Following the conclusion of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20) on February 28th, 2026 in Cartagena, Colombia, the National Farmers Union (Canada) and the National Family Farm Coalition (United States), representing over 100,000 small-scale farmers, fisherfolk, ranchers, Indigenous Peoples, and peasants across our territories, call on all of governments in North America to implement transformative food system policy, particularly related to land governance, rooted in human rights frameworks and the principles of equity and justice.

For decades our farmer members and rural communities on both sides of the border have been forced to defend their livelihoods and relationships to the land despite increasing corporate control of our food systems, lack of adoption and enforcement of human rights frameworks particularly for the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Black farmers, and lack of adequate support mechanisms for smallholders to access land and navigate systemic low prices and increasing impacts of the climate crisis. We call on our governments to put rural livelihoods over corporate profits and politically support the vision of ICARRD and future multilateral policy negotiations on people-centered agrarian reform and rural development.

Click here to view the joint statement.