Launch of the report "The Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean 2025–2026"

Live broadcast

Background

The report Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas 2025–2026: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean is the result of a joint effort by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), CAF—Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

This edition continues a well-established interinstitutional collaboration spanning more than a decade and a half, serving as a regional platform for analysis of the challenges and opportunities facing agriculture, rural development, and agrifood systems in the Americas. In particular, the report consolidates 16 years of collaboration among ECLAC, FAO, and IICA and marks CAF’s incorporation, broadening the regional perspective and strengthening the focus on financing for sustainable agricultural productivity.

Each edition of Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas focuses on strategic issues for the agricultural sector, rural development, and agrifood systems in Latin America and the Caribbean. The 2025–2026 edition focuses on agricultural productivity and its relationship with sustainability, inclusion, innovation, financing, and the public policies needed to drive the sector’s productive transformation.

The report states that Latin America and the Caribbean faces a challenging context, marked by low economic growth, persistent rural gaps, territorial inequalities, productivity lags, limited investment in research and development, financing constraints, pressure on natural resources, and growing exposure to extreme weather events. In response, it proposes raising agricultural productivity as a strategic pillar to strengthen agrifood systems, reduce social gaps, improve food security, and move toward a new generation of public policies.

The structure of the report reflects the specialized contributions of the four participating institutions. FAO led Chapter 2, focused on the challenging context; ECLAC was responsible for Chapter 3, on the determining factors of productivity; IICA led Chapter 4, concerning strategic actions; and CAF contributed across the sections related to financing, including financial instruments, development banking, credit, blended finance, and innovative mechanisms to mobilize resources for productive transformation.

General Objective

To present the main messages, findings, and recommendations of the report Outlook for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Americas 2025–2026: A Perspective on Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighting that agriculture can strengthen its contribution to agrifood systems through productivity improvements driven by adequate financing and by policy, institutional, financial, and technological innovations.

Specific Objectives

• Make the report available to countries and regional stakeholders as a reference interinstitutional product jointly prepared by ECLAC, FAO, CAF, and IICA.
• Present the main challenges, findings, and recommendations of the 2025–2026 edition, focused on agricultural productivity and its relationship with sustainability, inclusion, innovation, financing, and public policies.
• Promote a high-level policy dialogue on strategic actions to strengthen agricultural productivity and agrifood systems.
• Foster an exchange on regional cooperation opportunities to advance the productive transformation of the agricultural sector.

Expected Results

• Countries, authorities, technical teams, international organizations, financial institutions, and agrifood sector stakeholders are familiar with the report’s main messages, findings, and recommendations.
• There is a shared understanding of the relevance of agricultural productivity for strengthening agrifood systems, in relation to sustainability, inclusion, innovation, financing, and public policies.
• A high-level policy dialogue is generated.
• Opportunities are identified to continue the dialogue with authorities and technical teams in order to deepen the report’s recommendations and explore possible lines of regional cooperation.