 Across the developing world, most people are engaged, most of the time, in producing food. From the rain-fed maize fields of Southern Africa to the rice terraces of Southeast Asia, most people still live by the seasons, sowing, growing, harvesting and storing crops for their own households and communities. These small-scale farmers depend utterly on natural resources, land and water and vegetation, for their livelihoods. They also depend on animals. It's animal resources, from the humble chicken to the large-draft animal, that make nearly all forms of small-scale agriculture viable, and indeed possible. It's this mix of farm crops and farm animals, with each supporting the other, that's feeding the world while sustaining both our agricultural yields and environments. This is a tribute to the unsung heroes of small-scale food production. Men are mixed farmers. Women are mixed farmers. Boys are mixed farmers. Girls are mixed farmers. Indeed, children of every nationality and culture still grow up, practicing this so-called mixed crop and animal farming. Peer over a fence anywhere in the developing world and you're likely to find yourself staring into the face of an animal. Cattle in India's big farming state of Andhra Pradesh, buffalo in the river valleys of northern Vietnam. Goats, the four-legged savings accounts of most Kenyans, sheep being fattened for religious feasts in Niger, backyard pigs in Mozambique, ducklings in southwestern China, and the ubiquitous chicken, the world's most common livestock in households in Malawi and everywhere else. Caring for animals means working for animals. The daily practices and skills needed to keep animal stock healthy and productive are as varied as the animals themselves. Here a woman in southern Nigeria feeds goats maced over and other wastes of crops. A farmer in Nagaland in the far northeast corner of India feeds her pigs household scraps. In Mali a man feeds his chickens nourishing termites and grubs. A woman in Mozambique's Zambezia province pumps drinking water daily for her animals. A girl in Niger takes her family's sheep and goats out to graze. A woman in south-central India grazes her cattle on the remains of a crop after its grain has been harvested. A youth corrals his family cattle for the night in Chokwe, Mozambique. Men plow land with oxen in Ethiopia's Gibe Valley. A dairy producer in the Kenyan Highlands cuts fodder for her two cows kept in stalls. Farming herds people in Rajasthan store animal fodder in stacks and in bales, in ricks and in trees. A woman in Niger gathers fodder from the field for her newly-bought sheep. Men transport fodder in Pantachero, India. A man carries livestock manure to fertilize his crop lands in Yunnan, China. A woman in West Bengal, India drives manure from her cattle for household fuel. A Mozambican carries his goat to market. Livestock keepers buy space on lorries in southern Africa to transport their animals to market. A young woman sells chickens in a wet market in Maputo's traditional food stalls. A young man butchers a pig carcass in Nagaland, India. Another carries his milk to a collection point in northeastern India. Animals are the unsung heroes of mixed farms everywhere. Invest in the world's living assets. They're the face of a better future for a billion people.