Latest from EU Member States

“Not all Pastures are Just Grass” Spain, CAP, the Omnibus & the Pastoralists

CAP’s way to address diverse rural spaces under a broad policy umbrella has many shortcomings, including the discrimination against wood pastures as eligible land for direct payments. This impacts pastoralists and the landscape negatively. So will this be addressed by the new reform of the CAP? Or has something else emerged which might actually act as a tool for change? by Flora Sonkin. […]

Latest from EU Member States

Ireland’s “Livestock-Industrial-Complex”

This long read by Frank Armstrong gives a background into what he calls the livestock industrial complex. Part history, part contemporary agri-food overview, part health and environmental case and part personal note, this article is speaks of power and how it operates in different spheres. These include politics, media and nutritional advice, all through the prism of livestock farming in Ireland. […]

Latest from Brussels

Hogan’s CAP Communication & ARC2020 Analysis

The new CAP Communication betrays a lack of ambition, a worrying move towards reliance on the financial sector, a lack of focus on rural areas or on some major issues. However, the results based initiative – which risking re-nationalisaiton to an extent – is at least novel and thought provoking. It potentially involves give and take by Member States with justifications accompanying subsidiarity. […]

Recent updates

Contributors wanted

Become a Contributor for ARC2020 Interested in European food, farming and rural policy matters? Do you have great writing skills and an ability to deliver content accurately and on time? Then you could be just what we’re looking for! ARC2020 is seeking people to write on these topics for us. We are in particular seeking contributors who are well versed in CAP, and/or agroecology, academics and practitioners, and people who can help bring the national debate in their country to a European audience. And, we pay! (Note that we don’t offer payment for academic articles, op-eds, or for report promotion. We pay journalists as well as farmers who write for us primarily) For more, contact Louise Kelleher at: louise.kelleher[@]arc2020.eu Submission Guidelines Pitch Pitch us the topic/questions/ideas you plan to explore (email, max. 2 paragraphs) Write in English (unless otherwise agreed) Once we have accepted the pitch, you and the editor will agree on a deadline and payment for the article. Article format Length Articles should be between 800 and 1,200 words, unless otherwise agreed. Structure […]

Latest from EU Member States

“Technical Rectification”, Trade & UK’s Brexit Double Act

Mainstream UK media have presented Brexit minister David Davis (left, without negotiating papers) as the public face of the country’s progress with Brexit talks. However, the press has studiously overlooked the back-room activities of the international trade minister Liam Fox, who has been rolling up his  sleeves and starting to size up Tariff Rate Quotas (TRQs) held by the European Union at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). In an extraordinarily wide-reaching plan described as a “Technical Rectification”, Fox is planning to unilaterally carve out what he judges to be the UK’s share of TRQ  tonnages for third country imports such as New Zealand sheepmeat and register the results with the WTO. The story emerged thanks to Sky News journalist Faisal Islam, but only because the TV chain was filming Fox in action at the WTO headquarters in Geneva. In the past, technical rectifications have been more limited in scope, but this editing is on an industrial scale: Fox is not waiting for Davis to get round to discussing trade with the European Commission before trying […]