Farms. Food. Future‪.‬ International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

Imagine a thin green line of hope stretching 8,000 km across northern Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. This is the Great Green Wall: an African-led land restoration project that aims to hold back encroaching desertification in the Sahel.
In this episode, we take a close look at what could one day be the largest living structure on our planet. Join us as our Associate Vice-President Dr. Jo Puri discusses how IFAD supports the Great Green Wall, while other UN experts share insights on the initiative’s past, present, and ambitious future.
You’ll also get a sneak peek at next episode’s spotlight on Global Citizen Prize winner Sophie Healy-Thow.
This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
For more information:
https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-64
Act4Food - Act4Food Act4Change is a youth-led and initiated campaign that mobilises the power of young people to call for a global food system which provides everyone with access to safe, affordable and nutritious diets, while simultaneously protecting nature, tackling climate change and promoting human rights. Great Green Wall — The Great Green Wall Initiative - The Great Green Wall is an African-led movement with an epic ambition to grow an 8,000km natural wonder of the world across the entire width of Africa. UNCCD -
The UNCCD is the global voice for land. We promote practices that avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation and are the driving force behind Sustainable Development Goal 15 and Land Degradation Neutrality.Sahara Sahel Foods - Sahara Sahel Foods is a social enterprise located in the Republic of Niger. We process and market foods from indigenous Wild Perennial Crops - plants that are pristine, often under-exploited and good for the environment.

Despite Africa’s immense potential to feed the world, a fifth of its population struggles with chronic hunger and malnutrition. But from its fields to its markets, small-scale farmers are envisaging a different future.
In this episode, we embark on a culinary journey across West Africa and introduce IFAD’s newest Recipes for Change chef, Crystelle Pereira. We also continue our Global Donor Platform for Rural Development series with Lee Ann Jackson of the OECD discusses on how to strengthen global food systems.
This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
For more information:
https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-63

Rural LGBTQ+ people face significant challenges and discrimination compared to their urban peers. But they are essential to building a more inclusive future for agriculture.
To mark Pride Month, we speak with members of the community about their experiences. Hear from LGBTQ+ farmers forging inclusive spaces in vegetable farming, beekeeping and beyond. We also pick up where we left off last episode as Alina Luana de Oliveira delves deeper into the fight against discrimination in rural Brazil
This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
For more information:
https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-62
Rock Steady Farm - Rock Steady is a queer owned and operated cooperative vegetable farm rooted in social justice, food access and farmer training.They Keep Bees - They Keep Bees is a LGBTQIA+ run business in Western Massachusetts. We tend bees in Western Massachusetts and on the central coast of Florida.La Via Campesina - La Via Campesina, founded in 1993, is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, landless workers, indigenous people, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth from around the world. Built on a solid sense of unity and solidarity, it defends peasant agriculture for food sovereignty.Queer farmer network - The QFN was conceived to build community among queer farmers and to reflect on and interrupt racist, capitalist, and heteropatriarchal legacies in Agriculture.humble hands harvest – a worker-owned co-operative growing food to celebrate this place - Humble Hands Harvest is a worker-owned co-operative farm. We grow 2+ acres of organic vegetables, grass-finished sheep, pastured pork, and fruit and nut trees. We distribute at the Winneshiek Farmers Market in Decorah; and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for both our veggies and our meat. We found our long-term home in 2017 on Hidden Falls Road, 10 miles from Decorah, on ancestral Sauk, Meskwaki, Lakota, and Ho-chunk land, and began functioning as a worker-owned co-operative that same year.

Food systems transformation must be sustainable and inclusive, so nobody is left behind. With the right support, every farmer can rise above challenges and drive development, while empowering others to do the same.
From Malawi to Brazil, hear from farmers with disabilities who are rewriting the agricultural narrative. We also explore the importance of racial equity and food sovereignty in global food systems. Finally, we conclude our series on gender-based violence with Alina Luana de Oliveira from La Via Campesina, who discusses efforts to combat this chronic social problem in rural Brazil.
This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
For more information:
https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-61
La Via Campesina - La Via Campesina, founded in 1993, is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, landless workers, indigenous people, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth from around the world. Built on a solid sense of unity and solidarity, it defends peasant agriculture for food sovereignty.Light for the World International: Disability & Development NGO - With your support, we contribute to improving health systems, enabling education for all, and amplifying the voices of people with disabilities in the workplace and beyond. In short: we break down unjust barriers to unlock the potential in all of us!SPARK - The SPARK program uses a systemic action learning approach to impact the lives of at least 7,000 persons with disabilities in Burkina Faso, India, Mozambique, and Malawi. This approach will enable them to become fully engaged in the economic activities of selected agricultural and pastoral value chains.SOUL FIRE FARM – Ending racism and injustice in the food system - Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. We raise and distribute life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid. With deep reverence for the land and wisdom of our ancestors, we work to reclaim our collective right to belong to the earth and to have agency in the food system.Crisis Response Initiative - IFAD’s mission is to create inclusive and sustainable rural economies, where people live free from poverty and hunger. While we are focused on long-term development, we also need to mitigate shocks that arise in this era of converging crises—from COVID-19, to climate change, to the war in Ukraine.

It's no secret nature is under threat: the world has seen global wildlife populations drop by two thirds over the past 50 years, and agriculture is partly to blame. But from beekeeping to reforestation, small-scale farmers around the planet are doing their part to reverse this trend.
To celebrate World Biodiversity Day, we explore how rural communities are making farming green again. Tune in to hear a young Zimbabwean farmer's local insights on agroecology – and get the big picture on biodiversity from global conservation leaders, from the hills of southern India to the shores of Madagascar.
This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
For more information:
https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-60
World Wildlife Fund - WWF works to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife, collaborating with partners from local to global levels in nearly 100 countries.NOTICE : Via Campesina - La Via Campesina, founded in 1993, is an international movement bringing together millions of peasants, landless workers, indigenous people, pastoralists, fishers, migrant farmworkers, small and medium-size farmers, rural women, and peasant youth from around the world. Built on a solid sense of unity and solidarity, it defends peasant agriculture for food sovereignty.The Green Belt Movement - Founded in 1977 by Professor Wangari Maathai, the Green Belt Movement (GBM) has planted over 51 million trees in Kenya. GBM works at the grassroots, national, and international levels to promote environmental conservation; to build climate resilience and empower communities, especially women and girls; to foster democratic space and sustainable livelihoods.Aadhimalai – Shift the Power to the Producers - Aadhimalai aims at providing a sustainable livelihood support and income generation through fair trade practices to the community while preserving their traditional way of life and conserving the environment.

In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy swept across Malawi, devastating a country already struggling with hunger and poverty. But a year on, hope for a brighter future is returning to its farms.  
On this episode, you'll hear directly from the rural Malawians who are building back stronger with IFAD's support. Our Country Director for Malawi, Bernadette Mukonyora, gives us an insight into the path to recovery along with regional climate experts Amos Mailosi and Denis Zingeni. Meanwhile, IFAD Recipes for Change chef Sophie Grigson speaks about her experience visiting the country earlier this year.
This is Farms. Food. Future – a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet and good for farmers. Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
For more information:
https://www.ifad.org/en/web/latest/-/podcast-episode-59
Sophie Grigson - Sophie Grigson is an award-winning English food writer, broadcaster, teacher and cook. In 2019, she moved to Ceglie Messapica, in Puglia, Italy, which inspired her latest book, A Curious Absence of Chickens and TV series, Sophie Grigson: Slice of Italy.Recipes for change - Recipes for Change is a collection of recipes from IFAD projects around the world that bring you a taste of other people’s lives through the food they eatAfter Cyclone Freddy, investment brings hope to rural MalawiIFAD in Malawi - In Malawi, IFAD loans focus on promoting sustainable agricultural practices and integrating the private sector and smallholder farmers in value development.