In 2019, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) launched the Decade of Action for Family Farming 2019-2028 and a global action plan to support family farmers, particularly in developing countries. Family farming is “a means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family capital and labour, including both women’s and men’s. The family and the farm are linked, co-evolve and combine economic, environmental, social and cultural functions.” » (FAO).  Family farming, which accounts for 90% of farms worldwide and produces 80% of the world's food in terms of value, indeed appears to be an indispensable element in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (in particular Number 2) and contributing to the fight against hunger and malnutrition in all its forms (UN, 2019). In practice, however, little is known about forms of family farming likely to best meet these challenges.

This is particularly the case in the Small Island Countries and Territories (SICTs) of the intertropical zone, recognized as the most economically and environmentally vulnerable to global changes. Beyond their heterogeneity, family farming including agriculture, fishing, hunting and harvesting ensure not only the functions of food and market production, but also very fundamental social, environmental and cultural functions. This multifunctionality of agriculture, recognized since the end of the 1990s during the WTO negotiations, is however difficult to translate into tools of knowledge and operational management (especially in its non-market dimension). Above all, “traditional” forms of subsistence activities have been eroded by multiple economic, cultural and environmental upheavals (erosion of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, massive pollutions) that have largely undermined food security and the health of populations.

This call is aligned on the H2020 RISE multidisciplinary project called: Family Farming Lifestyle And Health in the Pacific (FALAH). The objective of FALAH project is to promote and revitalise family farming, including agriculture, fishing, hunting and harvesting practices, to improve the health of Pacific populations and ensure food security in the context of rapid social and economic transformations and climate change, which effect are particularity harmful to Pacific islands.

Websites: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/873185

     https://falah.unc.nc/

Keywords: Agriculture, fishing, lifestyle, health, economics, sustainability, nutrition, food security, food system, Oceania, education, traditional knowledge.

In this context, this call for papers is open to multidisciplinary contributions on the following themes:

         Family farming is a term used to define means of organizing agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production which is managed and operated by a family and predominantly reliant on family capital and labour. However, in practice this definition masks a diversity of forms of family farming, both in terms of size and production techniques, ranging from traditional forms of subsistence to industrial, as well as gendered agricultural production and consumption. This is why we need to examine which forms of family farming are most likely to ensure development sustainability and resilience of populations in the face of climate change, but also the impact of natural/genetic resource ownership regimes.

a) Which agriculture and fisheries for tomorrow: productivist versus agroecological family farming, small fisheries and pluriactivity?

b) High tech versus low-tech practices?

c) The seed trade: a contested globalization

d) Towards a more inclusive farming, fishing, hunting and agriculture activities?

e) Agriculture, fishing, hunting and local exchange systems

f) Gendered production activities and consumption

            The rapid socio-economic transition and the globalization process have considerably disrupted local agro and food systems, as well as main components of lifestyle that are physical activity and nutrition behaviours. Migration flows generated internally by rapid urbanization and externally by the search for international rents have a significant impact on the available labour force in rural areas by offering alternative sources of monetary income. The improvement of human capital (education) directs people towards less physically demanding jobs, reduces the attractiveness of traditional and subsistence activities, which are generally much less remunerative. Among the large drivers of food systems, the nutrition transition has been characterised by a decrease in subsistence production leading to a less physical active life and an increase availability and consumption of industrial food products that both significantly affect health of populations. Poor diet and unhealthy lifestyles are associated with overweight, obesity and non-communicable disease and therefore ways of assessing and monitoring the changes that happen overtime are required to co-design effective interventions to address population health. Such evolution also has serious consequences on the purchasing power of populations and food security. This is particularly the case following the acceleration of the globalization process, which has generated a strong increase in interdependencies and systemic risks, as shown by the recent Covid-19 crisis. So, this axis proposes to focus on:

a)     Transitions and food systems

b)    Food security and systemic risks

c)     Liberalization and financialization of commodity and food markets

d)    Lifestyle : nutrition, physical activity and population health

         International cooperation policies and Western capitalist ideology significantly influence the education of populations in developing countries such as SICTs and the elaboration of public policies, in particular through the practice of conditionality/selectivity of aid and, more broadly, the role of the media. The success and influence of neo-institutionalist theses contributed to rehabilitate community management of common resources and the place of local knowledge. However, the articulation of different levels of governance as well as different modes of regulation poses significant difficulties. Furthermore, the so-called "traditional" practices and their underlying knowledge are likely to be considerably affected by global changes, which make adaptation necessary for greater resilience.

a) Development aid, subsistence activities (farming, fishing, hunting) and food policies

b) The challenges of the growing role of the private sector in cooperation policies

c) Local agronomic and food knowledge in the face of natural risk disasters, climate change and pandemics

d) Knowledge exchange and education for sustainable agriculture, food and health

e) Which development model to ensure food and energy self-sufficiency?

Publication opportunities:

Presentations of the conference can be submitted for publication in the FALAH project collection in Open Research Europe journal : https://open-research-europe.ec.europa.eu/collections/family-farming-lifestyle-health/about

Note that for FALAH members, all article processing charges will be covered centrally by the European Commission.

Dr Séverine Blaise, University of New-Caledonia (Program Chair)

Dr Séverine Bouard, Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien

Dr Heide Bruckner, University of Graz

Dr Christian Bugajim, University of Goroka

Dr Juliana Chen, The University of Sydney

Dr John Fasi, Solomon Island National University

Pr Jean-Marie Fotsing, University of New-Caledonia (Conference chair)

Dr Olivier Galy, University of New-Caledonia (Conference chair)

Dr Nichole Georgeou, Western Sydney University

Dr Charles Hawksley, University of Wollongong

Dr Viliamu Iese, University of South Pacific

Dr Pascal Michon, National University of Vanuatu

Pr David Raubenheimer, The University of Sydney

Dr Catherine Sabinot, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement

Dr Christophe Serra-Mallol, Université de Toulouse Jean Jaurès

Dr David Simar, University of New South Wales

Dr Frank Thomas, University of South Pacific

For paper submission, please send your proposal at the two following addresses:  falahconfvan2023@gmail.com

 The first page of your submission must contain the title, author(s) and contact information of the corresponding author. Please note that the extended abstract should not exceed 3 pages and must include:

- the relevant theme (sub-theme) of the call for papers;

- the objectives of the paper, the methods used and the main results obtained;

- selected bibliographic references.

For all other questions, please contact the organizing committee:   falahconfvan2023@gmail.com

Deadline for submission: 16/04/2023 NEW DEADLINE

Decisions: 02/05/2023

Registrations: 01/06/2023 on the platform : https://falah.sciencesconf.org/