On February 1st, 2023, The Agroecology Fund brought together over 100 of its grantee partners, advisors, donors and staff, in a virtual celebration of the Fund’s 10-Year Anniversary. This event marked a decade of moving money to grassroots movements that lead the transformation towards healthy and sustainable food systems.

In a solemn opening moment, participants remembered and celebrated the life of Chris Honahnie, a young Indigenous leader who was part of the International Indian Treaty Council (IITC), one of the Fund’s long-term partners. Chris had served on the Agroecology Fund’s Executive Committee, a key component of the Fund’s inclusive governance model. Chris’s colleague, Janene Yazzie, spoke to the inspiration, hope, wisdom and leadership that Chris gave to the movement.

Seed sovereignty is core to the Agroecology Fund’s work. In remembrance of Chris – who had devoted himself to recirculating Indigenous seeds – participants from Mexico to Sri Lanka to Côte d’Ivoire engaged in a virtual seed exchange, lifting corn cobs and gourds of bean seeds to their cameras. It was a show of solidarity and commitment to moving Chris’s dream forward.

During the gathering, grantee partners spoke of the Fund’s critical and consistent support of grassroots work, especially in times of adversity.

“During Covid times, we saw that the Agroecology Fund is truly on the side of vulnerable people when they need you. I remember one [authority] of [a] district in Mali saying: ‘It is in hard times that you know your true friends.’ When [Covid-19] broke, many organizations left communal areas in Mali – this was the time when [the] Agroecology Fund allowed us to go and support people.”

– Tsuamba Bourgou (Grantee)

Meanwhile, the Agroecology Fund’s founders emphasized the leadership of grantee partners which lies at the core of the organization’s work. 

“Agroecology as a way of life needs deep and stable roots to flourish, and I really appreciate that the Agroecology Fund now holds front and center the importance of Indigenous Peoples’ rights, and the advancement of the right to land and territories.”

– Sarah Hobson (Founder)

Since its inception, the Agroecology Fund has striven to be inclusive, with a deep embrace of adaptive learning – a quality that makes agroecology a resilient food system. Agroecology Fund Co-Directors, Angela Cordeiro and Daniel Moss, expressed pride in the organization’s evolution over the years – in its thinking, especially, but also in its funding, in its capacity, and in its governance structure.

During the event, the Agroecology Fund highlighted key achievements throughout the years. These include the Fund’s first Strategic Plan, developed in early 2017; the 2016 Learning Exchange in Uganda; the 2020 Learning Exchange in India; the Covid-19 Emergency Response Grants (during which 59 grants were disbursed across 45 countries); and the 2021 launch of the Agroecology Fund for the Peninsula of Yucatán (FAPY). This is the first of many regional Agroecology Funds. Most striking in the presentation was a graph of the sharp growth in donors (from four to over 40), and a significant spike in grants to agroecology movements (which by the end of 2022 totaled over $15 million).

New initiatives were briefly described – online learning and ‘Conversation Circles’; the Grassroots Evidence for Agroecology initiative; and contributions to the global discussions which culminated in the 13 principles of agroecology. Executive Committee Co-Chairs expressed gratitude for the active involvement of grantees, advisors and donors in crafting its new 2022-2026 strategy, which charts a clear path forward to strategically support community-led food system transformation.

This virtual celebration was a reflection of the diverse Agroecology Fund community: grantee-driven, far-reaching, visionary and ambitious; an antidote to these troubling times.

The gathering closed with candles on a cupcake and rousing renditions of ‘Happy Birthday’ in multiple languages. Enthusiasm was palpable for the Agroecology Fund to continue to accompany a growing agroecology movement around the globe.