Press and News Global Farm Platform awarded FAO 'Technical Recognition' for sustainable livestock transformation

Through its participation in GFP, the Alliance collaborates with partners to support policymakers, scientists, and farmers in responding to some of the most pressing climate changes challenges of our time and help developing countries make livestock more competitive, profitable, and resilient through smarter, more sustainable practices.

“We’ve been part of the Global Farm Platform for several years now,” said An Notenbaert, Thematic Leader of the Alliance's Tropical Forages Team in Africa. “While we don’t operate a research farm in Africa, we contribute valuable insights from our close engagement with smallholder farmers across the region. From Colombia, we also share findings from our on-campus silvopastoral trials. Through our participation in GFP workshops, joint publications, and collaborative proposals, we’re proud to contribute to a shared vision of sustainable livestock transformation.

Launched in 2014, with the Nature paper ‘Steps to Sustainable Livestock’, the GFP exemplifies technical leadership and collaboration through its unique hub-and-spoke model. Research farms (hubs) serve as regional centers for experimentation and demonstration, while commercial farms and smallholders (spokes) adopt and disseminate locally relevant, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable practices. This model ensures scalable solutions tailored to diverse farming communities worldwide, from Malawi’s Small-Scale Livestock and Livelihoods Programme, which boosts smallholder incomes by 30–50% through goat auctions and dual-purpose crops; to Uruguay’s Palo a Pique, enhancing soil fertility through no-tillage and pasture-crop rotations, demonstrate measurable economic, social, and environmental benefits.

The FAO recognition and conference presentation highlight GFP’s mission to bridge science and practice, delivering context-specific solutions that support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly #4 (Quality Education), #13 (Climate Action), and #15 (Life on Land). With over £4 million in funding and a network spanning India’s Silent Valley smallholder dairy cattle system in tropical humid environments to New Zealand’s Dairy 1 pasture-based intensive dairy with once-a-day milking, GFP continues to drive transformative change in ruminant farming, benefiting farmers, ecosystems, and communities worldwide. Over the last almost 12 years, we’ve executed over 15 projects and conducted 35 international workshops. These activities have allowed us to support 15 internships for mainly early career researchers from a variety of countries such as Uruguay, China, Nigeria, Iran, India, Brazil, and Ghana. We are currently contributing to the Marshal Papworth program, working with international students from Africa and Asia. We’ve also published nearly 200 scientific articles, reporting our collaborative work around the globe. For more information about the Global Farm Platform and its initiatives, visit www.globalfarmplatform.org.