Back Future Farmers Launches as Panel Maps Young Farmers' Finance Gaps
COP 31 Presidency Events • United NationsNovember 13, 2026
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A COP31 Presidency side event on Nov. 13, 2026, put a blunt question to climate leaders: when will they trust young farmers to run real businesses? The COP31 Youth Climate Champion formally launched Back Future Farmers, a partner-building initiative running to COP32. Panelists offered hard numbers on land concentration, self-financing and low-default lending, but the event closed with no new commitments or funding announced.
- Finance gap, not interest gap: panelists say young agri-entrepreneurs are stuck in a "missing middle"
- 85% of young Mali entrepreneurs self-financed; a Malawi facility lifted youth revenue from $300 to $1,400
- Back Future Farmers launched with three workstreams and a call for five types of partners before COP32
- COP31 Presidency and Australia's Climate Change Authority publicly back the initiative
- School meals and farmer networks pitched as levers to de-risk young producers
The first panel ran about 30 minutes, the longest stretch of the event. It turned the initiative's broad goals into a specific diagnosis: young people want to farm, but land, credit and markets are stacked against them.
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