You are invited to participate in a moderated e-mail conference hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) from 10 to 23 October 2016 entitled “Exploring the contribution of small farms to achieving food security and improved nutrition”.

FAO is hosting this e-mail conference as part of its contributions to an EU-funded Horizon 2020 research project on “Small Farms, Small Food Businesses and Sustainable Food Security” (SALSA). In this 4-year project, which began in April 2016, FAO is collaborating with 16 European and African partners to develop a better understanding of the current and potential contribution of small farms and small food businesses to sustainable food and nutrition security in an increasingly globalised and uncertain world.

The e-mail conference will allow participants from around the world to share and discuss their experiences, lessons learned and perspectives on the contribution of small farms to food security and nutrition. The kinds of issues to be discussed will include, inter alia, the characterization of small farms; the current (and future) contribution of small farms to the different dimensions of food security; and the best approaches for researchers to use to evaluate the contribution of small farms to food security.

The conference is open to everyone, is free and will be moderated. A background document is being prepared and will be sent to subscribers before the conference begins.  For more information and instructions on how to subscribe, please contact AIS@fao.org or see http://www.fao.org/nr/research-extension-systems/res-home/news/detail/en/c/434322/