As FAO celebrates its 80th anniversary and honours a new cohort of 28 heritage agricultural systems across 14 countries—bringing the total globally recognised agricultural heritage sites to 102 in 29 countries — there is both a moment of celebration and a moment of responsibility. These heritage systems remind us that small-scale farmers, drawing on centuries of labour, knowledge and place-based adaptation, are at the heart of food security, biodiversity, rural resilience and cultural identity.

Yet too often, programmes remain in conference rooms in Rome or capital cities, while the farmer who tills the land—who faces erratic weather, climate shocks, market instability and policy neglect—sees little return, little dignity and little resilience. The recent cyclone damage to standing crops in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere provides a clear warning that we must move from recognition to grass-roots interventions that enable small farmers to realise value and resilience.

This policy paper calls on agriculture ministers and FAO to adopt ten concrete recommendations that will reshape the narrative: from heritage as an academic or tourist badge to heritage as a living, remunerative, dignified pathway for farmers and their landscapes.