International Programs Committee

The NFU has a long-standing commitment to building international solidarity. We are founding members of La Via Campesina, a global movement which many consider to be the largest social movement in the world!

Recognizing that small-and-medium scale farmers around the world are connected by a shared struggle for justice and wellbeing for all, we stand in solidarity with our partners internationally to advocate for and build food sovereignty, agroecology, climate justice, fair and just trade policies, migrant justice, and peasant and Indigenous rights. 

We embrace the core values of food sovereignty, as articulated by La Via Campesina, in the Declaration of Nyéléni (2007) and as outlined in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Peoples Working in Rural Areas (UNDROP). These foundational documents include the following global justice principles:

• Food is for people, not for profit!
• Value and respect food providers and their rights 
• Localize food systems and implement fair and just trade policies
• Localize control over all aspects of food systems — territory, water, seeds, markets, knowledge, technology, etc. 
• Build and support traditional and Indigenous knowledges and skills
• Work in harmony with the non-human world 

Building meaningful and long-term solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and migrant workers is central to our work. In 2015, the IPC established the NFU’s Indigenous Solidarity Working Group to deepen our commitment to challenging settler colonialism and affirming Indigenous food sovereignty and rematriation. In 2017, we established the NFU’s Migrant Worker Solidarity Working Group to fight for systemic change, taking the lead from migrant justice organizations in Canada advocating for permanent residence status for all.