Dr Holderness was invited to attend the IFAP World Farmers Congress in Warsaw, June 4-6. He presented a paper to the Opening Plenary Session, entitled ‘The Global Forum: Shaping Tomorrow’s Agriculture Today’. This paper, available on line on EGFAR, outlined GFAR’s agenda for connecting agricultural science and society, creating farmer-centred systems of agricultural research for development that are driven by the needs of poor communities and with a particular focus on ensuring sustainable increases in productivity. The paper was very well received by a large audience, representing farmers’ organizations from 70 countries. Further practical linkage is now being developed with the IFAP Secretariat, Development and Research Committees, to translate this enthusiasm into practical actions and close partnership with other constituencies of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research. 

The World Farmers’ Congress was extremely well organized and covered a range of relevant global themes, including building commodity supply chains, approval of IFAP policies on food safety and quality and on animal welfare and managing risks created by market volatility and global warming. There was extensive discussion on climate change and bioenergy, including arguments from the perspectives of farmers in large biofuel producing countries. Economic themes of investing in agriculture for reducing rural poverty, including a paper by Juergen Voegele, Director of the World Bank’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department and on rewarding eco-system services were also very relevant for other constituencies within the Global Forum. Agricultural trade impacts globally and Crawford Falconer, Chair of the Agricultural Negotiations of WTO, joined the Congress via a videolink. A very interesting and relevant meeting, it was only unfortunate that a clash of dates with the FAO High Level Conference overshadowed the attention it should have otherwise drawn. Further information on the World Farmers’Congress is available at www.ifap.org. 

We congratulate Ajay Vashee from Zambia, farmer leader, President of SACAU, a regional farmers' organization for Southern Africa and former President of the Zambian National Farmers' Union, on his election as the new IFAP President.