AGRIEVOLUTION represented equipment manufacturers worldwide in The Global Conference on Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization (GAMC) convened at Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) headquarters. Over 300 participated onsite and over 8,500 participated on-line.
This was a historic moment for FAO as they had never before held a conference focused specifically on the importance of mechanization serving the sector in meeting the strategic goals of FAO in feeding the world, achieving food security and improved nutrition.
Agrievolution Chairman Ignacio Ruiz served as moderator for a panel discussing the importance of the supply chain serving the manufacturing sector. The supply chain plays a crucial role in enhancing the productivity and sustainability of the agricultural sector. Agrievolution Secretary General Charlie O’Brien served as a member of the supply chain panel, encouraging the development and harmonization of standards, test protocols, certifications, and data for agricultural machinery to facilitate the trade of safe and well performing machinery on a global perspective. Chairman Ruiz summarized the session stating the supply chains and services for sustainable agriculture mechanization (SAM) are the essential business tools to implement any technological or innovative solution in the agricultural sector. Farmers need scalable SAM solutions to produce more with less resources; manufacturers, importers, distributors, and other business models as those specified during the session, need to be in the agenda of policymakers.Public-private partnerships are needed to fill the gap between the supply and demand of agriculture machines, which will continue getting broader every year whilst no global legal harmonization is agreed, and the farm income does not increase at the same rate as costs of investments or intermediate expenditures for farmers.
One good example of harmonization would be the MAC-protocol, giving financial and legal warranties to stakeholders in different countries; or the implementation of hire services helping farmers to adopt new technologies while providing training in the safe and proper use of equipment.
We need to continue learning from experts in the field to get awareness of the geographical and political challenges that need to be tackled for the delivery of sustainable mechanization. The effects of legislative and political measures need to be assessed by all stakeholders to assess their effectiveness regarding the fulfillment of sustainable development goals.
Agrievolution praised FAO for having the foresight to host a conference recognizing the important role that mechanization plays in meeting the world demands for food and helping achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Agrievolution would specifically like to thank FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General Maria Helena Semedo and Josef Kienzle, Lead of the Sustainable Agricultural Mechanization team of FAO Plant Production and Protection Division.