This issue of Farming Matters addresses the intersection of agroecology, food sovereignty and the climate crisis. Climate change is a political problem that highlights the need for systemic change to the way food is produced, processed and distributed. From agroecological practices that build resilience, to social movements that resist land grabbing, the articles presented here not only argue for changes … Read moreEditorial: Agroecology getting to the root causes of climate change

We Feed the World is a global photographic project that aims to showcase the success and diversity of small scale family farmers in providing 70 percent of the world’s food. Through a series of beautifully shot images and their accompanying stories, the project joins the dots between global issues and their impact on our food systems, from climate change, to the … Read morePhoto essay: We feed the world

Researchers and farmers across the USA are teaming up on science. The aim is to learn more about climate resilience on the farm by tracking and supporting farmers’ experimentation and practice. First things first: building a network and finding out what to measure together. Elizabeth and Paul Kaiser are farmers in California, USA.  They are two … Read moreAdvancing on-farm climate resilience with citizen science

Cooling the planet: Frontline communities lead the struggle – Voices from the Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles Various authors, 2016. Transnational Institute, 16 pages. Small scale food producers and consumers, including peasants, indigenous peoples, hunters and gatherers, family farmers, rural workers, herders and pastoralists, fisherfolk and urban people – the frontline communities – … Read moreMind Books and films

Many studies reveal that small farmers who follow agroecological practices cope with, and even prepare for, climate change. Through managing on-farm biodiversity and soil cover and by enhancing soil organic matter, agroecological farmers minimise crop failure under extreme climatic events. Global agricultural production is already being affected by changes in rainfall and temperature thus compromising food … Read morePerspectives: Agroecological approaches to enhance resilience among small farmers

Ben Lilliston argues for international trade rules that address the climate crisis rather than reinforcing the high GHG-emitting industrial model of agriculture. As the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement comes into force, national governments are discovering that policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) are conflicting with trade agreements. The success or failure of the … Read moreHow trade deals hurt the climate

Even though the current president of the USA, Donald Trump, denies climate change, for hundreds of millions of small scale family farmers it has become a daily reality. “We are living with climate change,” say farmers in the Sahel. “We just have to deal with it.” People have always lived with unpredictable circumstances but due … Read moreFamily farmers living with climate change

This is the final issue of Farming Matters. We believe in resilience, so we are confident that the ideas and knowledge being shared through Farming Matters will live on in diverse ways. ILEIA is in the process of handing over the Secretariat of the AgriCultures Network to our partner organisation, IED Afrique,in Senegal. Together with network partners in Peru, Brazil, Ethiopia and India, they will … Read moreThe last Farming Matters

It took community leader Maria Loretta quite a bit of searching to even find the first sorghum seeds that have turned this 30 hectares of land in Likotuden into one of the most productive growing areas in East Flores. This crop, that had once grown prolifically in Indonesia, all but died out after the government … Read moreIndonesia

Now in their seventies, Remo and Irmina Kleiner look like an unlikely pair of revolutionaries, but these now doting grandparents spent over ten years on the run and were forced to give birth to two of their four children in the jungle, after speaking out about the rights of peasants in a dictator-led Argentina. Today, … Read moreArgentina