The World Farmers’ Organization General Assembly, the most significant event for the institutional life of the world farming community, opens with the hope to inspire fruitful discussion and forward-looking steps, in order to drive the agriculture towards a brighter future for all. From 20 to 23 May 2019 at the Alvisse Parc Hotel in Luxembourg

Luxembourg, May 17, 2019 – The WFO General Assembly annually convenes farmer leaders from all over the world, high-level representatives of international organizations, governments, private sector entities and civil society, who meet to confront on challenges and opportunities characterizing the agricultural sector at global level. 

World hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition are on the rise, as well as extreme climate events and the farming sector worldwide is still coping with issues like farmers’ access to resources, gender equality, youth empowerment, access to market among others.

Farmers are the first ones to be impacted by such challenges and those who work to overcome them every day, while at the same time trying to be resilient and produce more and sustainably with less. 

The title of this year’s General Assembly is “The Farmer’ Route” to indicate the path that farmers are building and following to achieve a more sustainable future for all and to underline the need of promoting a real farmer driven approach to tackle global challenges. The overall focus will be on innovation in the broader sense with several sessions analyzing and comparing different experiences and approaches that the farmers, as well as other relevant stakeholders in the agricultural sector, are implementing to deal with such challenges.

INNOVATION in all its forms is the catalyst that can light up the way forward, transforming the farm towards an improved viability and the food systems towards global sustainability.

The WFO General Assembly will last four days and the first will be dedicated to parallel technical sessions organized and led by the WFO working groups and committees on their respective policy areas.

  • “Farmers’ climate route – navigating the UNFCCC’s Koronivia work on agriculture, climate finance and accounting for methane”, organized by WFO Working Group on Climate Change;
  • “Garbage in – Garbage out: addressing the value chain from the roots”, organized by WFO Working Group on Value Chain;
  • “United Nations Decade of Family Farming – Women and Youth as its transversal objective” jointly organized by the WFO Women and Youth Committees;
  • “The importance of Livestock in feeding the World’s population”, organized by the WFO Working Group on Livestock;
  • “Mainstreaming the farmers driven approach into agricultural innovation”, organized by the WFO Working Group on Innovation.

The first day will also feature the second meeting of the members of the Farmers Driven Climate Change Alliance.

In the evening, the opening ceremony will officially give the start to the WFO General Assembly.

This year, for the first time, the World Farmers’ Organisation will launch the WFO Award, honouring all the women farmers who are contributing to a better agricultural sector and a better world through their leadership in farmers’ organisations.

The winners will be announced during the opening ceremony.

The second day will consist of Statutory and Internal Affairs session.

The third day will see, first, the farmers of the world launching their “Farmers’ Route” to all the guests from international organizations, private sector, research bodies and civil society.

The High-Level Panel Session, moderated by Dimitri Houtart, BBC Rural Affairs Champion & Radio 4 Environment, Food & Rural Affairs Editor, will be composed of three parts. 

In the morning, participants will be involved in the “Luxembourg Food Systems Dialogues” session, curated by Dr David Nabarro, 2018 World Food Prize laureate. It will be an opportunity to explore options for food systems transformation for farmers and agriculture around the world, emphasizing the links with food systems more broadly.

The following session will consist in an open, inclusive and holistic debate between the worldwide farmers’ leaders and EAT Lancet Foundation. The spotlight will be on the specific actions that farmers are called to take to contribute to the “Great Food Transformation”, according to the report that EAT Lancet Foundation released calling for a global reduction of meat, dairy and sugar to meet the challenge of feeding a growing world population as well as reducing climate change effects.

In the afternoon, the session on “Innovative Financing in Agriculture” will foster the exchange between International Financial Institutions that invest in the agricultural sector worldwide and the world farmers’ leaders, with the aim of providing practical examples of ongoing projects and programmes and set the path for future sustainable and effective commitments.

The fourth day will allow the participants to discover the farming sector in the Luxembourg area.

In Luxembourg, WFO will raise the most important point about innovation: PUTTING FARMERS AT THE HEART OF INNOVATION, participating and learning in collective and collaborative processes, setting the agendas and working on execution.

Find out more at http://www.wfo-oma.com/GA2019

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About the World Farmers’ Organisation:

The World Farmers’ Organisation is a member-based organisation bringing together national farmers’ organizations and agricultural cooperatives, from all over the world. Its aim is to strengthen the voice of food producers on the global scene, enhancing their relevance as economic, social and environmental actors. Currently representing approximately 1.5 billion farmers. WFO is the reference organization representing the farmers’ community in all the relevant international processes, including the United Nations processes, such as the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development, the United Nations Convention on Climate Change, to name but a few.