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Letter From The Farm | Health, Husbandry & High Quality Meat

October 1, 2021 Shane Casey

We’re back on Shane Casey’s farm in the Burren, Ireland. Here, with the harvest in full swing, lambs and weanlings are being sold. In an ideal world Shane would like his meat to be consumed locally. In reality, in rural areas like his, supply outstrips demand. Shane prides himself on the quality of his meat. Working backwards from butchery to husbandry to breeding, he shares some insights into the process. […]

Rebugging the Planet – new book on where invertebrates fit in

September 29, 2021 Vicki Hird

A new book – Rebugging the Planet – has just come out. Its author Vicki Hird tells us all about insects and other invertebrates, their role, what ails them, and how looking after the small creatures means looking after ourselves too. […]

Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 2

September 27, 2021 Stuart Meikle

Despite the climate change mitigation emphasis on carbon sequestration, building soil carbon is first about food security, second about atmospheric carbon drawdown. By working with nature’s natural cycles to provide nutritious food with a low environmental footprint, Regenerative Agriculture will provide the transition from fossil-fuelled agro-chemistry to utilizing the farm’s natural resources, argues Stuart Meikle in the second part of this series. […]

Meat Atlas 2021 | Abattoirs – Chopping but not Changing

September 21, 2021 ARC

To mark the publication of the Meat Atlas 2021, we are republishing a selection of our favourite articles. In this one, Peter Birke brings attention to poor labour conditions in the global meat industry. The pandemic has put a spotlight on this issue, but it is by no means new. EU food trade unions call for a bloc-wide response. […]

Farm Specialisation or Diversification?

September 14, 2021 ARC

Here we publish a short extract on farm diversification from the recent Feeding Ourselves Policy Document. In this piece, Matteo Metta widens the focus of diversification, while also addressing some blind spots on data gaps and value adding. For more from Matteo and many others, download the full report in the article. […]

Meat Atlas 2021 – Everyday Food and Luxury Good

September 14, 2021 ARC

To mark the publication of the Meat Atlas 2021, we will republish a selection of our favourite articles. Here, Lisa Tostado introduces the Atlas, with a big picture take on changes in meat production and consumption in recent decades. The MEAT ATLAS 2021 is jointly published by Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Berlin, Germany Friends of the Earth Europe, Brussels, Belgium Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz, Berlin, Germany. […]

Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 1

September 13, 2021 Stuart Meikle

Few people realize how their food comfort zone is shrinking. Where we are now is the starting point for an ecologically and biologically-based agricultural revolution. And it starts with the soil. We must adopt an ecosystem approach to identify sustainable food systems that can exist within our planet’s boundaries, argues Stuart Meikle in the first of a four-part series. […]

Dear ECA – an Organic Love Letter to Mildly Misguided Auditors

September 9, 2021 Oliver Moore

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) most recent relevant report on CAP and climate outlines a host of serious issues and a under performances by the policy, while also making some suggestions for big, achievable climate wins. However, we in ARC2020 were a little taken aback by how the paper treated organic farming – funded as it is under CAP – and its climate impact. […]

Carbon Starvation – A Crisis Of Our Time?

September 8, 2021 Stuart Meikle

Are we beginning to see carbon – the fundamental building block of all life – as a pollutant? Instead of demonising carbon as a cause of climate breakdown, we need to restore balance in the natural carbon cycle that has been disrupted by the use of artificial fertilisers. In advance of his upcoming series on farming within planetary boundaries, Stuart Meikle offers a primer on the complex role of carbon in our soils. […]

Save Bees and Farmers! – European Citizens’ Initiative Must Reach 1 Million Signatures by September 30th

September 7, 2021 ARC

The European Citizens’ Initiative ‘Save Bees and Farmers!’ alliance – a network of civil society organisations in agriculture, health and environmental protection – is calling on the European Commission to propose legislation to phase out synthetic pesticides by 2035, to restore biodiversity, and to support farmers in the transition. […]

Letter From The Farm | Instead Of Noise, Symphony

September 3, 2021 Freixo do Meio Users Cooperative

We’re back on the Montado do Freixo do Meio in Portugal, where exciting plans are afoot to have the community farm recognised as a Private Protected Area. Farmer and owner Alfredo Cunhal Sendim, a member of the Freixo do Meio Users Cooperative, explains their vision of a strong and organised community to safeguard the natural system, and how this ties into the cooperative’s broader visions of agroecology, permaculture and food sovereignty. […]

Bristol Bites Back | Fruits & Roots of Radical Resilience in South-West England

July 16, 2021 Ursula Billington

A new e-book published by ARC2020 documents one community’s inspiring response to the COVID-19 crisis. An antidote to the doom and gloom, “Bristol Bites Back: Fruits & Roots of Radical Resilience in South-West England” is tangible, practical proof that ecosystem-based approaches to food, farming and sustainability do indeed bear fruit for their patient protagonists – in some cases after decades of going against the grain of a productivist mindset. […]

France | Collective Farming, Community and Connection

July 16, 2021 ARC

What does a socio-ecological transition mean for farmers? Farmers from the Nos Campagnes En Résilience project share their thoughts on social issues in farming, the role of farms in the community, and how Nos Campagnes En Résilience can help to build rural resilience in France. […]

Western Balkans | Balkan Rural Parliament Adopts Declaration

July 12, 2021 ARC

The second Balkan Rural Parliament took place last month in Ohrid, North Macedonia. The Declaration of the 2nd Balkan Rural Parliament is the major output of the forum which was organised by the Balkan Rural Development Network. […]

CAP and Climate – What Exactly did Auditors Find?

July 6, 2021 Oliver Moore

€100 billion of CAP funds attributed to climate action had “little impact” on greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according the European Court of Auditors, in a report released 21st June. Here we unpack in detail where and how CAP is failing on climate, and what the auditors recommend. Part one of two – part two will critically assess the report, with a particular focus on organic farming. By Oliver Moore. […]