieve even basic subsistence.

New investments, incentives and innovations are needed to achieve greater sustainability, while delivering increased agricultural production. These benefits must be made available to all farmers, recognizing their role as guardians of our shared environment, biodiversity, and ecosystems. They must be the safe guardians of our environment, biodiversity, and protect our ecosystems. There is a need for a radical shift in thinking to place the farmer at the centre of sound and sustainable agricultural practices.

This approach - delivering productivity and sustainability - must also lead to a more equitable and efficient production system. Combined with better functioning markets, an enhanced family farming system will contribute to improved economic development and will ensure food security, fair food prices and improved land management.

To succeed, any new approach must be based on a stable policy environment, within which farmers can work and invest. This, in turn, requires us to:

• establish stable, long-term policy and regulatory frameworks for the development of agriculture;
• enhance national financial allocations,
• direct international development assistance towards the agricultural sector in developing countries; and
• undertake stakeholder consultation processes in the design and implementation of agricultural programs.