Daily updates on whats new on the ARC website and in the CAP debate
You’ve probably heard of people extending an olive branch – perhaps less common is offering up a leek. Seeds4All digs into why the leek symbolises the struggle for seed autonomy and why the cooperation project De Vroente, based in Sint-Lievens-Esse in the Flanders region, pours so much energy into this. Report by Adèle Pautrat. […]
In Marburg, Germany kollektiv von MORGEN (the collective of TOMORROW) is working with food education activists and other food system stakeholders to develop regional communication strategies around sustainable food. Building on ideas formulated at the European Action-Gathering for Sustainable Food Systems last November, participants of a recent workshop continued to shape plans for the region. […]
This week saw an unsuccessful last-ditch attempt to push the EU’s proposal to loosen rules on gene editing over the finish line, leaving the plans on ice. Meanwhile, it’s all been Politics with a capital P as Belgium prepares to hand the presidency over to Hungary, while leaders jostle for Brussels’ top jobs and considerations start on redrawing the lines of the European Parliament’s committees – a shake up which could have big impacts on the way agriculture files are handled. Natasha Foote and Oliver Moore bring you the latest from Brussels. […]
Last minute political manoeuvres, coalition collapse and legal challenges – the Nature Restoration Law’s dramatic final showdown proved every bit as tumultuous as the rest of its path to adoption. But could the final seal of approval of this law be reversed? The answer seems to be no – and here’s why. […]
In the aftermath of the European Parliamentary Elections 2024, Oliver Moore assesses what happened and what might happen next, with a farming, food and rural lens. […]
In the report that accompanies this article, CONCITO analyses the implementation of the 2023-27 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform after its first year of implementation, using Denmark as a case study. The focus lies on examining the new components of the reform, namely the New Delivery Model (NDM), the enhanced conditionality, and the eco-schemes, and their contribution towards both the European Union (EU) and national objectives concerning climate, biodiversity, and the environment. Recommendations are also made for improved delivery. […]
The German Farmers’ Association (Deutscher Bauernverband) promises nature conservation, but acts against it. Jost Maurin (Die Tageszeitung, taz) makes the case that this trajectory could serve as a warning for the EU Strategic Dialogue, in which environmental and farmers’ associations are to develop a vision for the future of agriculture. […]
Wouter van de Klippe delves into the recent farmer’s protests, and assesses the role both the agri-lobby Copa-Cogeca, and the Common Agricultural Policy itself, have played. Van de Klippe argues that behind Europe’s farmers protests lie decades of policy failures and a lobby determined to steer the conversation. […]
A new report from A Bigger Conversation highlights the unique needs and perspectives – and values-based choices – of agroecological farmers when it comes to agricultural technologies. By Ayms Mason. Republished from A Bigger Conversation. […]
In this op-ed, Annemarie Botzki of FoodWatch International makes the case, and outlines a vision, for how European farms can to exit pesticides, crop by crop. […]
Fifteen years on from the ‘land rush’, a multi-pronged global land squeeze is forcing farmers and communities off the land – and Europe has a key role to play in fixing it. […]
The good news is that experts think the Green Deal will live on (in some shape or form). The bad news is that they paint a pretty bleak picture when it comes to the legacy of the past 5-year term on the food and farming sector. And while things are fine at the top level, down in the details is where the trouble emerges. ARC2020 digs into the latest Green Deal barometer to see what Europe’s sustainability experts made of the past political cycle – and what they see is next for the EU’s green ambitions. […]
With the European elections just around the corner, civil society is revving up for the next mandate. Ahead of the vote, ARC2020 has compiled a one-stop shop of resources from farming, environmental, and food civil society organisations. Interestingly, there is a lot of overlap between these sectors in what is a fascinating set of tools for action. Let’s have a look at some of them. […]
EU Member States not supporting the Nature Restoration Law are doing so against the wishes of their own citizens. That’s according to a new survey of over 6000 people in a poll conducted in the Netherlands, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Poland, and Sweden, all of which are blocking the Nature Restoration Law. […]
For months, we have been hearing about the bureaucratic burden that has been pushing EU farmers to the brink. Now, the preliminary results of a Commission survey designed to unpack this are in – so does this administrative load turn out to be heavy enough to justify the hasty re-opening of the EU’s farming subsidy programme? Natasha Foote digs in. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention