Global Academy:
Co-Innovation and Capacity Building
The Global Academy for Agroecology and Productive Forests that NOW co-founded with leading innovators and implementers, supports the local adaptation and scaling towards a new mainstream of innovative agriculture and forestry solutions that integrate the financial success of farmers, other stakeholders and rural economies, with the regeneration of social and natural systems.
Activities of Global Academy
- support the ongoing innovation of agriculture and forestry solutions
- support co-innovation among these most innovative approaches
- offer locally adapted trainings in farming methods and product value addition
- offer farmer capacity building in management, commercialization and finance
- strengthen national extension systems and scaling capacities
- co-develop and implement business models and blended finance approaches
- support the development and scaling of policy initiatives
- co-lead stakeholder engagement for the above activities
Mutually Reinforcing Benefits
The innovative approaches that Global Academy helps to advance are well researched, adaptive and scalable. They already achieve many mutually reinforcing benefits. They:
- increase farmer incomes by increasing crop yields and by reducing costs
- enhance soil vitality, water holding capacity and biodiversity
- reduce water needs, irrigation and input costs
- strengthen resilience to droughts, floods, storms and pests
- work in very dry conditions, revive fallow land, reverse desertification
- strengthen food and water security, nutritional values and overall health
- greatly reduce or completely eliminate costly and harmful chemical inputs
- sequesters carbon and methane from the atmosphere
- increase income security and diversification via multicropping
- lend themselves for value addition and integration in organic value chains
- strengthen local communities and rural economic development
- promote gender equity and offer youth a promising future on the land
A New Mainstream is Possible
Together with India’s Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (RySS) and NOW Partners Foundation, Global Academy is internationally adapting and scaling Andhra Pradesh’s Community Managed Farming (APCNF). It scaled from 40,000 in 2016 to over 1.8 million farmers in 2025. By 2030 it will be used by over 50% of Andhra Pradesh’s 6 million farmers, in this very geographically very diverse state of over 50 million inhabitants. This demonstrates that highly innovative agriculture and forestry approaches can become the new mainstream.
Learn more about Global Academy.
