On 30 March 2010, CIARD was featured at the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD), Montpellier, in a specific session organized by GFAR and FAO on key strategic needs across systems entitled:  "Knowledge, information and advice in agri-food systems; opportunities and actions", which was chaired by FAO.

A presentation was made on the CIARD Manifesto and Checklist by Enrica Porcari, the Chief Information Officer of the CGIAR on behalf of all the CIARD partners.
In the subsequent presentation, Dr V. Balaji of ICRISAT explained the 14 priority areas identified through the Wageningen and Hyderabad consultations on "Agricultural Research for Development and Innovation: Addressing emerging challenges and exploiting opportunities through Information and Communication Technologies", many of which are reflected in the CIARD Manifesto.

The findings of that GCARD parallel session were delivered in a report to the plenary of the GCARD, and included the following specific recommendation for stakeholders to "use the potential of multi-partner initiatives such as CIARD to facilitate availability and access to information and knowledge in innovative ways".