Nyeleni ECA Thematic Webinar No5 [23.04.2025] - STRATEGIES FOR INFLUENCING LAND POLICIES

Facing the common trends of the disappearance of farms, land concentration in the hands of a few, and the industrialisation of farming practices, the food sovereignty movement is confronted with a burning and urgent question: how do we ensure land (re)distribution, the realization of the right to land, and access to land to transform our food systems?

To achieve the agroecological transition, we need ambitious public land policies—policies that regulate land markets, reform land governance frameworks, and ensure equitable access to land for farmers.

In response to this pressing challenge, the Nyéléni ECA network, together with European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC), Transnational Institute (TNI), the Access to Land Network, and the REBOOT project, organized an exchange on strategies to influence land policies.

Putting Land Reform Back on the Global Agenda

The exchange began with Morgan Ody, a peasant farmer from France, who presented the upcoming International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD), scheduled for February 2026. This conference is expected to be a key moment to bring land reform back to the international agenda and to counter land grabbing driven by green capitalism, often linked with geopolitical conflicts such as in Congo, Palestine, and Ukraine.

While institutions like the World Bank continue to push for a land agenda rooted in privatization, ECVC advocates instead for the implementation of the right to land and access to natural resources through the de-commodification of land. The ICARRD conference will provide a strategic platform to push for national and regional land reforms that emphasize redistribution of land to those who cultivate it.

A “Land First” Strategy for Agroecological Transformation

Next, Adam Calo from Radboud University shared his research on the deep connection between land politics and food system change. He emphasized that a genuine transformation of food systems towards agroecology must include a shift in how land use rights are transferred and how access to land is distributed—beyond the conventional model of private ownership.

Adam raised the critical question: can food systems truly transform within the dominant property regime? His answer: no. For agroecology to scale, the movement needs to adopt a “land first” strategy, recognizing that access to land is foundational to any meaningful shift in agricultural practice.

Monitoring Land: Towards a European Land Observatory

Building on this theoretical framework, Attila Szocs presented the Access to Land Network’s policy brief on the creation of a Land Observatory. This initiative seeks to contribute to ongoing discussions within the European Commission, which is preparing a pilot project for a European Observatory on Farmland.

Attila highlighted several key needs:

Public data on land markets, land rents, and soil quality;

Studies on land concentration and the financialization of farmland;

A focus on how policies like the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) affect access and use of land;

And crucially, the integration of farmers in the governance of such observatories.

A Local Perspective: The Irish Land Observatory

Finally, Daniel Long, a dairy farmer from Talamh Beo, shared the experience of the Irish Stakeholder Land Observatory. This grassroots initiative—driven by producers and local associations—aims to monitor threats to farmland at the local level, offering a practical example of how farmers can take land monitoring into their own hands.

Regional Exchanges and Tools for Action

Participants in the session exchanged views on the specificities of agrarian and land reforms in different contexts, including Africa, Europe, and Latin America. The discussion also explored concrete tools to move beyond the dominant property regime and scale up agroecology—for instance, by introducing caps on the amount of farmland one can own.

If you were unable to attend, you can watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/Y-z7FNaOr2s

--------------------------------

The Nyéléni ECA Food Sovereignty movement has launched its much-anticipated series of online thematic webinars. These monthly sessions aim to bring together member organizations and civil society actors to engage in meaningful dialogue, share insights, and learn from one another's experiences on the most pressing issues related to food sovereignty.

The fifth webinar, co-organized with ECVC, TNI, the Access to Land Network, and the REBOOT project, focused on strategies to influence land policies—a crucial topic in the face of increasing land concentration, the disappearance of small farms, and the industrialization of agriculture. This session provided a space to reflect on national and regional policy strategies, including the upcoming ICARRD conference and innovative tools such as land observatories, as part of a broader push to secure access to land and achieve agroecological transformation in the ECA region.