First Learning Network Meeting

Small Producer Agency in the Globalised Market

Sixteen people -- farmer leaders, agribusiness entrepreneurs, researchers, nongovernmental organisations -- from across the world will gather near Geneva from the 26^th to the 29^th April to decide on the main topics and knowledge gaps that will be worked on until the end of 2011. The Knowledge Programme thus intends to create a structured process, a global space to bring different perspectives from a diversity of actors situated between the field and the global debate, A strong assumption here is that the closer people are to production and trade, the more they have in common.

Since last August the Knowledge Programme ‘Small Producers Agency in Globalised Markets’ has been organising Roundtables in Latin America, Africa and Asia. These regional meetings have allowed innovative thinkers and practitioners to agree on the need to set up a different type of Learning Network to work on future oriented issues that will affect small-scale farmers’ economic and political development. This new network architecture can thus lead to new ways of discussing knowledge and new approaches to knowledge generation.

Sixteen people -- farmer leaders, agribusiness entrepreneurs, researchers, nongovernmental organisations -- from across the world will gather near Geneva from the 26^th to the 29^th April to decide on the main topics and knowledge gaps that will be worked on until the end of 2011. During this first face-to-face meeting, sessions have been organised to facilitate the exchange of ideas on the most important issues that will affect small-scale producer livelihoods in the next 10-20 years. A major moment for debate will be a Roundtable organised with renowned researchers, our guest speakers will be: Mark Halle (International Institute for Sustainable Development, IISD – Switzerland) Sophia Murphy (Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, IATP – USA), Sietze Vellema (Wageningen University – NL), Julius Sen (London School of Economics – UK), and Peter Utting (United Nations Research Institute in Social Development, UNRISD - Switzerland). From different global perspectives: trade, business, environment and natural resources, these invited experts will shed new light to help the Learning Network members to decide and prioritize the issues they will work on.

The global concern after the 2007-2008 food crisis has created momentum to make governments, agribusiness, CSOs and farmers willing to work on their common interests and expectations around fair and inclusive policies and practices on food and agriculture. This is an opportunity and of course, also a big challenge, for all those involved in the world of agriculture and food. The knowledge outputs of the Learning Network will have the weight to contribute knowledge to influence the global debate and assist smallholders’ to negotiate their economic and political development in the face of volatility and uncertainty.

Some documents such as a working paper Changing Perspectives: Small-scale farmers, markets and globalization and a video Changing Perspectives in Latin America have been prepared for this meeting. We will be shortly putting them in our websites with more information on the Geneva meeting and the Knowledge Programme activities.