The 3rd Y-Farm Camp: Connecting AgroEcology Practitioners and Youth in the Mekong Subregion

Chiang Mai – Lamphun, Thailand November 6–9, 2024

1. Y-Farm Background and the 3rd Y-Farm Camp

The Mekong Youth Farm Network (Y-Farm) is a consortium of environmentally minded people from across the Mekong region of Se-Asia working toward a sustainable future for organic agriculture and humanity overall. We aspire to unite youths, local authorities, researchers, local farming experts, and others from Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar in a four-day workshop (November 6–9, 2024) to learn from each other’s knowledge about sustainable farming and development. The goal is to build a strong, effective, and resilient farming network in the Mekong region and beyond to tangibly address topical issues related to globalization, climate change, and other development-related phenomena.

Y-Farm is an initiative for environmental and socioecological resilience that focuses on youth engagement and sustainable agriculture education. It provides training in organic farming practices and develops agrotourism opportunities to improve farming system perspectives and bolster sustainable food systems. We work diligently to educate younger generations in various ways, including demonstrating organic practices and providing agrotourism opportunities. This grassroots organization is keen to support aspiring farmers, enhance economic prospects, protect ecosystems, and preserve local cultures via information and cross-cultural exchange. Our network envisions a new generation of young farmers and consumers who adopt sustainable practices on their farms and throughout their communities.

Y-Farm, initially funded by the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) Seeds for the Future program, was established in 2017. We have since provided training courses on sustainable farming to over 550 children, students, and young farmers across Mekong communities. In 2017, we organized a Y-Farm camp for over twenty-five youths in Laos. This initiative supported nine small-scale farming systems and facilitated youth exchange on

sustainable farming for twelve youths in the Mekong region. In 2019, we supported thirty young farmers in the Mekong region by helping them share their experiences and knowledge about sustainable farming activities. We have also engaged blind people to support their farming activities. During the COVID-19 period, we supported many farmers with local seeds, fertilizers, and techniques so that they could grow their food. We have also collaborated with stakeholders in developing an application (ClimaApp) that helps them cope with climate change-related phenomena; this has included training over 300 farmers in Thailand and Vietnam on how to use this app.

With this success, we aspire to maintain our strategies to target more youth, young farmers, and children in the Mekong region. This is why we are organizing the Y-Farm Network’s “Connecting Youth and Agroecology in the Mekong Region” workshop. During the initial stages of this project, women will collaborate with men to create and organize appropriate activities in Chiang Mai and Lamphun in northern Thailand. The women will play a variety of roles in this project’s implementation, including as presenters and leaders. They will share their expert knowledge and experience with attendees in hopes of cultivating ways to further collaborate and meet goals for a future focused on socioecological sustainability.
2.  Connecting AgroEcology Practitioners and Youth in the Mekong Subregion
 

This Y-Farm Camp assumes that younger generations (especially youth) in the Lower Mekong Subregion are aware of, and perhaps experienced with, sustainable agriculture activities, particularly since this region is facing serious development-related impacts (hydropower dams, irrigation development projects, etc.) and climate change phenomena.

The idea behind the 3rd Y-Farm Camp is that we apply the socioecological systems framework and related interactions to analyze how the Mekong’s younger generation (youth, students, young researchers, farmers, etc.) engage institutions to interact with sustainable agriculture in their communities, networks, schools, etc.

Relating to the socioecological systems framework, the Y-Farm Network is based on our members sharing relevant topics on the dimensions of (i) agroecology, (ii) food sovereignty and farmers’ movements, (iii) agribusiness management and marketing, (iv) agritourism, (v) local seeds, (vi) volunteerism, (vii) urban farming, (viii) sustainable farming, and (ix) climate change. To

accomplish this initiative, we selected five farms that represent social groups and sustainable agriculture systems to see the differences and sameness among individuals, groups, and farm functions.
2.  Organisers/Participants

• Ly Quoc Dang: Founder of Y-Farm and lecturer at Can Tho University (Vietnam)
• Tanya Promburom: Co-founder of Y-Farm and Y-Farm Coordinator and Researcher at Chiang Mai University (Thailand)
• Anocha Paramesak: Co-Founder of Sukjai Organic Farm (Thailand)
• Truong Hong Suong: Y-Farm Coordinator and Co-Founder of Elli Garden (Vietnam)
• Jaruwan Supolrai: Mekong Nomad Farm and Co-Founder of the Issan Y-Farm Network (Thailand)
• Le Thanh Tung: Freelancer and Founder of Adtado DigitalHub – Digital Marketing Agency (Vietnam)
• Huynh Huu Tri: Y-Farm assistant and graduate student at Can Tho University (Vietnam)
• Myo Min Latt: Myanmar Y-Farm Coordinator (Myanmar)
• Thipphaphone Souphida: Samdhana Institute (Laos)
• Hongnapha Phommabouth: Y-Farm Coordinator (Laos)
• Panha Yem: Cambodia Y-Farm Coordinator (Cambodia)

3.  Topics and Lessons

• Agroecology
• Global food systems
• Food sovereignty and seed-saving by young-farmer movements
• Agribusiness management and marketing
• Agrotourism

6. Y-Farm Participation Grant
The Y-Farm Camp has opened scholarships (full or spatial) for people from the Lower Mekong countries. If you are selected to receive full support, the scholarship will cover air/bus/train tickets from your home country to Chiang Mai, meals for four days (November 5–10), accommodation for five nights/shared room (November 5–10), insurance for six days, local transportation, a per diem, t-shirt, and other tools/equipment during the Y-Farm Camp. Please note that Y-Farm

encourages (and would much appreciate) anyone who contributes funding for travel from your home country to Chiang Mai.

About 35–40 participants who come from different ages, ethnicities, genders, backgrounds, locations, fields, etc. will participate in this Y-Farm Camp. We prefer to include participants who work on Y-Farm-related issues to build our knowledge of sustainable agriculture together.

Scholarship Eligibility: Y-Farm is not strict on age, English skills, professional experience, etc.

• Mekong subregion citizens (20–45 years old)
• A young farmer who practices sustainable farming and/or community development
• A younger generation member or student engaging and/or studying sustainable farming or having a sustainable development background
• We encourage applicants from remote areas who are from an Indigenous or other minority group (e.g., women, and LGBT people) and those with disabilities.
• If you cannot work well with the English language application form, please ask someone to help, or you can do it in your language.

4.  Timeline

• Applicants submit the application form (via Google Form or application form via yfarmmekong@gmail.com): October 5–12, 2024
• Review applicants: October 13–14, 2024
• Notify successful candidates: October 15, 2024
• Arrange and book airfares/room: October 16–17, 2024

5.  Y-Farm Schedule
The full schedule of the Camp is available format to provide by email if you require. However, the following are the program highlights:

• November 1: Meet and greet participants, including introductions and theory (online)
• November 5: Flying from home country to Chiang Mai city, Thailand
• November 6: Continue the theory part, young farmers’ reflections on their farming practices, and visit a demonstration farm (Chiang Mai University)
• November 7: Visit and learn at Mae Tha Organic Farm (Chiang Mai)
• November 7–8: Visit and experience (including camping and biking) at Sukjai Organic Farm (Lamphun)

• November 9: Reflecting, exploring, and healing (Chiang Mai City)
• November 10: Leaving Chiang Mai city to home countries

7. Contacts and Other Information
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at yfarmmekong@gmail.com.