Articles by ARC

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–Road Map for Good Food – Good Farming and a living countryside

February 5, 2015 ARC

In 2010 ARC2020 launched a “Communication from Civil Society to the European Union Institutions on the Future of Agricultural and Rural Policy” which was elaborated over six months and adopted  by a broad alliance of civil society organisations and networks. The Communication was submitted to the European Commission, to the Council and the Parliament on the same day when the Commission published its first outline for a reform of the CAP. During the following debate and negotiations of the future of agricultural and rural policies ARC2020 has strongly advocated for a paradigm change in agriculture and food systems and for an economic, social and environmental renaissance of rural areas. ARC2020 has become a European Platform for a debate on the future of farming and food. Our #ARC2020 conference – Good Food, Good Farming and a living Countryside –  is an opportunity for renewing our civil society’s agenda for the coming five years. We offer a framework for a  ROAD MAP of goals and activities which ARC2020 and its partners could follow in the coming years, based on […]

Newsflash

ARC Newsflash – Special Edition 2015

February 1, 2015 ARC

View this email in your browser Report: 50,000 take to the streets of Berlin to say: We Are Fed Up!  This year’s  “Wir haben es satt!” (We are fed up!) march surpassed even last year’s record attendance, with 50,000 people marching through the streets of Berlin. Their aim? To say no to a broken industrialised globalised food system and yes to an alternative. Find our extended report here. Coming up: Good Food Good Farming Conference Brussels – 10 and 11th FEBRUARY 2015 GOOD FOOD, GOOD FARMING CONFERENCE Renewing civil society’s agenda towards sustainable food and agriculture and a living countryside Who? ARC 2020 platform, Friends of the Earth Europe and the organic movement IFOAM, in collaboration with the European Economic and Social Committee invite you to a conference on the future of farming and food, on fair trade and sustainable rural policies.  Why? This 1.5-days event brings together representatives from civil society, grassroots groups, researchers, national/regional authorities, policymakers and more to: 1. Assess the implementation of the reformed CAP 2014-2020, prospects of agricultural sustainability and of rural renaissance. 2. Identify milestones […]

Latest from EU Member States

“Peasant” is not a bad word … but what does it mean?!

January 29, 2015 ARC

Written By:  Derek Freitas, Food Chains Campaign Coordinator for Eco Ruralis   General Context The word “peasant” is used in all sorts of ways to mean different things by many groups of people across the world. It is indeed very hard to define. This is particularly problematic due to the fact that the majority of decision-makers related to establishing agricultural policy at the national, EU and global levels don’t have an accepted reference point for understanding one another in a basic sense. Often, the only time when self-ascribed “peasants” feel that they are accurately portrayed is when they explain what that word means to them. But, again, even they disagree based on cultural, historical, geographical and individual differences.   Global Context The international peasant movement, La Via Campesina, calls for an International Convention on the Rights of Peasants and states the following in Article I of its own “Declaration on the Rights of Peasants – Women and Men”: “A peasant is a man or woman of the land, who has a direct and special relationship […]