The Agriculture Breakthrough wants to make climate resilient, sustainable agriculture the most attractive and widely adopted option for farmers everywhere by 2030. 

Announced in the World Leaders Summit at COP26 last year, agriculture is one of five key action areas under a broader Breakthrough Agenda. 

Since then, the Agriculture Breakthrough has been backed by a number of countries with significant agriculture sectors. These include Sweden, Morocco, Denmark, Belgium, Latvia and Japan.

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Globally, around 40 percent of the world’s land is now used for agriculture - around the same proportion of land that is degraded.

Food production tripled in just forty years, but in unsustainable ways. 

The very natural systems on which we depend for food production have been undermined. 

Under the UK's COP26 Presidency, nature was brought from the margins of the global climate debate into the heart of the international response. There is no credible solution to climate change without nature.

The Agriculture Breakthrough is critical to a 'just rural transition' that provides equitable solutions to food systems challenges that work for everyone. 

To achieve that, the Agriculture Breakthrough brings farmers together with the private sector and researchers to make good options cheaper and more accessible, and to scale these solutions where they are needed. 

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Global engagement for the Agriculture Breakthrough is led jointly by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the 'think-and-do-tank' Clim-Eat and AICCRA. 

Progress on the Breakthrough Agenda will be measured through a State of Sectoral Transitions Report, led by the International Energy Agency (IEA), working with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the UN High Level Action Champions. All work closely with leading initiatives in each Breakthrough sector: Power, road, transport, steel, hydrogen and agriculture.

The Agriculture Breakthrough team recently hosted official side events at the Stockholm+50 conference and the 56th Session of the UNFCCC Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA), otherwise known as the 'Bonn Climate Conference'. 

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Stockholm+50

Stockholm+50 was held under the theme - “A healthy planet for the prosperity of all: Our responsibility; Our opportunity”.

It marked five decades since the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. 

Recognizing the importance of multilateralism in tackling triple planetary crises – climate, nature and pollution – Stockholm+50 hoped to be a springboard for accelerating the UN 'Decade of Action' for the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals among others, while encouraging the adoption of green post-COVID-19 recovery plans.

At the Stockholmsmässan venue, we were thrilled to share perspectives from a number of influential voices on climate action, who supported the Agriculture Breakthrough at our official side-event. 

Ban Ki-moon (Co-chair of the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens and 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations) called for a "significant increase in financing for agricultural innovation would offer strong returns on investment and make considerable progress towards combating the climate crisis."

Guided by Ban Ki-moon’s leadership, the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens is dedicated to increasing financial and political commitments to strengthen agricultural adaptation, elevating the resilience of smallholder farmers farmers in Africa whose livelihoods are most critically impacted by climate change.

The Secretary General was joined by the Rt Hon Lord Goldsmith, Minister for Pacific and the Environment at the FCDO. Lord Goldsmith emphasised that "we need to show that we’re serious about closing the giant funding gap for nature…but also shifting hundreds of billions of dollars countries spend subsidising often highly destructive land-use towards resilience and renewal."

"The Agriculture Breakthrough is a critical part of the transition." he added. 

Just as Sweden announced it was backing the Agriculture Breakthrough, the team were joined at their Stockholm+50 side-event by Mattias Frumerie, Head of the Swedish Delegation to UNFCCC and Sweden’s chief climate negotiator. 

He shared his perspectives on stage and later on the sidelines of the event. 

AICCRA Director Ana Maria Loboguerrero was later joined on stage by a compelling panel of speakers including Joao Campari (Global Leader, Food Practice, WWF International), Joanna Purcell (Head of Partnerships – Innovation Accelerator, World Food Programme) and Jyotsna Puri (Associate Vice-President - Strategy and Knowledge Department, IFAD). 

Closing remarks came from UK High Level Climate Champion Nigel Topping, who focused on four crucial aspects of the breakthrough: Urgency, innovation, accountability and collaboration. 

Bonn Climate Conference 

A week later the Agriculture Breakthrough team travelled to Bonn for an official side-event entitled "The global food crisis - How can an Agriculture Breakthrough deliver for Africa?"

Contributions came from Gerard Howe (Head of Adaptation, Nature & Resilience Department, FCDO Energy, Climate and Environment Directorate), Ishmael Sunga (CEO, The Southern African Confederation of Agricultural Unions), Andy Challinor (Professor of Climate Impacts, University of Leeds) and Jackline Nekesa Makokha (Kenya National Focal Point on Gender and Climate Change to the UNFCCC, Kenya Ministry of Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizens Affairs and Special Programs). 

AICCRA's Global Communications and Knowledge Manager, Rhys Bucknall-Williams, outlined why AICCRA backs the Agriculture Breakthrough: 

"AICCRA is all about connecting and scaling for impact. It's about understanding how we deliver impact with existing knowledge and innovations. In many ways, it’s the Agriculture Breakthrough in practice."

Rhys Bucknall-Williams is Global Communications and Knowledge Manager at Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA)