La Via Campesina at the 17th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin
La Vía Campesina (LVC) made its presence felt at the 17th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), held in Berlin from January 15 to 18, 2025, by actively engaging in the Young Farmers Forum, key side events, as well as in events, actions and demonstrations outside to amplify the voices of small-scale food producers.
This year’s central theme, Farming a Sustainable Bioeconomy, brought together 63 ministers of agriculture from around the world to discuss critical issues such as defusing conflicts of interest in biomass use, strengthening the right to food by prioritizing food and nutrition (“food-first”), and shaping framework conditions in a socially, ecologically, and economically just manner.
A context of rising hunger and inequality
The GFFA took place amid a global hunger crisis, with 733 million people facing food insecurity. Farmers worldwide confront dramatic challenges, including low farm prices that do not cover production costs, limited access to essential resources, rising inequalities, and the devastating effects of the climate catastrophe. These conditions have led to unacceptable living and working standards in both rural and urban areas.
Speaking at an expert panel, Morgan Ody, General Coordinator of La Via Campesina, stated: “There is no way out of the climate disaster without social justice and a massive reduction of inequalities between the Global North and the Global South.”
Watch also:
GFFA 2025 – Expert Panel 15 with Morgan Ody and Qammar Abbas: Securing land tenure rights – A key element for establishing fair conditions to advance the Right to Food.
Challenging the bioeconomy narrative
The forum’s focus on bioeconomy prompted critical interventions from LVC. In various side events, La Via Campesina highlighted the implications of the bioeconomy approach. Morgan Ody remarked: “Bioeconomy is very much linked with biotechnology and other forms of nanotechnology, leading to the greater artificialization of nature. When monocultures of biomass are implemented, they involve heavy chemical fertilizer use, resulting in significant climate impacts.”
Qammar Abbas from La Via Campesina South Asia in Pakistan added: “The bioeconomy is also linked to land grabbing under the guise of nature-based solutions. Corporate actors driving this agenda are the very ones responsible for the crises faced by small farmers and peasants.”
Demands for justice and peasant rights
Before the closing International Conference of the Agriculture Ministers in Berlin, the Arbeitsgemeinschaft bäuerliche Landwirtschaft (AbL), the German member organisation of LVC, organized an action, where Qammar Abbas and other AbL farmers presented a catalogue to Ophelia Nick, one of Germany’s Agriculture Secretary of State, summarizing civil society and small-scale food producers’ demands:
- Germany’s active role and the GFFA support for the next International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, the ICARRD+20, that is going to be hosted by Colombia & FAO as a UN intergovernmental conference.
- Enshrine human rights and in particular UN peasants rights declaration (UNDROP), the right to adequate food and the principle of social participation as guiding principles for food and agricultural policy in your final communiqué.
- Denounce land grabbing in the name of the bioeconomy & biomass monocultures in your final communiqué.
“The bioeconomy awakens many desires on the part of industry and foreseeably worsens grievances and inequalities in the food system. To date, it has largely meant ‘tank instead of plate’ and international trade in agricultural fuels, leading to the destruction of peasant structures and biodiversity. Agrofuels are a dangerous false solution in climate policy. This must change. We call for decisive action to protect the rights of peasants, farmers, and marginalized groups worldwide!”, Abbas declared, stressing the harmful impact on rural communities and urging ministers to prioritize justice and sustainability.
He emphasized further: « No bioeconomy without the guardrails of agroecology, Food sovereignty, planetary boundaries, and the right to food. »
Qammar Abbas and Helen Pörtner, another delegate from La Via Campesina representing AbL Youth, also participated in the Young Farmers Forum, which took place on the GFFA’s first day. Together with 18 other young farmers, they negotiated a youth statement that was shared with all the ministers present. Focusing on questioning the power relations behind the bioeconomy, they managed to include important concerns as well as LVC’s key demands in the statement.
Mobilizing for Change
After presenting their joint declaration, LVC delegates joined the annual Wir haben es satt! (We are fed up!) demonstration. Addressing the crowd, Morgan Ody delivered a powerful speech:
“Seven hundreds thirty-three million people worldwide suffer from hunger while multinational agribusiness corporations reap record profits. Despite record food production globally, hunger persists even in Europe. In France, 15% of the population relies on food aid.
Hunger is not a technical problem but a political one tied to injustice and inequality. While millions go hungry, billionaires grow richer, and multinational corporations thrive. We’ve had enough of this!
Peasant agroecology shows that it is possible to farm in ways that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, protect biodiversity, enhance soil fertility, and conserve water. With over 200 million peasants and rural workers worldwide, La Via Campesina fights to continue producing healthy food for societies without abandoning our lands despite land grabbing, water theft, and exploitative corporations.
Our demands include:
- Fair land and water distribution through agrarian reform.
- Protection of peasant rights via UNDROP.
- Just remuneration for small-scale farmers through the regulation of markets and fair pricing.
- Support for agroecology by taxing chemical inputs and training youth in sustainable practices.
In all these struggles, women and youth must take center stage.
Faced with growing inequalities and environmental catastrophes, neoliberal capitalism has proven unable to deliver solutions. Instead of addressing inequality, economic elites and many politicians support the far-right, which protects privilege while perpetuating injustice.
La Via Campesina is building international peasant solidarity against all forms of capitalist, colonial, and patriarchal domination. We globalize the struggle to globalize hope!”
Through its active participation at the GFFA and beyond, La Via Campesina continues to amplify the voices of peasants, farmers, and rural workers, fighting for food sovereignty for a just and dignified future for all.