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Changes “required” to Ireland’s CAP Strategic Plan – European Commission

April 13, 2022 Oliver Moore

Changes in the CAP strategic Plan submitted by Ireland are “required”. In the Observation Letter sent to Ireland – which you can download below – there are a number of areas the European Commission has called for changes in. The overall green architecture itself, including eco-schemes especially, needs work, if Ireland is to achieve its environmental targets. There is a distinct lack of ambition, scoring, and incentives for stronger environmental practices. Increasing dairy herd numbers is named directly as making the necessary changes more difficult. That the letter’s language is strident in places is noteworthy. So what is the Commission asking for? And what comes next? Oliver Moore reports. […]

West Balkans – Accession, Agriculture and a Greener Agenda

April 8, 2022 Hannes Lorenzen

War in Ukraine has sharpened the EU’s focus on food security, farm and trade policies and the EU Green Deal. This war has also spotlighted progressive engagement with the Western Balkans, a region with its own simmering political tensions not unrelated to the wider conflict. Agricultural ministers meet this week to engage, to connect to EU institutions, but also to help lead on a greener farming agenda for Europe. Hannes Lorenzen, who participated in the meeting, has more. […]

Hungary | Electoral Win for Orbán – can he keep up pro-farmer façade?

April 5, 2022 Péter József Bori

This weekend Hungarians voted Viktor Orbán’s FIDESZ party into a fourth consecutive term in government. What is the secret to Orbán’s continued popularity with rural voters, when he has been breaking promises to them for more than a decade? How will this new parliamentary majority for FIDESZ affect agriculture, farmers and rural areas in the midst of global political and economic turmoil? Analysis by Péter József Bori. […]

Farming with Benefits – Building Soil and Community

March 31, 2022 Marianne Landzettel

“Am I really prepared to poison the kids?” wondered American wheat farmer Klaas Martens, after an injury that he suspects was caused by herbicides. He has since converted the whole farm to organic. These days, he pays attention to the story his ‘weeds’ tell him, nurturing the community of organisms in his soil – and building community knowledge among farmers. Excerpt from a book by Marianne Landzettel. […]

Ukraine | Connecting Rural Borderlands in the Carpathians

March 28, 2022 ARC

The Carpathian Civil Society Platform is gathering energy for change in the borderlands that connect Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. These remote mountainous areas have similar characteristics and face similar challenges, such as increasing poverty and social exclusion. With war moving closer to Western Ukraine, the platform’s work to connect civil society actors in the Carpathian mountains has taken on a renewed significance. Report by Sándor Köles, Chair of Carpathian Foundation-Hungary. […]

France | Farming by Numbers part 1

March 25, 2022 Valérie Geslin

Stéphane loves numbers, and it’s a formula for the success of the six-hectare horticulture farm, GAEC Le Jardin des Pierres Bleues, that he runs together with three associates and one employee in Vay, north-west France. By his calculation, everyone gets to earn a dignified living, true to their principles and to nature. Free of debt, and free of CAP subsidies… In conversation with Valérie Geslin. […]

UK | Hemp – Overgrowing the Regime part 1

March 23, 2022 Ursula Billington

Hemp is an ‘ecological wonder plant’ with almost endless potential as a sustainable raw fibre material, not to mention its intriguing nutrient profile and therapeutic benefits. It can even decontaminate radioactive soil. Yet in many jurisdictions, hemp production is hampered by baffling constraints. Where UK farming policy appears to bypass common sense, growers are taking the law into their own hands. […]

French CAP Plan: What Opportunities for Change During the New 2022-27 Presidential Term?

March 11, 2022 Aurélie Catallo

With the war in Ukraine, the discourse around the CAP has shifted towards approving unambitious, business-as-usual strategic plans that serve the interests of agri-industrial block and lobby groups. As French elections are only a few weeks away, “Pour un autre PAC” (PUAP) outlined its positions on the opportunities that will arise throughout the next presidential mandate. […]

Hungary | The Last Smallholders Part III

February 28, 2022 Péter József Bori

Rural Hungary has been Viktor Orbán’s ticket to three terms in power. With the April 2022 elections approaching, is there a chance for emancipation from authoritarian populist rule to arise from this very same countryside? Drawing on original research, Péter József Bori and Noémi Gonda argue that by reforming our ways of producing food, we can also initiate a radical reform of the undemocratic systems that govern us. Final installment of an exclusive three-part series. […]

Rocky Road – EU Regs, Deforestation and a Just Transition for Smallholders

February 24, 2022 Ashley Parsons

After “organic,” “non-GMO,” or even “palm-oil free,” there may be a new label coming to products for EU consumers: “Deforestation-free.” But might there be unintended consequences for some of the world’s poorest smallholders, who also happen to be those least responsible for climate breakdown? Ashley Parsons and Oliver Moore report. […]

Hungary | The Last Smallholders Part II

February 22, 2022 Péter József Bori

Our second installment here explains how Orbán and his FIDESZ party backtracked on their promises after their election in 2010. What followed is a decade of land grabbing, destructive agricultural transformation and the alienation of Hungary’s last smallholders – all while maintaining the image of a pro-peasant government. Original research by Péter József Bori and Noémi Gonda. […]

Hungary | The Last Smallholders Part I

February 15, 2022 Péter József Bori

In Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, the rural vote will have a crucial role to play in the upcoming April elections. Orbán has been milking farmers’ grievances for over a decade. Have the nation’s smallholders had enough? Revealing the findings of new research, Péter József Bori and Noémi Gonda track the progress of feudal dynamics in the Hungarian countryside. First in a three-part series. […]

Czech Republic | Preparing The Ground For Agroforestry

January 28, 2022 Louise Kelleher

Louise Kelleher speaks to Czech farmer Terezie Daňková about the Kafkaesque barriers to agroforestry in the Czech Republic. Land tenure is a major issue with a disproportionate number of Czech farmers who work on the farm, compared to non-farming landowners. […]

In Full – Agroecology Europe Barcelona Letter

January 26, 2022 ARC

Here is the full text of Agroecology Europe’s Barcelona Letter on Agroecology. Policy and investments, inclusion and participation, rural-urban connections, pricing, breeding, technology and transition all feature in this call out for a different approach to how we the people do farming, land and food. […]

2022 – ARC’s Year of the Rose-Ringed Parakeet…and more!

January 10, 2022 ARC

What lessons can we learn from the plucky parakeet? How will we navigate this strange and beautiful world in the year ahead? From Seeds4All to Soup and Talk, from rural action to diverse diversification, ARC has a plan. Come, join in. […]