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There were few areas of real divergence as all participants recognised in all cases the need for multiple solutions that encompass all stakeholders viewpoints. Some points of slight divergence occurred around: - Whether the phasing-out of certain practices needs to be driven by government or whether it will happen organically through replacement with improved practices. - How to encourage the benefits of local, small scale farming, while others raised the risks from localised food systems.

The focus of this Dialogue was on exploring a just and sustainable transition for the livestock sector globally in the context of innovation and climate change. The sustainability of meat production and consumption has become one of the most controversial conversations of the past decade. At the same time, meat plays a vital role in meeting nutritional needs in many developing countries and, despite the awareness of the negative impacts of the meat sector, meat continues to be in high demand in developed economies as well. There are ways to produce meat that can address negative impacts and en... Read moresure farmers are central to any solutions. We need to focus on how to promote these types of models to transform the meat sector and deliver better outcomes for people and planet. This dialogue explored: - How current environmental, social, health, and economic best practices can be scaled up; - Different types of innovation in transforming meat production; - What is the role of government/policy to facilitate innovation and achieve ‘better’ meat production; - Opportunities for partnership and coalitions across food systems to ensure inclusivity in the transformation; - How to build resilience across meat production systems while creating a more equitable system overall. Read less

Participants concluded that in order to drive best practices in the agricultural transition there needs to be recognition of the diversity of regions and the need to avoid a one-size-fits-all approach in defining what is needed. To drive this change, greater collaboration and links are needed all along the supply chain, particularly between consumers and producers, to share existing knowledge and support a full system change, and to incentivise and reward producers for taking action. It is also most important that the phasing out of least favourable activities is done in a way that reflects a ... Read more"just transition", incorporating all existing stakeholders. Participants felt that the role of innovation needs to be encouraged and facilitated to drive forward the agricultural transition. Two types of innovation in particular were highlighted - incremental innovation that works alongside existing practices; and transformational innovation that brings new technologies to innovate new ways of doing agriculture. Significant conclusions were that it is key efforts are made for innovation to be inclusive and work with stakeholders rather than leave them behind. Government will need to play a role in supporting these producers in the transition, and also needs to move faster to keep up with innovation to ensure the appropriate regulation is in place to support innovation and provide consumer trust. The need for more diverse coalition forming was agreed as key by participants. In particular the need for unconventional partnerships, and bringing in actors outside of the supply chain to ensure that all viewpoints and needs are reflected in the transition was highlighted. It was suggested the supply chain needs to be reconceptualised as a web to broaden the idea of who counts as a stakeholder. Coalitions were agreed to be key as a way to give farmers, particularly smaller farmers, a voice, and there needs to be more work to make livestock farmers part of the agricultural transition rather than vilified. In addressing the issue of resilience, participants agreed that although supply chains are a major point of weakness to be addressed there needs to be recognition of the benefits and drawbacks of more localised supply chains. The approach to improving resilience must be a holistic one that considers how global dynamics play out a local scale. Read less

Discussion topic: Leveraging best practice: How do we replicate environmental, social, health, and economic best practices, and scale them up effectively? There was agreement that in defining best practice it is key to take a holistic approach as best practice varies by region, industry, and social circumstance and it is key to not take a one-size-fits-all approach. To accommodate this participants felt that there needed to be a shift in terminology of best practice to focus on outcomes as those are more universalised with underlying principles across food systems. There was also recognition o... Read moref the tension between not reinventing the wheel and operating in silos, but because of the urgency of the climate crisis it is important for all actors in the supply chains to share best practices. In discussing the major barriers to implementing best practices, communication was emphasised by participants. Participants from the agricultural sector felt that the biggest barrier they have found is communicating to farmers the overall benefits of certain practices. There was also reflection on the role consumers play in driving best practices, but if there is not strong consumer awareness and transparency of the impacts of certain practices it is more challenging to send a price signal to farmers to shift practice. The transparency issue was felt to be a significant one as there is often a major felt separation of many consumers from the farm, so it also contributed to another conclusion that it is key to form stronger links between producers and consumers in driving best practice. To overcome barriers it is key for all stakeholders to work together, with policy also contributing through regulation but with consultation and consideration of how regulatory changes would impact farmers. In considering the least favourable activities to be phased out, the participants were in agreement that the most obvious was the phase-out of the medically important antibiotics in meat production. They however emphasised the importance of phasing these out in a holistic way that is mindful of negative trade-offs. Other problematic issues to overcome highlighted was that of consolidation, and independent farmers increasingly having less control over their own production systems. The issue of farmers having control was related to issues around deforestation where it is tightly connected to needing a more just and equal land ownership system. Social problems to overcome that were raised were also key issues around bankrupted farmers, increased farmers approaching retirement age, and finding a way to incorporate new practices in farming with all stakeholders. The practice of incremental innovation to make existing systems better as well as transformational was raised as a solution. All participants emphasised that the most important thing to consider in the phasing out of least favourable activities that it is a just transition, and no one is blamed. Read less

The key findings that emerged from our dialogue is the huge access gap that exists between communities being able to invest and have access to their own food supply, and being completely dependent on monopolistic commercial and governmental control of the food supply and farming systems. We also discussed questions such as why is food and farming made available for communities with subsidies or taxes that often go toward infrastructure, water, waste, energy. And why are more investors not making an impact in their community, particularly, said food and ag companies, to support the local commun... Read moreity in free food growth. Findings were that a simple investment could be made with dynamic returns, and has been done in many communities around the world. Using these as an example and also the ideas that we appreciated came from the collaboration in each cohort. An agreement of actions that were expressed among participants were that we need to move market investment from new innovative companies who receive first pick when it comes to implementing innovative market solutions, and shift them to community driven DIY projects, which require less front end investment and provide better returns collectively, and overtime. SkyFarms is one of these solutions and many of the participants are eager to work on the digital tools and network that will tackle things like fragmentation and flooded market, and inclusion to opportunities to invest in community support projects that turn food deserts into food oasis. Additionally, the use of data, and citizen science will make a big difference in identifying the capacity of food that needs to be grown in any given area, and to map insights about those local opportunities, spaces, stakeholders and resources that are freely available for such community actions. The following action points arose from these dialogues and are presented here in the hopes that they might be useful in the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit. ACTION POINTS: Dialogue and bringing people together as fundamental Strengthening the agency of small and medium food producers and suppliers Empowering consumers to be drivers of change Imbedding a hybrid of new agriculture technologies, vertical, hydroponics, greenhouses, to enable communities places to grow anywhere, anytime Addressing economic and social inequities through creating circular and shared value chains A focus on the local level, but connecting those local systems together to share data, and knowledge globally. Read less

But I wanted to mention that the first issue is about just being able to actually own the problems even before you can own the solutions and how, in some parts of the world. People are farming the land and are unable to make choices about their own crops or their own technology and are still in some form of exploitation or semi slavery and so that's the number one issue in this. Area towards making progress, but we focused a lot on education and the power of collaboration and how we can. Increase awareness of what's possible for growing food year round, and these technologies. A lot of areas a... Read morere doing this at the research level but it's not getting into the hands of people who needed the most or who could start their own small business. And contribute to the economy by having that access and so just looking at how can we continue to share information around circular economy entrepreneurship. And city planning at that level of including people's voices and. Looking at the systems view so from our solution point of view, we saw, we need to be influencing at the grass tops level with people with influence over policy. And capital access and then the smaller scale grassroots level and just being able to give individuals, the power to be leaders in their own Community food systems. We also talked about having access to equipment for food processing and preserving and cooking and being able to help change some of the norms around that. Moving away from mono cropping and industrial agriculture into more of that. Revival level and regenerative when we see the power of co OPS, or people working together to eliminate food waste or coming into a piece of the supply chain. And filling a niche so that others can really play their part, well, instead of having all of this hyper competition in ways that's not really spreading best practices. I don't know that we had any conclusions to share other than knowing that we all have to take our own torch forward and continue to communicate with each other through ally ship. And knowing where there are good proof of concept about what we can do, and just keeping that hopeful attitude that we are working towards these UN goals with good best faith. Read less

Among the participants there was some disagreement that needs further exploration. Particularly surrounding inclusion, and equity. Not only did we anticipate this, but help a space in the start of our dialogue for dissenting voices to be heard, and held a training in the start of the call about conflict resolution and how to talk about diverging ideas, opinions and facts. One of the biggest areas to focus on was why so many people who are involved in farming are being left behind by not only the UNFSS, but by the industry leading companies that claim to be solving a problem, but are only solvi... Read moreng the problem at the level it was created at therefore perpetuating systemic problems that need to be deeply addressed. We have several stakeholders within our network who are boycotting the UNFSS based on several concerns expressed here. Excessive emphasis put on technological solutions that are introduced as a universal solution to food systems problems. The Food System Summit’s process is directed vertically by a non-institutional body, with a private secretariat and out of any control of the member countries. The initiator and main partner of the summit is the World Economic Forum (WEF), which brings together the richest and most powerful corporations in the world. These corporations are largely responsible for the degradation of the environmental state of the world, the rise in inequality and food insecurity. The UNFSS has not been validated by the UN General Assembly. Civil society organisations and in particular organisations of food producers (peasants, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples, rural women, pastoralists, agricultural workers, etc.) have been sidelined throughout the process leading to the “summit” The lack of democratic inclusion of food producers’ organisations (and particularly small-scale food producers) within the bodies created to manage the process Joint Letter to UN Signed by 500+ Orgs: SLOWFOOD: A GROWING CULTURE: Peasants Press Forum: Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples' Mechanism for relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security LANDWORKERS ALLIANCE: LA VIA CAMPESINA SOUTH ASIA Read less

The focus of our dialogue was to bring high-level experts to dialogue with regular citizens about ways we can use sharing and technology to close the gap between commercial and community opportunities. We did comprehensive exploration on food systems, exploration around action track 1, and focused on ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food for all. We were able to identify five areas where there were potential for levers of change, and action through collaboration and resource sharing that digital tools could provide. While many of them overlap, we found it helpful to break into 5 group... Read mores and then discuss those overlaps, and using the multidisciplinary interaction to amplify the ability to discover how we can move users within a food system from being passive and to more active. Read less

The food system makes use of the diversity in food cultures and traditions, and creates meeting places and dialogue centred around food. - The participants agree that food culture is an underrated discussion. Sensitivity to culture issues is vital, and can also have potential to restoring the food system to sustainable levels. - Local varieties can also help with resilience issues. - Understanding of the food system needs to take its basis in the school system. A whole school food approach is vital, and school gardens can help increase understanding of where food comes from. - A specific sugge... Read morestion came up that there should be a school program to get students to visit farms and primary production. - short supply chains help establish contact between producers and consumers, and increase understanding of different cultures. Read less

Areas that need further exploration are: - The need to develop, or to fundamentally change the economic system, since the true costs aren´t integrated into the economic system today. - The need to focus on how we produce food or what food is consumed - some participants felt that too much attention is given to diets when we should be discussion how food is produced. - The need to raise alarm and share a sense of urgency, as opposed to the need of inspiring and getting people to change through inspiration and a feeling of "we can do it".

The dialogue was centered around the role of youth in sustainable food systems. Our angle was to invite stakeholders that represent youth organizations: young farmers, chefs, students at agricultural colleges, environmental youth organizations etc. The dialogue took its start in three keynote presentations followed by a dialoge around four statements that had been prepared by the convenors. The statements are as follows: - As a decisionmaker I have made it easy for young people to choose sustainable food by… - There are incitaments in the food system for food producers to produce in a sustai... Read morenable and fair manner, and social as well as ecological aspects are not weighted lower than economic aspects. - As a company in the food supply chain we have enabled young people to eat ecologically and socially sustainable food. - The food system makes use of the diversity in food cultures and traditions, and creates meeting places and dialogue centred around food. Read less

General findings of the dialogue shows that there is a big need for just inclusion of young people in the conversation on sustainable food. There is a fear of "youth-washing", that young are being invited in general, but not listened to. Tokenism was also mentioned, and that there is a real need to actually act on what youth bring to the table. A general signal from the dialogue to the food systems summit is that political stakeholders and corporates such as retail and large food corporations need to listen better and engage in order to achieve a food system within planetary boundaries. The st... Read moreakeholders in the dialogue were interested in continued dialogue, and the convenors are prepared to act on this. The dialogue also shows how different stakeholders perceive the discussion on sustainable food. The need to include meat in a sustainable diet, the need to define local and that there is no single silver bullet solution was brougt to the table and we can absolutely say that consensus was not established during such a short time. However, the session served well to bring the stakeholders to the table and to initiate a continued dialogue. Read less

- As a decisionmaker I have made it easy for young people to choose sustainable food by… The participants brought up policy intstruments, political arenas (global/national/local)as well as the need to base actions in an understanding of the cultural context. The three major conclusions: 1. Legislation and policy instruments must be used in a more strategic way to redirect the food system within planetary boundaries. Both production and consumption need to be included in a political framework. 2. We have to use politics to make food a voting issue, and to enable a public conversation about fo... Read moreod politics. This is the most important tool in a democracy - to vote and to have a political conversation and this is lacking in food today. 3. Food is culture and connection, this must be highlighted in the work going forward. The narrative needs challenging, there are many ideas of what is traditionally eaten and where we should go with the food system. There were no major disagreements, however, there were different strategies among the stakeholders to reach people: raising alarm or using inspiration. Both perspectives were deemed neccessary, and complementary to some extent. Read less

There are incitaments in the food system for food producers to produce in a sustainable and fair manner, and social as well as ecological aspects are not weighted lower than economic aspects. Major conclusions: 1. Use and change the economic system. What destroys our planet should cost, what is good should be promoted. True cost accounting is needed, and we should use subsidies and taxation in a way that will lower the burden on the planet. 2. The rural setting has enormous potential that is not used in a sustainable way. Much focus is on urban lifestyles, but bringing consumers closer to prod... Read moreuction can bring many benefits including a way of integrating food production in all society. 3. Put a larger part of the responsibility on retail and larger food corporations. The primary producers and consumers are weaker parts, and the economic burden should be more fairly distributed. There was a larger discussion on if the existing economic system can be used and built on, or if we should strive for disruptive change. There was also a lengthy discussion on how young people can be involved in the food system as farmers and entrepreneurs. There is a great need for more youth in the production system, and this will also help bridge over to consumers. Read less

As a company in the food supply chain we have enabled young people to eat ecologically and socially sustainable food. - The primary production was in focus here, and that there needs to be more dialogue and knowledge around how food is produced. Changing diets has been in focus, but participants wanted to emphasize the ”how is it produced” rather than the ”what do we eat”. - Retail has a large responsibility in the corporate sector. The economic power lies here, and there is great potential in aiding consumers to sustainable choices. - Companies can help politicians overcome ”fear of... Read more action” - Public procurement is a relatively small part of the food system, but is important as an expression of political will and to ensure a stable market for producers. - From a nutritional perspective we eat wrong in Sweden, and companies have a strong responsibility here. They often refer to that consumers want to have choices, but deny that they are a part of the problem. Read less

We appreciate the main findings that emerged from the UNFSS Dialogue that follow: BIPOC small farmers/underserved small farmers and their communities recognize the need to build infrastructure and capacity for safe nutritious food systems: increase access to land and capital, connect younger farmers to the land, address heir property issues making sure that land is deeded to someone, build strong partnerships with 1890 Land grant Institutions and community NGO organizations. BIPOC small farmers/underserved small farmers and their communities and their farmer organizations realize that it is im... Read moreportant to build local farmer markets, provide alternative food access to our communities, and develop and maintain diverse alternative distribution strategies to avoid system breakdown and outbreaks. It is critical to address our community’s food deserts and work to increase access to affordable fresh local nutritious food for our communities; and address our community health issues and lack of access to healthy fresh nutritious foods. BIPOC small farmers/underserved small farmers and their communities realize that it is important to increase production, small farm sustainability, access to fresh local nutritious foods, and a build resilient nutritious food systems. Livelihood trainings on alternative marketing strategies including cooperatives, community supported agriculture (CSAs) strategies; high tunnels and innovative systems, agroecology- regenerative agriculture; and sustainable organic farming skills/farmer knowledges; entrepreneur training, are important to empower BIPOC small farmers and their communities and support resilient agroecology-organic livelihoods and wellbeing. BIPOC small farmers/underserved small farmers and their communities and farmer organizations recognize that seed saving and the work of seed keepers provides a critical food systems pathway that promotes a value added product (the seed) while promoting relationships with farmers and future generations of farming and supporting food security and sustainable resilient food systems. Seed saving livelihoods strengthens and enables the sustainability of small farm populations/BIPOC farmers and farmers of color and limited resource farmers and their communities - and empowers the whole nutritious food system. Good nutritious food should be for everyone, not just the great and famous. Liberty is key: It is important to experience our liberty and freedom in a manner to operate a regenerative agroecology-organic small farms and demonstrate the benefits to our communities and nation. Deliberate actions towards these challenges and hindrances would enable resilient small farms and BIPOC small farm livelihoods, increase food security to all communities, ensure and strengthen local healthy food systems, grow wellbeing among BIPOC communities. . . Extending the benefits of agroecology and organic agriculture, resilient organic-regenerative agriculture and these nutritious food systems to all environments and all communities - for all human beings. Read less

What is the greatest barriers, hindrances and issues to Black Indigenous farmers and farmers of color success? Despite historical barriers and inequities, Black indigenous farmers and farmers of color and their communities have not lost hope. BIPOC small farmers have the ability to increase and be successful in our environments, communities, on our small farms enterprises, and to work together to grow diverse nutritious food systems. Black Indigenous small farmers and farmers of color (BIPOC) and their farmer organizations recognize that it is important to listen, learn, and share information ... Read morewith each other and other communities. Black Indigenous farmers and farmers of color - small farms and their food systems would benefit from additional: • Resources and infrastructure; equipment access and availability; capital; entrepreneurship opportunities that add value to their products; • Mentors and sustainable models that demonstrate small farm-good stewardship; land ownership models and seed saving models; • Business credit and knowledge about Business credit; Understanding alternative cooperative models, development and management for small farms; • Innovative agroecology farming practices, regenerative-organic agriculture small farm models; • Continual learning and mentorships/and youth mentorships and trainings in agroecology, organic regenerative farming, and organic farming; • Access to skill and knowledge on relationships and wellbeing to land, water, and the earth; and • Knowledge on regenerative mind, land and food ways that grow sustainable conscientious life, agroecology and organic agriculture, and that support viable healthy nutritious food systems and quality of life. Holistic deliberate inclusive capacity building actions would enable wellbeing, positive change, and healthy local nutritious food systems in BIPOC communities and all communities. Read less

What do you envision that the United Nations could do to help BIPOC farmers and their communities and underserved small farmers and their communities? As small farmers we have the same challenges, we have a need for the same successful models - we want to work together. Black Indigenous small farmers and farmers of color and their farmer organizations hope that the United Nations would help with the following innovations: • Removing barriers to access appropriately scaled small farm equipment for small acreage, for example small farm combines. The United Nations could help in trading these s... Read moremall farm equipment, tools and items instead of guns; • Promoting active virtual learning opportunities between small farmers around the world. • There is a need to share insights and learn about indigenous treaty rights to ensure that indigenous people have land for their children; • Taking eminent domain off the table in our communities and nations; • Promoting active learning between small farmers on research and quantifying agroecology and organic farming systems farming strategies and their benefits to farm, farm family, farmworkers, surrounding environments, supporting food securities and healthy nutritious food systems; • Promoting active learning between BIPOC small farmers and all small farmers (global) on successful cooperative models from small farms around the world. We could work together. • Developing incentives for markets and grocery stores to help small farmers through developing alternative strategies that support BIPOC small farmers by purchasing directly from BIPOC small farmers or BIPOC small farm organizations; • Increasing investments in BIPOC small farmer’s production, Increase incentive programs that promote building relationships with local Black Indigenous farmers and farmers of color, and local Black Indigenous people and people of color that ensures inclusive access to safe and nutritious food for all. Read less

What is your final word on the INOFO North America Dialogue event and the impact that you hope it will have with the United Nations, and the UN Food Systems Summit. • We want our words to be impactful. We work hard and we hope our words will be taken at value and seriously. • Black Indigenous small farmers and farmers of color are endangered. We need your support. Our young farmers need even greater support. • Black Indigenous small farmers and farmers of color need to know how to develop strategies to be recognized and to speak across borders and issues - to empower the ability of BIPOC... Read more small farmers/socially disadvantage farmers to exist beyond this generation. • Our participation in this (UNFSS) effort will help amplify the voice of our cause. Small farms, Black Indigenous small farmers and farmers of color are important for local diverse food production, enabling local nutritious food security and the capacity for local nutritious food systems that reach everyone. • Increasing agroecology, organic-regenerative, and organic BIPOC small farms increases food security no matter the catastrophe, we cannot control catastrophes. But we can work to ensure healthy ongoing resilient agriculture, robust sustainable farming communities, with increased food security, increased ability to feed our children and communities • Enabling the benefits of resilient healthy food production, healthy environments and healthy communities for all human beings. Read less

Summary of the INOFO North America Dialogue – 2021 United Nations Food System Summit Dialogues Access to food, healthy nutritious food, is a human right. Agroecology and organic BIPOC small farmers are important for local healthy food production, nutritious food security and growing the next generation of resilient small farmers and their communities; and to extending the benefits of agroecology farming practices and organic farming systems to all environments, all communities, and inclusive of all human beings. The INOFO North America Dialogue added the voices of small farmers, agroecology ... Read moreand organic Black Indigenous farmers and farmers of color and farmer organizations from North America to the 2021 UN Food System Summit Dialogues and Summit Process, and enabled a platform of as we shared our history, our great resiliencies, deliberate actions, and hopes. Hope for a better today, hope for a better inclusive tomorrow, to build back better - together. The outcomes of the INOFO North America Independent Dialogue will inform the Summit process and help to guide individual and collective action towards a future of healthy nutritious food that is responsibly grown by small farmers and their organizations to promote agroecology farm practices and organic agriculture, and their benefits – supporting food that is safe, nutritious, accessible, sustainable, equitable and resilient for all. Read less