The first Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development in Montpellier, France, provided a special opportunity to engage with partners and stakeholders of the CGIAR. An estimated 1,000 participants gathered in Montpellier, including researchers, policymakers, farmers, donors, and members of civil society from every region of the world. We would like to thank our partners, the Global Forum on Agricultural Research and Agropolis International, for their work and collaboration in bringing this event to fruition.

We came to the Global Conference to listen to our partners and stakeholders and to hear about their priorities for agricultural research as part of the reform process that is making the CGIAR more open and results oriented. After three days of substantive discussions, our expectations were fulfilled and we now have a set of insights that are helping us to shape a new research agenda for the CGIAR. We heard that greater partnership at the national and regional levels is essential, that inclusion of gender is “non-negotiable” and that greater investment in research must be combined with scaled-up development efforts. We heard the call for strengthened capacity for national agricultural research systems, for bottom up research agenda setting, and for putting poor farmers and food providers at the center of agricultural research at the international, regional and national levels.

For coverage of GCARD including webcasts and blogs visit http://www.egfar.org/egfar/website/gcard

For further information on the CGIAR reform process visit http://www.cgiar.org/changemanagement/index.html