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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Slow Food has been working alongside the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations on issues like agricultural practices, food production, food distribution, food security and sovereignty, as well as world hunger, for a few years now, especially during events organized by Slow Food. At this year’s edition of Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, this collaboration will once more be evident: Slow Food highly appreciates the work done by the FAO as well as the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) within the framework of the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) to raise the profile of family farming and smallholder 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, in particular in rural areas. These principles are congruent with the work of Slow Food, which is why at Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre 2014 family farming is at the center of attention in the Ark of Taste space, as well as the Italian and international market areas that consist to a large extent of prime examples of family farming, that is, small-scale quality productions that have few market outlets. Family farming will further be discussed during several conferences and is the leading theme of IFAD’s participation. The IFAD stand will host a photo exhibition and challenge visitors with questions on family farming and the future of food. Parts of the Terra Madre Opening Ceremony on October 22 will also be dedicated to the IYFF by incorporating different graphics and a video screening on the topic produced by the FAO.

As the operative phase of the IYFF comes to a close around the same time that Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre takes place, the event is a great opportunity to present first-hand reports of the successful stories of family farming to the world. On October 27 and 28, the FAO is presenting the results of a year’s work at the Global Dialogue in Rome by bringing together high-level government representatives, family farmers, civil society organizations, academia, development agencies and representatives from the private sector, to take stock of the momentum created during the IYFF and set the tone for a pro-family farming agenda post-2014.

The following conferences at Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre focus on family farming and will be hosted in the Sala Rossa (a conference room dedicated entirely to family farming):

Family Farming Against Hunger and Poverty (Friday, October 24)
Chaired by Food Tank President Danielle Nierenberg, this conference discusses the strengths of family farming: Worldwide more than 500 million small-scale, family-run farms produce the food that we eat. In developing countries, family farming supplies 80% of the food supply. Meanwhile, large-scale production focuses solely on market needs, rather than on protecting our daily food, particularly that of poorer populations. Slow Food President Carlo Petrini is one of the conference speakers alongside Benjamin Bellegy, from the EFC European Foundations Initiative on Family Farming; Adolfo Brizzi, Director of the Policy and Technical Advisory Division at IFAD; Don Bruno Bignami, President of the Fondazione Don Primo Mazzolari; Argentinian author Soledad Barruti; Roberto Ridolfi, Director of Directorate General for Development and Cooperation EuropeAid, European Commission; Anshuman Das, Welthungerhilfe (World Hunger Aid); and Humberto Oliveira, Director of Institutional Relations, Slow Food Brasile.

Family Farming and Climate Change (Thursday, October 23)

Producing food without negatively impacting the planet or, better still, to help reverse current circumstances is possible when both institutions and citizens work together and support models of agriculture that respect the environment. Consumer-driven rather than market-driven family farming can actively prevent global warming for the good of everything that lives on Earth. The conference is chaired by Luca Mercalli, President of the Italian Meteorological Society, and hosts the following conference speakers: Jean-Philippe Beau, founder of the Eco-centre Le Bouchot (France); Vicky Rateau, Economic Justice Campaign Manager Oxfam USA; Grammenos Mastrojeni, Italian Development Cooperation for Environment, Ministry Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation; and Silvia Sinibaldi, Caritas Europe.

Documentary After Winter, Spring by Judith Lit (Saturday, October 25)

Seen through the eyes of family farmers in southwest France, the documentary After Winter, Spring is an intimate portrait of an ancestral way of life under threat in a world increasingly dominated by large-scale industrial agriculture. The documentary will be presented by the director, Judith Lit from the United States, and followed by a dialogue with the audience.

Family Farming and the Protection of Mountains (Saturday, October 25)

Success stories from the Alps and beyond: In mountainous areas where farms are run by families and young people are increasingly rediscovering the value of high-altitude work, a past tainted in abandon is evolving into a future of wellness. The conference is realized in collaboration with Compagnia di San Paolo and with the support of the European Union. The speakers are: Branka Tome from the Quality Policy Unit at the Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission; Cassiano Luminati, President of the Valposchiavo region in the Alps (Switzerland); Munkhbolor Gungaa, World Alliance of Mobile Indigenous Peoples (WAMIP); Jean Bernard Maitià, coordinator of Slow Food Presidium Irati Mountain Cheeses (France); and Luca Remmert from the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation.

What is family farming?

The FAO defines family farming as all family-based agricultural activities linked to several areas of rural development. Family farming is a means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production, which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family labor, including that of both women and men. Both in developing and developed countries, family farming is the predominant form of agriculture in the food production sector. According to the FAO, family farming has an important socio-economic, environmental and cultural role.