This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Policymakers, donors, and investors are seeing the wisdom of investing in soil restoration, agroecology, agroforestry, and biodiversity, among other regenerative actions. Not only are these markets a good fit for smallholder farmers who practice agroecology , but they are also more equitable and accessible for women and youth.
This is the first part of an articles series based on based on conversations held during COP16 (Cali) and COP29 (Baku) side events by leading food system actors, who explored solutions provided by agroecology. And efforts to make food systems more nature positive, including through agroecology, must be integral to each.
As I’ve mentioned, a major solution being discussed here in Baku is financing, and we saw even more progress toward investment yesterday. We need significant financing and sustainable resources, especially in the Global South, and we need every country to be on board. We can no longer take food for granted.
First, we need to commit to the pledges for finances that are made at COP. At the G20 Summit, which also took place this week in Brazil, global leaders issued the Rio de Janeiro Leaders’ Declaration and reaffirmed their support for inclusive climate action and financing. As a small economy, my nation faces the brunt.
We need to rethink our food systems and transition to diversified agroecological systems that can ensure we address this twin challenge, and to provide nutritious diets to a growing population without destroying the planet. However, the country needs to scale-up agroecology and help farmers to make the transition.
At this point, farmers often face resistance from systemic barriers, including financing gaps to support new business models, a policy landscape that rewards the status quo, and a lack of understanding of accessible alternatives. Learning to tread water in the face of these obstacles is no easy feat.
When it comes to investments, food systems receive just 4 percent of total public climate financing. The food system can’t change overnight—but the flow of finance can,” Dharshan Wignarajah, UK Director of the Climate Policy Initiative, said at the London Summit.
As we increasingly experience the damage inflicted by well over half a century of industrial agriculture – including devastating impacts upon public health, soil fertility and biodiversity – what is desperately needed is a cohesive and actionable long-term plan for agriculture, grounded in an agroecological approach.
Twenty-five leading philanthropies issued a joint call for a step-change in funding for regenerative and agroecological approaches, which currently receive just $44bn of the $250-430bn they need. The launch of the COP28 Declaration on Climate and Health , which again represents the first time this topic has formally been on the agenda.
The Soil Carbon Industry Alliance brings together 28 businesses and organizations toward measuring and financing soil carbon sequestration. The Green Growth Institute established a US$10 billion public-private partnership in Africa and the Middle East. Some of the world’s highest emitters, including the U.S., Let’s look at the numbers.
Well, for long-term, sustainable change, regenerative agriculture must, in my view, become a social movement, driven by coordinated grassroots action and facilitated by supportive policy and financing. Farmers’ resolve to change will inevitably be tested.
“The direction of the market at present points to the fact that regenerative, nature-based credits are priced artificially low and that valuing mitigation projects based solely on their supposed carbon benefit is neither the proper vehicle to drive drawdown nor to finance better land management,” she acknowledges.
Patrick speaking at a session at COP28 in Dubai this year Food, farming and finance Focusing on food and farming, a question arises: why is it that a widespread transition to a genuinely sustainable food and farming system has not happened yet?
More than just an explicit set of production practices, this way of farming is known as “agroecology”, and refers to working with, rather than against, nature. Furthermore, any change to a farmer’s process costs time, money, and carries a level of risk.
Yet, without defined priorities or target recipients, the program may inevitably lend itself to financing large-scale operations rather than serve as a new capital product for small, scaling, or new local operations.
Flo highlighted the need to work with smallholder farmers and discussed the many practices we use, including agroforestry and agroecology, that are sequestering carbon. In May, she spoke at the Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health’s (CA4SH) AIM for Climate Summit. Flo also emphasized that the work we do is both for nature and people.
Financial institutions, including several UK banks, are also investing in piloting new finance schemes. xliii] Improved pastures managed using agroecological practices contain up to 41% more plant species than conventionally managed pastures, a level of species richness comparable with some semi-natural grasslands. cattle industry.
Producer premiums for regenerative products have begun to pop up but, as Bande notes, the financing mechanism must be “way broader” than this. He argues agroecological systems are “networks of relationships, not collections of practices.
Virginia Tech and Virginia Cooperative Extension’s project team conducted 11 semi-structured interviews and conversations across Virginia to learn and better understand farmers’ and ranchers’ agroecological motivations and overall values related to the protection and conservation of water resources.
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) , Africa AFSA is a coalition of civil society organizations advocating for food sovereignty and agroecology across the continent. The food system cant change overnight, but the flow of finance can, says Dharshan Wignarajah, CPIs UK Director.
This is the second part of an articles series based on based on conversations held during COP16 (Cali) and COP29 (Baku) side events by leading food system actors, who explored solutions provided by agroecology. Called Resilient food futures: agroecology and climate finance for ambitious NDCs 3.0, Read part one.
Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) , Africa AFSA is an alliance uniting civil societies dedicated to promoting agroecology and food sovereignty across Africa. Their Food Is Medicine Task Force aims to integrate food is medicine interventions into policy and finance to support nutrition security.
Such changes reduced the overall resilience of the agroecological system. Production and supplies of food and fiber, prices paid and received by farmers, farm labor and wages, farm finances, chemical use, and changes in the demographics of US producers are a few examples.
A report earlier this month found that while small, family farms produce a third of the world’s food, they have received less than 1 percent of international financing aimed at expanding climate-smart agriculture. The IPCC’s Latest Climate Report Is a Final Alarm for Food Systems, Too Is Agroecology Being Coopted by Big Ag?
FSA is currently unable to offer pre-qualification or pre-approval services for farm ownership loans, yet this service is routinely offered by other lenders working with competing buyers for farm properties, which puts buyers who must use FSA financing at a disadvantage. 7125, 7204, 7208, 7305, 7503).
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 5,000+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content