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Jointly published with Éditions Quæ, France.
What is family farming? How can it help meet the challenges confronting the world? How can it contribute to a sustainable and more equitable development? Not only is family farming the predominant form of agriculture around the world, especially so in developing countries, it is also the agriculture of the future. By declaring 2014 the "International Year of Family Farming," the United Nations has placed this form of production at the center of debates on agricultural development.
These debates are often reduced to two opposing positions. The first advocates the development of industrial or company agriculture, supposedly efficient because it follows industrial processes for market-oriented mass production. The second promotes the preservation of family farming with its close links between family and farm. The authors of Family Farming and the Worlds to Come wish to enrich the debates by helping overcome stereotypes – which often manifest through the use of terms such as "small-scale farming, subsistence farming, peasant, etc." Research work has emphatically demonstrated the great adaptability of family farming systems and their ability to meet the major challenges of tomorrow but it has also not overlooked their limitations.
The authors explore the choices facing society and possible development trajectories at national and international levels, and the contribution that agriculture will have to make. They call for a recommitment of public policies in favor of family farming in developing countries and stress the importance of planning actions targeted at and tailored to the family character of agricultural models. But, above all, they highlight the need to overcome strictly sectoral rationales, by placing family farming at the core of a broader economic and social project. Family Farming and the Worlds to Come is the result of a collaborative effort led by CIRAD and encapsulates three decades of research on family farming. It will interest researchers, teachers and students, and all those involved in national and international efforts for the development of countries in the South.
Acknowledgements
Foreword; Ibrahim Assane Mayaki
General introduction; Jean-Michel Sourisseau
Part 1 Defining and understanding family farming systems; Coordination: Pierre-Marie Bosc, Laurent Parrot, Christian Corniaux
1. Family farming: at the heart of the history of world agriculture; Bruno Losch
2. Defining, characterizing and measuring family farming models; Pierre-Marie Bosc, Jacques Marzin, Jean-Francois Belieres, Jean-Michel Sourisseau, Philippe Bonnal, Bruno Losch, Philippe Pedelahore, Laurent Parrot
3. Families, work and the farm; Veronique Ancey, Sandrine Freguin-Gresh
4. Family farming and other forms of agriculture; Jacques Marzin, Benoit Daviron, Sylvain Rafflegeau
Part 2 Helping to feed the world and territories to live; Coordination: Francois Affholder, Laurene Feintrenie, Bruno Losch
5. Contributing to ecological and social systems; Laurene Feintrenie, Francois Affholder
6. Contributing to territorial dynamics; Stephanie Barral, Marc Piraux, Jean-Michel Sourisseau, Elodie Valette
7. Contributing to production and international markets; Sylvain Rafflegeau, Bruno Losch, Benoit Daviron, Philippe Bastide, Pierre Charmetant, Thierry Lescot, Alexia Prades, Jerome Sainte-Beuve
8. Contributing to innovation, policies and local democracy; Pierre-Marie Bosc, Marc Piraux, Michel Dulcire
Part 3 Meeting the challenges of the future; Coordination: Philippe Bonnal, Ludovic Temple
9. Challenges of poverty, employment and food security; Philippe Bonnal, Bruno Losch, Jacques Marzin, Laurent Parrot
10. Energy challenges: threats or opportunities?; Marie-Helene Dabat, Denis Gautier, Laurent Gazull, Francois Pinta
11. Sanitary challenges increasingly relevant on a global scale; Sophie Molia, Pascal Bonnet, Alain Ratnadass
12. Challenges of managing and using natural resources; Daniele Clavel, Laurene Feintrenie, Emmanuel Torquebiau, Didier Bazile
Part 4 Research and the challenge of family farming; Coordination: Daniele Clavel, Michel Dulcire, Sophie Molia
13. Co-constructing innovation: action-research in partnership; Eric Vall, Eduardo Chia
14. Innovations in management advice to family farms; Guy Faure, Michel Havard, Aurelie Toillier, Patrice Djamen Nana, Ismail Moumouni
15. Support for the prevention of sanitary risks; Sophie Molia, Pascal Bonnet, Alain Ratnadass
16. Agricultural biodiversity and rural systems of seed production; Daniele Clavel, Didier Bazile, Benoit Bertrand, Olivier Sounigo, Kirsten Vom Brocke, Gilles Trouche
17. Lessons learnt and perspectives for ecological intensification; Francois Affholder, Laurent Parrot, Patrick Jagoret
Conclusion
References
List of authors
Jean-Michel Sourisseau is a socio-economist at CIRAD. Since 2010, he is responsible for the program "Trajectories, differentiations and inequalities in rural societies" of the French research unit ART-Dev. He is currently working on family farming systems, to renew the analytical frameworks of their strategies and performance. As CIRAD's focal point for the International Year of Family Farming, he recently published several books and articles on the topic and is invited to many international conferences on family farming all over the world.
