The family farm 2014

The International Year of Family Farming 2014 is an initiative promoted by the World Rural Forum and supported by over 360 civil and farmers' organisations on 5 continents. The I.Y.F.F. was declared by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations to highlight the enormous role that family farms play in the world's food production, and to promote the sustainable and environmentally friendly development of the over 500 million family farms throughout the world.

A family farm encompasses familial groups, indigenous clusters and neighbourhood co-operatives, whether they are involved in farming crops, livestock or marine creatures.

The I.Y.F.F. aims to raise the profile of family and small-scale farming by focusing world attention on its significant role in eradicating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable development, particularly in rural areas. Through local knowledge and sustainable, innovative farming methods family farmers can improve yields and create more nutrient-dense and diverse food systems.

In both developing and developed countries, family farming is the predominant form of agriculture in the food production sector. The world's family farmers produce 80% of the food consumed in the developing world, and produce the food that feeds billions of people.
There are a number of factors essential to the successful development of family farming: agro-ecological conditions, access to markets, access to land & natural resources, access to technology & extension services, access to financial, demographic, economic & sociocultural conditions.

Family farming has an important socioeconomic, environmental and cultural role:

• family and small-scale farms are inextricably linked to world food security
• family farms preserve traditional food products, while contributing to a balanced diet and safeguarding the world's agro-biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources
• family farming represents an opportunity to boost local economies, especially when combined with specific policies aimed at social protection and well-being of communities

Family farmers aren't just food producers - they're business women and men, they're teachers in their communities, they're innovators & inventors, and they're stewards of the land. They provide the ecosystem services that benefit us all.
Thoughout this region there has been a proud tradition of family farms being the backbone of agriculture and an essential element of the history of land settlement, so spare a thought for our farmers now and then.