Good agricultural practices (GAPs) are an indispensable tool for risk management due to the close relationship between agriculture and climate, as well as the climate variability currently being experienced. The implementation of these tools, however, involves fostering innovation, increasing knowledge and giving stakeholders, small producers in particular, a holistic view, so that they may improve their production systems, increase their resilience, and ensure their sustainability.

This book discusses innovation problems and opportunities for family farming in the different regions of the American continent, as well as the role of hemispheric, regional and national agrifood research systems. Likewise, it provides a description of the main innovation actions and projects promoted by IICA, and the main success cases over recent years.

ICA has developed this book, Innovation to achieve competitive, sustainable and inclusive agriculture with the purpose of offering member countries, governments, farmers and stakeholders in the continent an overview of this central issue for the agricultural sector. The document explains the importance of agricultural innovation and the way in which IICA has addressed and developed, based on the guidelines defined by the Heads of State and the Ministers of Agriculture of the Americas, the actions included in the strategic plan and the medium-term plans.

This document summarizes the fifteen projects that were selected by a panel of international experts as those which best represent the technological, institutional and organizational innovations carried out with and by small farmers – known as family farming - in LAC. This is the result of a hemisphere-wide competition organized in 2012 by FONTAGRO, with the aim of (1) showcasing success stories in which innovations having positive economic, social, and environmental impacts have been implemented and, (2) raising awareness regarding the importance of investing in innovation.

This document examines the macroeconomic and sectoral context and the trends and outlook for crops, livestock, fisheries, forests and rural well-being, as well as the public policies and institutional framework for these sectors. Based on an analysis of the trends and prospects, each chapter offers a series of recommendations for the consideration of decision-makers, in an effort to help address the challenges posed by the global economic dynamics and to take advantage of opportunities.

In light of recent trends in international agricultural markets, and in the interest of analyzing, contributing to discussions of and making informed decisions on how to address the complex problem of price volatility, we are pleased to present this first issue of the ECLAC-FAO-IICA Bulletin, prepared within the framework of an initiative launched by our institutions in 2009 calling for the annual publication of a document on the state of and outlook for agriculture and rural life in Latin America and the Caribbean.