2014 was the international year of family farming. In my next post I’ll detail the current focus for 2015 (the year of light) but I think it’s worth revisiting 2014 first. Farming plays a vital role in economies around the world and contributes to food security, the growth of communities and protecting the environment. It has also increasingly become one of my roles and I wrote about my bit part farming for Gale here in 2013 (running Black Angus cattle on Queensland’s Darling Downs). This has helped me understand a little of the role of farming in communities here in Australia but also during my travels in developing and developed countries seeing how farming forms and has formed the backbone of many countries.

Tapiola cattle station, Dalby, Queensland

This explanatory text and video from the United Nations explains the emphasis of the international year of farming:

<iframe width=”625″ height=”352″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/bcH0f1qu25k” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

The International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) aims 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.

The General Assembly declared 2014 the International Year of Family Farming in resolution A/RES/66/222. The goal of the year is to reposition family farming at the centre of agricultural, environmental and social policies in the national agendas by identifying gaps and opportunities to promote a shift towards a more equal and balanced development. The 2014 IYFF will promote broad discussion and cooperation at the national, regional and global levels to increase awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by smallholders and help identify efficient ways to support family farmers.

These photos from my database detail some of the family farms I’ve come across during my travels. The quotes beneath some of the photos are some of the reasons the UN notes family farming is important.

“Family and small-scale farming are inextricably linked to world food security.”

Fields near Tirta Gangga
Bali, Indonesia
by Joanne Lane

“Family farming preserves traditional food products, while contributing to a balanced diet and safeguarding the world’s agro-biodiversity and the sustainable use of natural resources.”

Planting rice, Pokhara, Nepal

Balthali, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

“Family farming represents an opportunity to boost local economies, especially when combined with specific policies aimed at social protection and well-being of communities.”

Women carrying grass near Sarangkot, Pokhara, Nepal

Mt Merapi, Java, Indonesia

Sophie Love, who blogs at www.littlehouseontheriver.com.au, wrote this about the Australian Year of the Farmer in 2012. Somehow it seems increasingly more pertinent today:

“This is the Year of the Farmer, let’s listen to them, get down on our knees to them, hear them, help them and secure a food future for Australians and their Asian neighbours. Please, before every morsel on the supermarket shelves has done more globetrotting than even the most ambitious grey nomad, and Australian farms and farmers have bitten the dust.”
——————–

Feel free to email Jo at [email protected] with your comments/thoughts/photo aspirations. See and learn more at www.visitedplanet.com