Farmers are not defined in the International Treaty. However, in several provisions, the Treaty emphasizes farmers who conserve and develop plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, particularly so in the provisions on Farmers' Rights.

Farmers' Rights related to seed and propagating material are a precondition for the maintenance and further development of crop genetic diversity, which is the basis of all food and agriculture production in the world. Thus, realizing Farmers’ Rights is central to achieving and maintaining global food and nutrition security. For small-scale farmers in the Global South, the realization of Farmers’ Rights is a means to fighting hunger and poverty.