Farmers. They have always been at the forefront of ensuring that we have one of our most essential needs: food. The Covid-19 pandemic has more than shone a light on the vital role organic farmers play in keeping the planet alive, both as food providers and custodians of nature.
Knowing that they do not always get the attention they deserve, IFOAM – Organics International launched the #IGrowYourFood action day in 2019 to change this. We wanted to dedicate a day to highlighting organic farmers and the experiences they encounter when growing our food in a healthy and sustainable way.
Our voices as farmers are not heard. That is why I was happy to hear about the #IGrowYourFood campaign from IFOAM – Organics International which gives farmers like me and the 20 women in my community a global platform to speak on.”
Selina Nkoile, an organic farmer in Kenya
In 2019 , we carried out the action day with Make Europe Sustainable For All (MESA), and shared multiple videos and articles of organic farmers, especially from Europe. It was an instant success!
We reached an audience of 47,349 on social media and were joined by numerous farmers and farmers’ organizations such as, FAO family farming platform, Slow Food, IPES Food and Greenpeace in sharing these messages.
This was only the beginning, yet one thing was clear: this was going to become an annual action day.
Meet Fergal, an organic farmer from Ireland who participated in #IGrowYourFood in 2019
#IGrowYourFood 2020
To provide the platform for farmers voices from all over the world, this year’s #IGrowYourFood action day was set for 25th September. This year, we have widened our reach, and have even more video messages to be shared. It is as global as the organic movement!
With the day itself around the corner, we are already receiving positive messages from organic farmers around the world who will be part of the action day.
I believe that initiatives like #SWAG and #IGrowYourFood are great platforms for farmers to share their messages, for example on the challenges they face in daily life.”
Floris Niu, an organic farmer from Samoa
When we applaud the heroes in our communities, let us not forget to include organic farmers. For this reason, we invite you to join us on 25th September as we put organic farmers’ faces and messages across all social media platforms. Whether you’re a farmer, producer, exporter, processor, organisation or consumer, you can participate in the day.
The social media wall where all the posts appear with the hashtag #IGrowYourFood
How?
- Choose a message from our social media toolkit or if you already have your own message (video, photo or article), use them
- For Twitter, post the chosen messages using #IGrowYourFood and #LuvOrganic between 11:00-13:00 CEST and 17:00-19:00 CEST
- For the rest of the other social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram), post your messages at 11:00 CEST
- Using the hashtags will not only make farmers a trend on social media but everyone will be able to see the messages on the website’s social wall
- Feel free to post more than one message and share
With your engagement, we will amplify organic farmers’ voices across the globe and celebrate them for food and farming heroes that they are.
