Recent updates Archives - Page 33 of 86 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Coping with Covid19 – Letter from a Brussels Lockdown

March 21, 2020 Hannes Lorenzen

In our part of the street, some 100 meters, live 21 nationalities – we counted that at our last summer street festival, sharing food from across the world. Now we share our songs at 8 pm from our balconies, giving applause to the doctors and nurses trying to save lives. We are all Italians at this moment. We know we are just at the beginning of a huge challenge. We have no idea what is still to come. […]

Coping with Covid19 – Learning From Then and Now

March 20, 2020 Oliver Moore

With Covid-19, our world has changed utterly. What can we learn from our recent past, and from interesting movements and moments now, to help us adjust and cope with the present and future? With Oliver Moore. […]

The EU-CO summit was a no-go: so what’s next for CAP?

March 18, 2020 Natasha Foote

EU Leaders disagree on CAP, on how it should be funded, and on how that funding should be divided up between different priorities. Meanwhile, there are delays, the parallel farm to fork strategy, talk of transitional arrangements, and now, the global pandemic that is COVID-19 to deal with. Natasha Foote unpacks some of the details. […]

‘Too good to be true’ – The UK Co-op Helping New Entrants Get Access to Land

March 13, 2020 Natasha Foote

All too often access to land is an insurmountable hurdle for new entrants to farming. The innovative Ecological Land Co-operative tackles this head-on, by developing accessible smallholdings for ecological agriculture and supporting new farmers. […]

Nothing “mini” about U.S. Plan to Unravel Europe’s Precautionary Principle

March 12, 2020 Sharon Anglin Treat

The real goal of the United States and European Union’s so-called “mini-deal” on trade is unambiguous and goes to the heart of Europe’s way of life and approach to the rule of law. U.S. trade negotiators, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and American farm interests have all been crystal clear: the precautionary principle must go, and now is the time to finally axe it. […]

Food Fight – The Farm to Fork Strategy vs CAP

March 11, 2020 Oliver Moore

The Farm2Fork strategy is out for consultation at present, closing on 16th March. It is self-described as a sustainable food strategy is key to achieving the goals of the EU’s Green Deal. This strategy “sets out the regulatory and non-regulatory measures needed to create more efficient, climate-smart systems that provide healthy food, while securing a decent living for EU farmers and fishermen.” So how is the process unfolding, and how does – or will – it relate to the CAP? […]

The impact of COVID-19 on the Current CAP Consultations

March 11, 2020 Matteo Metta

The current CAP process has hit a number of speedbumps – and now there’s COVID-19 to deal with. How will this impact civic engagement in CAP, and are there any ways to ensure civil society still has a say? Matteo Metta has more on this unfolding crisis and its implications. […]

The CAP and Climate Ambition – Myth vs Reality

March 10, 2020 Joost de Jong

CAP supposedly is climate ambitious, but it fails to really deliver. So what could be done differently? Joost de Jong of the Dutch Transition Coalition of Food Systems gives us some suggestions. […]

3,600 Scientists Call For CAP Overhaul

March 9, 2020 Helene Schulze

Today, over 3,600 scientists from all EU countries have together declared that the post-2020 CAP fails to reverse damage to the environment and restore nature and must be “drastically improved.” Addressing the European Parliament, Council and Commission they argue for a future-proof, evidence-based CAP, proposing ten action points, to ensure biodiversity conservation, climate mitigation and sustainable food production. […]

Reviewing Ecological Focus Areas: A Cross Pollination of Ideas

March 8, 2020 ARC

Insect pollinators continue to decline across Europe despite the Common Agricultural Policy’s increased focus on environmental protection. In response, a group of experts are calling for the improved quality of wildlife habitats through more targeted management and a robust monitoring framework, and a diversity of habitats to meet the resource requirements of our pollinating insects. […]

Where Soya has Scale – Ukraine, Big Ag and Land Concentration

March 2, 2020 Hans Wetzels

The FAO expects former Soviet countries like Ukraine to play an important role in feeding the world the coming decades. But questions remain about who will benefit from the oncoming agricultural gold rush. […]

France Sees World’s Biggest Increase in Organic Land Area

March 1, 2020 Oliver Moore

The organic market in France was worth E 9.1 billion in 2018, according to “The World of Organic Agriculture 2020” which comes out every February. Organic land area in France grew by 16.7% in 2018 – a huge increase for a single year. This growth of 290,000 hectares brings France to 2.04 million hectares, now second only to Spain in Europe, and the sixth highest land area farmed organically in the world. […]

Commission’s Dodgy Calculations Improve CAP’s Climate Impact

February 27, 2020 Louise Kelleher

The “Green Deal” Commission promises big spending on climate. If climate markers are to be believed, the current CAP accounts for 22% of the EU’s climate spending. The post-2020 CAP is poised to take even more climate credit. But the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) claims the Commission’s climate markers miss the mark. In a report released earlier this month the IEEP sounds the alarm on faulty climate accounting and greenwashing of direct payments. […]

Organic Land Area in Germany Passes 10%

February 23, 2020 Oliver Moore

Growth in organics in Germany continues on all fronts, bucking trends in conventional farming and food markets.In Germany, the organic land area has now passed 10%, having grown 50% in the last five years. Where is the growth occurring, and does the market match or exceed the land area? […]

Trouble With The Neighbours: Living Next Door to an Agri-Giant

February 9, 2020 Louise Kelleher

How do you get an organic farm off the ground with an agri-giant operating in the neighbouring field? Coming back to the land after a high flying career in New York City, Libor Kožnar expected the first year to be the hardest. What he didn’t expect was to find himself in a legal dispute with Agrofert, the sprawling agribusiness empire founded by the Czech prime minister. […]