AmericasAgForum2025 seeks co-operation on weighty issue of food security

Opinion

OLDS, Alta. — The “world’s most pressing issues” outlined in documents for G7 leaders meeting in Kananaskis, Alta., week seem complicated, unsolvable and worsening. One of those leaders even left early, reportedly to deal with another war.

Meanwhile, delegates attending a simultaneous meeting just up the road at Olds were saying — in a manner of speaking — “hold my beer.”

It was no coincidence the shadow summit organized by the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture with support from the International Fund for Agricultural Development took place on the same days in the same province as the G7 summit.

“The summit’s agenda does not include discussions on agriculture or food security, despite the critical role these sectors play in the economic, social, and environmental development of the Americas,” says a communiqué promoting the event. “This event will serve as a positive and inclusive space for dialogue, bringing together government officials, industry representatives, academics, development experts and students, to explore solutions that enhance agriculture, food security, sustainability, innovation and trade.”

Peace and security? Global migration? Trade? Economic growth? Climate? Energy?

Food security is at the core of these G7 issues. Likewise, agriculture is at the root of the solution. That point was highlighted repeatedly over the two-day event that attracted 150 delegates in person and several hundred listening online.

“Agriculture has to be an instrument of peace,” IICA director general Manuel Otero said in an interview on the opening day of the AmericasAgForum2025. “In all of these issues, agriculture is at the centre of the solutions, so implicitly or explicitly G7 leaders have to discuss the role of agriculture.”

IICA, which was founded in 1942, focuses on fostering rural and agricultural development among its 34 member states across the Americas.

Otero told his audience the world faces a multidimensional challenge over the next 40 years. Meeting the growing demand for food will require addressing production shortfalls brought about by climate change while navigating the simultaneous crises of undernutrition and obesity.

Agricultural policy “is not just climate smart anymore, it has to be nutritionally smart, too,” he said.

Otero called on world leaders to focus on policies that enable smallholder farmers to adopt new technologies that stabilize rural communities by keeping farmers on the land. A robust rural economy stabilizes cities, too.

“Every time a producer becomes a consumer, we face a problem,” Otero said, noting outward migration from rural areas creates unsustainable pressure on urban infrastructure and food systems.

Farm leaders addressing the conference said politicians need to be reminded of the vital role food producers play in global security and geopolitical stability. They warned rural depopulation and the loss of youth will hamper the sector’s ability to stay abreast of the world’s future food needs.

Kallie Wood, president and CEO of the newly launched National Circle for Indigenous Agriculture and Food, said rather than seeking new solutions and posturing over who will be the leaders, the focus should be on building relationships, trust and sharing ideas that are already working.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” Wood said. “There’s ideologies and models that are working all around the world. I think we adopt one another’s processes that are working. Nobody has to lead this, it’s about outcome.”

Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Keith Currie said farmers have a long history of working together to accomplish common goals. He said everyone benefits from rules-based trade and harmonized regulatory systems that give farmers access to the technological tools they need to succeed. But they need to be part of the conversation.

“Constantly we find ourselves, more so on the political side of things, being last to the table of the conversation, instead of being first to the table,” he said.

“I always like to remind people that the French Revolution was very romantic, talking about liberty, but … the French were hungry, there was a catastrophic failure that made people hungry,” said Jorge Esteve Recolons, president of Mexico’s Consego Nacional Agropecuarario (National Agricultural Council). “So, to have stable nations, we really need to take care of food security.”

Laura Rance is executive editor, production content lead for Glacier FarmMedia. She can be reached at lrance@farmmedia.com