World Food Day: Simply Farming

Today is World Food Day and this year it is celebrating the important work of family farms! On Monday, we wrote about ‘Joined up Family Farming‘ and how using technology could improve the communication and community between family farms in the UK. However, this is just one aspect of family farming which needs to be look at.

As family farms are so important to food supply and it is World Food Day today, we thought we would take another look at their wider importance. The FAO has provided some interesting facts about the contribution that family farms make and if you are interested, have a look here. But why are family farms so important?

Well firstly, there is the fact that they are major contributors to our food supply. With a contribution of over 56% of the world’s food supply, it would be foolish of us to discard them as outdated and begin trying to move to a different system. They are also important for rural communities in all countries building a link between food and the people as well as offering employment and helping in the role of development. These are just some of the many reasons for their importance. However, we believe there is an even more important reasons to support family farms.

This is the very fact that they run in the family. If you work in an office, you go to work and don’t worry too much about the environment you are in. You don’t worry if the desk is not to your taste or the chain isn’t the right colour. At home these things do matter to you.

In a farming context the same is true. If you live and own your farm, you are more likely to take longer term decisions which aid the development of all the aspects of the farm. If that farm is a commercial entity the pressures are different. You have to maximise profit. If the farm doesn’t look as good and there is less biodiversity, it doesn’t matter too much to you because it is simply a place of work.

With this in mind, family farms do have a huge role to play in environmental sustainability. Sustainable agriculture is developing through family farms, not at the commercial level. The idea of passing it on to the next generation should encourage soil conservation as well as above ground biodiversity.

The FAO has said that family farms are model farms for sustainability. Passing the farm on is a big factor in that process. So we thought we would celebrate them today, it is World Food Day after all!

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Originally published at shrinkthesupplychain.com on October 16, 2014.