As negotiators endeavour to recover from the caffeine hangovers and civil servants the world over work out how to operationalise promises made, many groups are already turning their attention to COP27. One of these is farmers and producers.

World Food Organisation President Theo De Jager both recognised the progress made, and that Farmers had much more to bring to global climate action when he closed the UN Food Systems Summit saying, “let us not just be called to the table, let us be called into the kitchen for the recipes and solutions on climate”.

Progress has been made. With COP26 came a series of major announcements formally launching pledges and initiatives for food and agriculture featuring many key actors. Notably, the $4bn investment directed at climate-smart agriculture and food systems innovation was supported not just by 45 National Governments, but also a range of philanthropic funds, corporations, academic departments and non-governmental organisations; the Policy Action Agenda for a Just Transition to Sustainable Food and Agriculture, was led by the COP26 presidency, the World Bank, and Just Rural Transition. and informed by civil society organisations.

This is great… and farmers are ready to do more. Wasafiri worked with Race to Zero on the Producers’ Showcase of Action which was delivered as part of the Action Track panel on Natureday at #COP26. Through this work, we saw how worldwide, farmers and producers are already implementing solutions to both adapt to and mitigate climate change and making them known. For example:

• In Britain, the new Agriculture & Land Use Alliance, supported by the National Farmers’ Union, hosted the first-ever Countryside COP to showcase and inspire net-zero activity in rural communities and agri-food supply chains.
• The Carbon Action platform led by the Baltic Sea Action Group (BSAG), is piloting accelerated soil carbon storage on 100 farms across Europe.
• In the US more than 150 of the leading companies, organizations, individuals and governments from the food and agriculture sector have signed onto the Decade of Ag, the first sector-wide movement to align around a shared vision and outcomes for the sustainable food and agriculture systems of the future.
• And globally, the Climakers Initiative brings together farmers of the world to promote their lead role and the best practices that farmers are already implementing to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

In the spirit of needing to not just be at the table at COP26 but also in the kitchen generating recipes and solutions, at the close of the panel farmers marched to the kitchens.

Elizabeth Nsimadala, President of Eastern Africa Farmers Federation and Director of the Women Affairs PanAfrican Farmers Organization, Anne Meis and Erin Fitzgerald of the US Farmers and Ranchers in Action, and Mateusz Ciasnocha, Farmer and CEO of the European Carbon Farmers and Race to Zero Regenerative Youth Fellow (High-Level Champion Youth Fellow), thanked the chefs and those who served the meals across the week while honouring those who are taking action harvesting right now.

This spirit of involvement links to another announcement at COP26 that’s worth watching. Regen10 is a decade-long collective action plan targeting at scale regenerative food production systems worldwide. In the next six months, Regen10 is aiming to mobilise the global farmer community and engage stakeholders across the food system to design the first wave of interventions that will be delivered by COP27.

Look out for Regen10 and show your support for farmers and producers being in the COP27 kitchen. To scale up regenerative farming practices and shift to truly sustainable farming we need their energy, experience, and passion in the centre of collective action. Get in touch if we can help you with that.