Membership
The AgriCord alliance is the initiative of mainstream farmers’ organisations from OECD countries. The alliance currently consists of 12 member agri-agencies, representing farmers’ organisations from Europe, Canada, West-Africa and Asia.
Farmers’ organisations are aware of the huge differences existing between farmers and farming systems in the world. They created AgriCord as their – global – alliance to strengthen the capacities of their colleagues, to create a – political and economic – level playing field for all farmers , and to improve their livelihood security.
The logo of the alliance refers to these huge differences, and to the need “to bring the pieces together”.
Agri-agencies
AgriCord members are the following twelve agri-agencies, each with its own network of farmers’ organisations in many developing countries, and each mandated by their respective national farmers’ organisations:
| agri-agencies | farmers’ organisations | country | since |
| ACODEA | UPA, FADEMUR, Cooperativas Agro-Alimentarias | Spain | 2014 |
| AFDI | FNSEA, APCA, Jeunes Agriculteurs, CNMCCA | France | 2003 |
| AGRITERRA | LTO, SSVO, NCR and NAJK | Netherlands | 2003 |
| AHA | DBV Deutscher BauernVerband | Germany | 2014 |
| ASIADHRRA | AFA Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development | Asia | 2011 |
| ASPRODEB | Organisations agricoles du Sénégal membres d’Asprodeb | Senegal | 2011 |
| CSA | FWA Fédération Wallonne d’Agriculture | Belgium | 2010 |
| FERT | Groupe Céréaliers de France (AGPB, AGPM, ARVALIS, UNIGRAINS) | France | 2003 |
| FFD | MTK, SLC, Pellervo, ProAgria | Finland | 2013 |
| TRIAS | Boerenbond, Landelijke Gilden, KVLV and KLJ | Belgium | 2003 |
| UPA DI | UPA Union des Producteurs Agricoles (Québec) | Canada | 2003 |
| WE EFFECT | LRF Federation of Swedish Farmers | Sweden | 2004 |
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CIA Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori (associated member) The Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori, CIA, is a professional farmers' organisation, independent from political parties and from government. CIA represents farmers' interests in Italy, in Europe and at the international level. The Confederation is represented in institutes and organisations that work in the field of food security, environmental issues, and all social, technical and economic aspects of farming in Italy. CIA organises advisory services to farmers, and deals with innovation, biological farming, agro-tourism. CIA has special programs aimed at senior or young farmers, and at women farmers. CIA is one of the largest European agricultural professional organisations. CIA counts more than 900.000 members, of which approximately 300.000 are agricultural entrepreneurs.
Filippo Valentini |
Italy | 2009 |
Since 2011, organisations from non-OECD countries, one from the Asian region, AsiaDHRRA (agri-agency for AFA, Asian Farmers’ Association) and one from Senegal, Asprodeb (agri-agency for a large group of Senegalese farmers’ organisations), also joined the alliance.
Agri-agencies are (i) governed by farmers’ and other rural people’s organisations and cooperatives, and (ii) focus their development work on strengthening similar farmers’ organisations and cooperatives elsewhere. All strongly believe in the power of organized farmers to foster more inclusive and prosperous societies.
Each agency supports professional farmers’ organisations and cooperatives, thus developing family based farming by promoting their entrepreneurial capacities and driving development by promoting farmer-led rural off-farm rural employment and service provision.
Each agri-agency within the alliance:
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retains its own identity and specific farmer-led governance and control
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is committed to mutual support and collaboration and to alignment of its activities, for a more efficient use of resources, and for more effective support to farmers’ organisations.
AgriCord members base their actions on demands from organized farmers, respecting the independence, autonomy, organizational set-up and levels of authority in each organization or cooperative, yet with a clear objective of giving them a better position in the economy and society.
Among the agri-agencies, differences exist in target groups and organizations, focus countries and approaches. This creates opportunities to cover the different needs, types and levels of farmer’s organisations and cooperatives in various contexts, and to adapt strategies to the potential and the diversity of the farmers involved. The 2016 re-engineering of the alliance allows to take advantage of these differences among agri-agencies and complement each other’s strengths.
Associated members
An organisation, eligible to become an associated organisation within AgriCord, is either a membership based farmer's organisation, or an organisation, linked to the farmers' world, involved in the support to producer organisations in developing countries, in line with the vision and mission of AgriCord. The applying associated organisations must have the legal statute of a non-profit organisation, and must have a proven record of concrete involvement in development cooperation issues.
Farmers’ organisations from Finland (MTK), Germany (DBV), Spain (UPA) have been longtime associated member of AgriCord, before creating their own agri-agency: FFD for Finland, , AHA for Germany, and ACODEA for Spain.
