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Withdraw The CAP Movement Takes on Timmermans, Trilogues and Parliament Plenary

May 24, 2021 ARC

The Withdraw the CAP movement emerged in recent months to challenge Europe’s biggest policy spend. This initiative of young people, many climate strikers from the Fridays for Future movement, have taken the EU’s top brass to task over the gap between environmental rhetoric and business-as-usual reality. SO what happened at their meeting last with with Vice-President of the EU Commission Frans Timmermans, of EU Green Deal Fame. Here the group who met him give us the lowdown, and tell us what they are focused on next for withdraw the cap. […]

Last Week of CAP Negotiations: What’s the Deal?

May 20, 2021 Matteo Metta

As the negotiations start to come to a close, this article focuses on the remaining fair and green considerations. We shed light on the state of play in the CAP post 2022 inter-institutional negotiations, particularly in relation to those articles of the CAP Strategic Plan Regulation which are still open to political and technical discussions. So what’s the deal? […]

Discontinue Origin Green, Review Teagasc Mandate, say Irish Enviro NGOs

April 27, 2021 ARC

Ireland’s flagship agri-food export marketing initiative Origin Green should be discontinued, while Ireland’s state agricultural research organisation Teagasc should have its legal mandate reviewed. And an independent body, potentially the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should “establish and implement a robust monitoring framework to assess the full environmental impacts of food production at farm, catchment and national level.” That’s according to the three umbrella environmental coalitions and networks in Ireland, who today launch a new policy document. […]

UK | How Nature Brought A Family Farm Back To Life

April 23, 2021 Ursula Billington

As the English countryside is gobbled up by monoculture, one family farm is making space for nature. Carymarsh nature reserve is a patchwork of habitats – wetlands, woodlands and feeding grounds for overwintering birds – where people are welcome too. Story by Ursula Billington. […]

Tweets of the Week – 16/2021

April 23, 2021 ARC

Our weekly Twitter round up of great content from our kindred network: a Friday treat for your weekend reading pleasure. Enjoy what we’ve found for you on twitter. […]

Letter From The Farm | Rasputin The Ram & The Ethics Of Lamb For Easter Dinner

April 12, 2021 Matthew Hayes

We’re back on Zsámbok farm in Hungary, where Matthew, Kata and the team have been doing some deep thinking about the ethics of taking a life as they slaughter their first sheep. The farm is trying to strike a balance between respecting traditions while pursuing sustainability and efficiency, writes Matthew – and learning as they go. […]

A Soil Scientist’s Perspective – Carbon Farming, CO2 Certification & Carbon Sequestration in Soil

April 2, 2021 Andrea Beste

Carbon farming is a new buzz word, hotly debated in the EU Commission, in European Ministries and Chambers of Agriculture, and the subject of numerous projects and movements. It is in fact proposed as an ecoscheme by the Commission. So far, however, there is no binding definition of “carbon farming” and there seem to be many different understandings of the term. What most approaches have in common is the objective of storing carbon in the soil in some way. Soil Scientist Dr. Andrea Beste unpacks some important points for this contested approach to soil and land management. […]

Labour Pains – are Workers Exploited in Ecological Farming?

March 29, 2021 Brendan Ó Conchúir (Brendan Conchuir)

Over 100 organisations including trade unions, NGOs, and organisations representing small farmers have signed an open letter highlighting the need for social conditionality in the next CAP. Unsurprisingly the major farming organisations in Europe have not signed the letter. But how are labour standards on smaller farms at the ecological end of the spectrum? The picture isn’t always rosy, as Brendán Ó Conchúir find out, though there are some tentative solutions emerging. […]

Letter From The Farm | Welcome To The Herdade

March 24, 2021 Freixo do Meio Users Cooperative

Welcome to Herdade do Freixo do Meio, a 600-hectare community farm in Alentejo, Portugal. Run by a cooperative, the farm prides itself on agroecological food production that is local, responsible and conscious. Alfredo Sendim explains how the farm is building resilience through a collective approach. […]

Women Used To Dominate The Beer Industry – Until The Witch Accusations Started Pouring In

March 8, 2021 ARC

For much of history brewing beer was primarily women’s work. However, in the Early Modern period accusations of witchcraft were levelled against female brewers to make way for their male counterparts. Since then the beer industry remains dominated by men. As Laken Brooks sets out, it doesn’t have to stay that way. […]

Walk Out – Environmental Pillar Rejects Irish State’s Agri Plan

February 25, 2021 Alison Brogan

Ireland’s Environmental Pillar – the country’s leading coalition of environmental NGOs – today withdrew from the Department of Agriculture’s Agri-Food Strategy Committee after concluding that the draft Strategy is “woefully inadequate to meet the social and environmental challenges we face.” […]

Letter From The Farm | Between Hotbeds And The Hungary Gap

February 22, 2021 Matthew Hayes

Meet Matthew Hayes, an organic-biodynamic-biointensive farmer originally from the UK, who has lived and farmed in Hungary for the last 25 years. He runs a market garden with his wife Kata in Zsámbok, a village in Pest county to the east of Budapest. In his first Letter From The Farm, Matthew writes about the struggle between light and darkness, the hung(a)ry gap, and lessons in patience. […]

European Committee of the Regions Adopts Opinion on Agroecology

February 18, 2021 ARC

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has adopted an opinion on agroecology suggesting a comprehensive set of measures to foster agroecology in the EU. The opinion highlights problems with European agriculture, including global warming, soil degradation, biodiversity destruction, as well as needs – protecting natural resources, reducing GHG emissions, fostering biodiversity and moving from extraction to circularity. […]

Commission’s Recommendations to CAP Strategic Plans: Glitters or Gold?

February 14, 2021 ARC

While the co-legislators and the trilogue negotiations at EU level continue to derail the future CAP away from the necessary reforms, in December 2020, the European Commission issued EU-wide and 27 country-specific Staff Working Documents providing recommendations directed to the Member States in charge of designing the future National CAP Strategic Plans. […]

Download New Report on CAP – Trilogues & Strategic Plans

February 5, 2021 ARC

“Integration between the CAP reform and the European Green Deal is poor or unrealised.” That’s according to a new policy analysis, written by ARC2020’s analyst Matteo Metta and Agricultural Economist Dr. Sebastian Lakner. Commissioned by MEP Martin Hausling (Greens/EFA) this timely report pours cold water over many of the claims for improved environmental performance in the emerging CAP, which is currently in trilogues. A number of CAP solutions are proposed. […]