300 groups launch strategy to transform food systems through agroecology

A global coalition of governments, U.N. agencies, NGOs, and grassroots groups has devised a new strategy to promote agroecology — which calls for agricultural models that work in sync with nature, as opposed to industrial farming — as a means to transform food systems for an era of climate change. Often described as “a science, a set of practices and a social movement,” agroecology takes a holistic view of farming that considers not just soil and crops, but also wider environmental and social issues such as sustainability and farmer livelihoods. It emerged from Indigenous communities and has rapidly gained traction over the last decade. The coalition’s strategy, published last week, aims to accelerate the transformation of global food systems over the next six years — culminating in 2030, the target date to achieve the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Its nearly 300 member organizations spent the last year in consultations on just how that will work. “The bigger picture is food system transformation. The pathway is agroecology,” Oliver Oliveros, the coalition’s coordinator, told Devex in an interview. The strategy has five goals: to facilitate the co-creation and exchange of knowledge around agroecology; to push for more investment in agroecology; to advocate for policies that support agroecology; to support and promote market pathways for agroecology; and to support the coalition’s members. If that all sounds a bit high-level, it’s by design, Oliveros explains. It is up to the members to use the coalition as a resource to push for agroecological practices and policies at the local, national, regional, and international levels, in any institution or forum where food systems may be under discussion. The coalition exists to support its members’ advocacy. A holistic approach Agroecology begins with the premise that conventional ways of industrial farming — which focus on monocropping through chemical fertilizers — are broken, and its adherents call for a new system that respects nature and prioritizes local knowledge while still delivering adequate nutrition for all people. They point to the huge costs of maintaining the status quo: The Food and Agriculture Organization’s State of Food and Agriculture 2023 report showed that the hidden costs of our agri-food systems — which encompass greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and unhealthy dietary patterns, among other things — amount to at least $10 trillion a year, representing almost 10% of global gross domestic product. Further, intensive farming has not necessarily made nutritious food more accessible or affordable. More than 1 in 3 people cannot afford a healthy diet, according to FAO data. Agri-food systems are responsible for one-third of all human-made greenhouse gas emissions, and contribute massively to soil degradation, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss. “The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way,” said Alvaro Lario, president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development, at an event it hosted Thursday in Rome to launch the coalition’s strategy. IFAD is a Rome-based financial institution that supports food security and resilience, and 60% of its projects between 2018 to 2023 supported agroecological practices. IFAD was also an early member of the Agroecology Coalition and helps fund its activities through a European Union grant. “If we follow the lead of the Agroecology Coalition we can develop farming systems that are more productive and in balance with the natural world,” Lario continued. “We can feed ourselves and all people while cohabiting with the environment.” Of course, agroecology has its critics. They say, for example, that its outputs can’t possibly keep up with those of industrial agriculture, and that its principles would require far more land and resources to produce the same amount of food. But its proponents point to how smallholder farming already accounts for some 70% of the world’s food supply — and they also say that, given current planetary trends, we don’t have much choice but shifting to climate-friendly means of farming. “We are in this mess. Imagine if we continue with this system, with the current conventional model, which we all know is not sustainable — what is the alternative?” Oliveros said. One of the best-known examples of agroecology at scale has been the statewide transition to natural farming in Andhra Pradesh, India — home to some 50 million people — which led to better crop diversity and yields, better health outcomes due to safer farming methods, and a nearly 50% boost in net incomes for farmers. The coalition offers numerous other case studies on its website. Replicating those examples will cost money — though that too is on the rise: Agroecology funding has reached $44 billion per year, according to the coalition, which launched a tool last year to track investments in agroecology by governments and other donors. But a tenfold increase to $400 billion would be required for agroecology to transform food systems enough to address global challenges, the coalition says. The way forward The coalition’s strategy launched when all of the “Rio conventions” — a trio of separate but interlinked U.N. conventions addressing climate change, desertification, and biodiversity loss — are holding summits later this year. Other international fora where the coalition has been targeting its members’ advocacy are the Committee on World Food Security and last year’s U.N. Food Systems Stocktaking Moment. “We really believe that agroecology is a very good dot connector that is able to really uplift and address climate, biodiversity, and desertification objectives,” Oliveros said. The idea for a coalition emerged during the inaugural U.N. Food Systems Summit in 2021, an unlikely birthplace as agroecology was not originally part of the formal agenda until its advocates pushed for it, Oliveros said. Its full name is the Coalition for Food Systems Transformation Through Agroecology. Since then, the coalition has exploded from an initial 20 countries and 50 organizations to its nearly 300 members today. Last year it launched a permanent secretariat in Rome that is based at Biodiversity International and consists of three full-time staff members — including Oliveros — and one part-time senior adviser. It does not intend to grow much larger, Oliveros explains, so as to maintain its focus on supporting members. Among the nearly 300 members are 48 governments including major agricultural producers Brazil, Mexico, France, and Germany. The United States, China, India, and Russia have not joined. The U.N. Development Programme, World Food Programme, and FAO are part of it. The majority of members are organizations such as civil society groups, farmers’ and Indigenous people’s groups, and philanthropic foundations. For now, there are no major private sector “Big Ag” players on the member list. Oliveros said the coalition is focused on first bringing more small- and medium-sized enterprises into the fold. In addition to IFAD and the European Union, the coalition is financially backed by Biovision, the McKnight Foundation, the German Agency for International Cooperation, and the Swiss Confederation. “We urgently need to transform food production around the world,” Lario said at Thursday’s launch event. “Agroecology has incredible potential to help, but the task is huge and far beyond the means of any single organization or government.”