Promoting sustainable agriculture: Misereor

The mafority of our global food supplies is produced in family farming. However, the international agricultural market is dominated by a few corporations. They have great power and determine many conditions.

On the other hand, farming families often struggle with too little land and poor soil. Their farms are often far away from markets. And they are often not considered creditworthy by banks.

Sustainable agriculture needs biodiversity. There are 7,000 seed varieties and 40 livestock varieties worldwide. Industrial agriculture, however, concentrates on only a few species and cultivates in monocultures. Large quantities of chemical/synthetic pesticides and artificial fertilisers pollute the environment.

Farms that operate according to the principles of agroecology endeavour to work with nature and not against it. This makes them more resilient to crises and significantly less harmful to soil, air and water.

The various seeds are part of a ceremony and offering before the big festival begins.

For shepherds in Telangana, the Deccani sheep is an important part of their culture.

Organic production areas in an agrarian reform settlement near Marabá/Pará/Brazil

Diversity of production in a land occupation near Marabá/State of Pará/Brazil

Sarah Schneider

Policy Officer for Food, Nutrition and Agriculture

Telephone: +49 241 442164
E-mail: sarah.schneider@misereor.de

Donate now

Are you a journalist and looking for further information or discussion partners for your reporting? Please feel free to contact us!

Contact our press office

We are committed to ensuring that agriculture, food production and trade secure food and income for as many people as possible and preserve biodiversity, with:

projects that promote family and organic farming,
advocacy for a political and economic framework that promotes this type of agriculture - worldwide,
suggestions for a diet that favours fair, regional and organic products.

"Agroecology improves nutrition because greater diversity in cultivation also means greater diversity on the plates of all those communities that produce their own food. [...] The health benefits of an agroecological revolution would be significant."

Prof Dr Olivier De Schutter,
Former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food

Share this page

Benita now grows 80% of the food for her family in her own garden.

Brazil | Bolivia: agriculture in the city?!

Learn more

Rain collection basins ensure that sufficient water is available even in dry periods.

Peru | Bolivia: Organic farming in the Andes

Learn more

View all projects

How they work with farmers to preserve fertile landscapes

Shepherding communities worldwide face…

How they work with farmers to preserve fertile landscapes

Shepherding communities worldwide face existential threats from, amongst other things, mining, ‘green’ energy projects, monocultures and nature reserves. This dossier highlights the contributions shepherds make to food security, the economy, the environment and climate protection.

Publisher: welt-sichten
Year of publication: 2026
Number of pages: 20

More information Less information

How they work with farmers to preserve fertile landscapes

Shepherding communities worldwide face existential threats from, amongst other things, mining, ‘green’ energy projects, monocultures and nature reserves. This dossier highlights the contributions shepherds make to food security, the economy, the environment and climate protection.

Publisher: welt-sichten
Year of publication: 2026
Number of pages: 20

More information Less information

Download

Additional information on the study: Global food poverty gap 2025 | 26

Food poverty is dramatically high despite the growing global economy.

Here you will find further…

Food poverty is dramatically high despite the growing global economy.

Here you will find further information and statistics on the study "World Food Poverty Gap" (Challenge Hunger 2025 | 26).

Publisher: Misereor
Responsible for the product: Nina Brodbeck, Johanna Entrup, Lutz Depenbusch
Number of pages: 12
Year of publication: October 2025

More information Less information

Food poverty is dramatically high despite the growing global economy.

Here you will find further information and statistics on the study "World Food Poverty Gap" (Challenge Hunger 2025 | 26).

Publisher: Misereor
Responsible for the product: Nina Brodbeck, Johanna Entrup, Lutz Depenbusch
Number of pages: 12
Year of publication: October 2025

More information Less information

download

Position paper: Trend reversal for agroecology in sight?

A mid-term review of the 2024 traffic light government.

With this review paper, an alliance of 43…

A mid-term review of the 2024 traffic light government.

With this review paper, an alliance of 43 organisations and associations from development cooperation, peasant agriculture, organic farming, the environment and the food trade are once again putting the (international) commitment of the German government to the test. Four years ago, numerous organisations and associations from this spectrum had already called on the German government to change course in line with the guiding principle of agroecology in a position paper. The mid-term of the traffic light coalition is now a current opportunity for us to highlight the light and shadows of the government's work to date and to take stock.

Publication date: January 2024
Number of pages: 6

More information Less information

A mid-term review of the 2024 traffic light government.

With this review paper, an alliance of 43 organisations and associations from development cooperation, peasant agriculture, organic farming, the environment and the food trade are once again putting the (international) commitment of the German government to the test. Four years ago, numerous organisations and associations from this spectrum had already called on the German government to change course in line with the guiding principle of agroecology in a position paper. The mid-term of the traffic light coalition is now a current opportunity for us to highlight the light and shadows of the government's work to date and to take stock.

Publication date: January 2024
Number of pages: 6

More information Less information

download

More publications

All articles on the topic

Agroecology is guided by a set of broad guidelines that form the basics for its practices and implementation.

Download infographic (.pdf)

What is agroecology and what does it look like? Do we have data evidence that the system is efficient and does it live up to its promises? The multimedia report answers these questions and many more.

To the multimedia report

Highly hazardous pesticides that are banned in the EU continue to be used in other countries around the world. Some of these pesticides are produced in Germany and then exported. As part of a global movement, we are campaigning for an end to these double standards.

Learn more about pesticides

"Food revolution from below" in Rio de Janeiro and Frankfurt am Main: how are more and more people managing to re-establish the connection between farmers and consumers?

Watch video

Fighting hunger with sustainable agriculture

Power is concentrated in very few hands

Monocutluralism increases vulnerability

Sarah Schneider

Projects - politics - personal decisions

Related projects

Brazil | Bolivia: agriculture in the city?!

Peru | Bolivia: Organic farming in the Andes

Publications related to sustainable agriculture

We need shepherds!

Additional information on the study: Global food poverty gap 2025 | 26

Position paper: Trend reversal for agroecology in sight?

Landwirtschaft ohne Gift ist möglich: Misereor-Partner berichten

Fossile Abhängigkeit als Hungerfaktor: Öl, Kunstdünger und steigende Lebensmittelpreise

Kaffee‑Monokultur? Nein, danke.

Wasser für alle – eine Erfolgsgeschichte aus Timor-Leste

Further information

Infographic "Principles of agroecology"

Report "The principles of agroecology"

Why pesticide exports must be stopped

Good and healthy food in the city

Subscribe to our newsletter