Dear all,
1/ More people joined. Great!
Thanks to everyone in reaching out to your individual networks, encouraging people to join into our e-conference group. In the last week, over 50 new people joined. Welcome to all new e-conference colleagues! :-)
If you have more colleagues who want to join, you know the routine:
Ask them to register to our e-conference by sending a short email to “[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>”, specifying:
- Their email address to be registered on the list
- Their full name
- Organisation, institute, company they work with, and their function (or simply note “private” if they want to participate on their own behalf).
.. and I will add them to our e-conference mailing list.
2/ Our e-conference will be guided by a set of questions, which are now in draft, and ready for your feedback.
They are grouped, in 6 topics. Each topic has an introduction text and 2-3 questions (numbered 1.1 to 6.3). You can find these questions and the background for each topic, further below.
These questions are part of a background document, which we will release in full within 2 weeks. But at this moment we would like to get your feedback on the draft questions and the intro text :
- Are these questions clear to you?
- Is the intro to each topic clear?
- Within each topic, do these questions make sense, and do they cover the topic sufficiently?
- Within each topic, would there be anything you’d suggest to change or add?
Please email your feedback to [log in to unmask] before March 6th.
PS: While we will take all your suggestions into account, we can of course not guarantee each suggestion will make it to the final draft.
PPS: DO NOT start answering the questions themselves, please! The actual e-conference will start on March 19th, so the questions are still being fine-tuned :-)
Thanks again! — Peter
Here are the topics and questions:
Chapter 5. Main questions for discussion in the second e-conference - DRAFT
The e-conference invites participants from around the world to share and discuss their experiences, lessons learned and perspectives on the the role of small farms within a larger context. Six overarching topics are covered in this e-conference with specific questions to be discussed by participants. When addressing specific questions, it would be good if participants could discuss specific examples from their own work, experience or region as well as any lessons learned.
Question topic #1: Cooperation among small farms
Cooperation is a common practice among farmers. It occurs in a variety of situations, ranging from informal collaboration with relatives and neighbours at times of high workload (e.g., hay harvesting) to farmer associations where farmers purchase production inputs, process primary products (like farmer owned dairies) or market their produce together (Lutz et al, 2017). In the face of rising competition from industrial farming and other challenges and risks, horizontal cooperation (among farmers and/or among processors) as well as vertical cooperation (among actors in the food chain has been shown to have critically improved the situation of individual producers and of groups of producers (Colombo and Perujo-Villanueva, 2017; Cush and Varley, 2013; Ginder et al, 2008).
Through cooperation, small farms can have more individual power and control over production, they can reduce production costs (De Roest et al, 2018; Motiram and Vakulabharam, 2007), and can strengthen their position in the market. In addition, social capital and social control are benefits of cooperation (Rivera et al, 2018; Schwettman, 2014).
Data from the first 10 reference regions studied in the SALSA project shows that vertical cooperation might mean that small farms need to produce in particular ways, requiring changes in practices etc. This potentially reduces small farmer’s decision-making freedom, while remaining more autonomous normally is one of their main concerns (Š?mane et al, 2018).
Questions:
1.1. What are different experiences of small farms’ cooperation in other regions?
1.2. Could you provide specific examples of advantages and/or disadvantages of cooperation among small farms?
1.3. Are there any forms of collaboration between small farms that work particularly well? Why? How does the size of the farm affect cooperation?
Question topic #2: Small farms contribution to resilience of the food system
Food systems are intrinsically complex; they are comprised of many different processes, value chains, actors and interactions. As such they are hard to predict and manage. With so much uncertainty and complexity, it is challenging to make food systems more sustainable and resilient given unpredictable drivers of change (Ashkenazy et al, 2018).
In the SALSA project’s Conceptual Framework (2016) the idea of the food system moves beyond the mere focus of the production side and considers opportunities within food system activities to attain more resource efficiency and more stability. This leads to a more balanced consideration of food supply and demand within the context of actors, institutions and governance. The project also notes that the arrangements farmers develop with other farms and with other actors shape the properties of the food systems to which they are connected. Thus, the contribution of small farms to food and nutrition security can strongly depend on the way they are connected to food systems.
Evidence to date in the SALSA project shows that small farms contribute to the resilience of the food system by providing a more diverse product range and by using a varied range of marketing channels and exchange relations. Examples are selling through farmer’s markets, through intermediaries, directly to retailers etc. and using labour in a more flexible manner, non-monetary exchanges, direct supplies in the enlarged family (including urban-rural) and marketing to other consumers. Diversity can apply to many aspects of the food system – crops (and animals) on the farm, crop rotation schedules, production techniques, water systems, farm import sources (e.g. seeds, soil inputs, irrigation, feed) and consumption habits (De Roest et al, 2018; Dell, 2015)
Questions:
2.1. What are the ways that small farms contribute to the resilience of the food system in your region? Please provide examples.
2.2. What examples can you share where small farms, being more diverse in food production, through this diversification, contribute to the inherent resilience of food production.
Question topic #3: Strategies used by small farms to overcome challenges – a view of the past
Despite their significant contribution to food and nutrition security, small-scale farms all over the world face many common biophysical and socio-economic challenges that impede their ability to be resilient in the face of shocks. They can vary in impact based on region or country but usually fall into one or more of the following categories:
* Governance mechanisms (formal and informal)
* Digital technology (e.g. mobile phones, apps, other decision support systems)
* Innovation in production, marketing, distribution etc.
* Finance (e.g. bank, credit, subsidies, off-farm income)
* Access to markets (formal and informal)
* Political environment
* Farm operations (e.g. inputs, tilling practices, mechanization, irrigation, improved seeds and feed)
* Natural resource management (water, soil, biodiversity)
* Human and social capital (e.g. farmer knowledge, labour requirements, gender, aging, succession, tenure, representation, cultural values, formal and informal social institutions)
* Climate variability
Many organizations, at various levels, are committed to working with small farms on these issues. IFAD advocates a bottom up approach that has helped farmers build strong organizations that give them more power in the marketplace and a greater voice in decision making. They have supported innovations in inclusive partnerships, rural investment and focusing on diverse crops that contribute to a high-quality diet and help small farmers cope with the various challenges they are confronted with (IFAD 2014). FAO integrates prevention, preparedness and response to emergencies in their work to enhance resilience of small farms (FAO 2017(b)).
Small farms are still a critical element of the European agricultural system. In spite of the fact that across Europe small farms are disappearing they can be economically viable, and their sustainability is highly desirable because of the benefits to both communities and society as a whole (Fienitz 2017; Knickel et al, 2018).
On 29 November 2017, the European Commission presented a communication outlining ideas on the future of food and farming. The communication comes after a consultation on the future of the common agricultural policy (CAP) in order to better understand where the current policy can be simplified and modernised.
In Africa, similar as in southern and eastern European countries, the majority of farms are small, family-run units and are critical to rural development.
Considering the importance of small farms for the livelihoods of a very large number of families and entire rural communities, and the particular challenges that small farms face, NEPAD has been supporting innovations that will increase production, promote diversification, encourage efficient and more equitable value chains, developing regional markets and designing structural policies and instruments that are intended to help address challenges to small farms.
Questions:
3.1. Identify the three main challenges small farms, in your region, have faced in the past.
3.2. Share specific examples of what types of adaptations and innovations have helped small farms to cope with these challenges.
Question topic #4: How will small farms address future challenges?
The challenges facing small farms – not only in Europe and Africa – will have a consequence on food production and food systems (Wiggins et al, 2010; Hazell et al, 2006; Knickel et al, 2018). Recognizing that future challenges may be different than those faced by small farms in the past, thinking about the futures of small farms can offer the means to assess alternative futures for food.
Decisions for farm management are taken at farm scale and may well have an impact upon regional sustainability (Gutzler et al, 2015). With the multiple actors involved in the food value chain SALSA is undertaking participatory foresight analysis to assess the adaptation of small farms to foreseeable challenges, potential increases in food production, food access and utilisation, and the challenges related to urbanization and growing rural densities in some areas of the less developed countries.
Within the territorial food systems focus of the SALSA project, the farmers interviewed to date have identified many of the challenges already noted. The SALSA project is interested to learn about what small farms in other regions are doing to address their future challenges.
Questions:
4.1. Within your region, what would be the main three challenges small farms face in the future? Why? Are these different from past challenges? If so, why?
4.2. To cope with these future challenges, do they require new innovations and adaptation techniques? And if so, which?
Question topic #5: The importance of food businesses to small farms
In the SALSA Analytical Framework (2017), small food businesses are defined as the processors, distributors and retailers. A particular interest in the project is the type of relation they have with small farms and regional food systems, and the role they play for the viability and development of small farms.
Small food businesses might actually also play an important role for food and nutrition security as they can be a significant partner with small farms (SDG Compass, 2015). Within agri-business value chains there is a wide range of activities. These can include input supply, farmer organizations, farm production, post-harvest handling, processing, provision of technologies, grading criteria and facilities, cooling and packaging, post-harvest local processing, storage, transport, finance and feedback from markets (Norton 2014).
Small food businesses can also source or sell globally and thus be in large part disconnected from regional systems of production, but they may still be of interest for their connections to local farmers.
Connections between small farms and small food business can take place both in the context of market transactions and of informal non-monetary exchanges based on reciprocity, barter, parental relations etc., so encompassing activities beyond what is meant strictu senso by "business".
The data collected so far in the SALSA project shows that the role of small food businesses in the regional food systems, and their contribution towards the resilience of small farms, differs a lot between regions and products. In some regions, these businesses do not exist and therefore play no role. In other regions, it is possible to observe different types of small food businesses. Some are within the farm, where farmers sell both their own raw and processed products and products from other local farmers; other small farm businesses buy the products directly from the farms and then process them and sell them; others buy through intermediaries who have already processed products.
Questions:
5.1. What kind of food businesses are important to small farms in your region? Which of these are small food businesses?
5.2. Do food businesses in your region play an important role within the food system? How?
5.3. Can you provide specific examples?
Question topic #6: How policies can affect small farms’ activities and decision making
There is a tremendous diversity of small farms around the world. With this in mind there is a need for context-specific policies that can support them. In Graeub et al, (2016) the regional diversity and complex challenges facing the small farm and smallholders were examined noting that distinctly different approaches to providing support for smallholders are required.
A successful strategy for sustainable agriculture requires significant improvements in the investment climate in many countries, in agricultural innovation systems and farming practices, in the management of natural resources, and in specific policies and efforts to close the productivity gap of small family farms (Bioversity et al, 2012; Knickel et al, 2018). Hazell and Bernstein (2013) indicate that there is a gap in policies for helping small farmers manage risk and with the changing economic landscape there is a need to find policy interventions that can help more small farms successfully link to relevant value chains.
The SALSA project is addressing the influence of policies and regulations with specific regard to small farms and small farm businesses, notably policies that can improve the resilience of small farms in addressing future food system and food security challenges.
Questions:
6.1. What are the policies (international, national or local) that affect the way small farms make resilience-related decisions about their activities in your particular region?
6.2. Can you give specific examples of how these policies have affected small farms decision making?
6.3. What policies are needed in your region to support small farms increasing their role in food and nutrition security and the resilience of food systems?
########################################################################
To unsubscribe from the SMALL-FARMS-L list, click the following link:
https://listserv.fao.org/scripts/wa-fao.exe?SUBED1=SMALL-FARMS-L&A=1
|