The United Nations envisions that, by 2050, almost 70 percent of the global growing population will be living in urban areas, especially in small cities and towns within Africa and Asia. This will mean more people to feed in these cities, as well as the risk of nutrition problems and increased levels of obesity associated with changes in diet and lifestyle. In this context, agriculture will need to produce more nutritious food while competing for ever scarcer natural resources and struggling with the effects of climate change.

Family farmers innovate by developing assemblages of old and new food system practices and organizational processes, using both traditional and diverse forms of knowledge and connecting these with newly available information and technologies. These innovations have a holistic approach and can take many forms: technological, social, policy, financial, marketing, legislative and institutional. They can cover all aspects of agrifood systems and help family farmers to fight hunger and poverty, revitalize rural areas and protect the environment.