The starkness of the IPCC’s most recent climate change warnings – of 12 year window before runaway impacts – has focused the minds of many. What role – if any – for livestock in this brave new herd? […]
Meet Brindusa Birhala and Anselm Opdebeeck who live in the west of rural Romania. For four years, the pair have been slowly turning a small patch in the village of Stancoiva into an agroecological holding. Brindusa introduces the story, from strawbales to horticultural sales… […]
The position of farmers and other suppliers in the agri-food chain received a boost on Monday, when the Agriculture Committee in the European Parliament approved new draft rules against unfair trading practices (UTPs). The text was approved in by 38 votes in favour to four votes against, with two abstentions. […]
This is #AgtechTakeback. L’Atelier Paysan is a French cooperative that works with farmers to design machines and buildings adapted to the specific practices of small farm agroecology. In addition to distributing free plans on its website, L’Atelier Paysan organizes winter self-help training sessions, during which farmers train in metalworking and build tools which they can then use on their own farms. […]
CAP should better support all of those who work the land and produce food, while helping develop agroecological practices. Read extracts from two European Coordination of Via Campesina (ECVC) documents on the Future of CAP. […]
As the role of technology increases in farming and food, and corporate powers use this to extend their power, we need to strive for technological developments that are appropriate for farmers, for eaters and for the planet. Welcome to #AgTechTakeback. […]
As the CAPSELLA project comes to an end, Helene Schulze reflects on her visit to the closing conference in Milan and what it means to have an open-data mindset. How can technology further agroecology? How can we ensure that this technology does not reinforce existing inequalities in the food system? […]
Greenpeace EU agriculture policy director Marco Contiero with this op-ed tells us that a little-known panel in the European Parliament will rule later this week on a procedural issue that could make or break the EU’s most expensive and arguably most environmentally destructive policy. The leaders of the Parliament’s different political groups will end a bitter row between MEPs over which committees should be given a meaningful role in CAP reform. […]
Country girl becomes city girl with a background in climate change and environmental activism – and then becomes a cattle farmer? How did that happen? Meet Sineád from Mayo…… […]
Where does Europe get its soybeans – South America, Ukraine, within the EU itself? Hans Wietzels talks sustainable soybean with Oksana Prosolenko of the Donau Soja Organisation she directs in Ukraine. […]
New farmer Chiara Garini, fresh from learning about gastronomy and agroecology at the academic level, is trying to put some of her ideas into practice on a farm in Italy. Here she introduces her background, her studies, and the land she’s working on. Already, she has faced challenges and had to make decisions. […]
Here we round up some recent perspectives on the Commission’s CAP proposal. This includes a summary of the 18 months of work that went into the document(s), concern over capping backsliding, a briefing on conditionality, which member states want to keep the cash as it was, and an Urgenci (CSA) and Birdlife perspective. […]
Interested in reducing the GHG emissions from producing our food? Better nutrition and health and lower healthcare costs? Reducing the pollution from our food production systems? Then read what Stuart Miekle has to say about how a soil focused farming benefits these and other aspects of society. […]
In the second of his two articles on landgrabbing in Poland, Hans Wetzels reports on rural Poland, the rise of the populist right and on sociological critiques of populist claims. We see that landgrabbing, large corporations and EU policy impact some areas and sectors differently to others […]
There has been unrest in rural communities across Poland for some years. Land prices have increased dramatically and despite a moratorium on foreign land purchasing, foreign entities have found a way to buy land. Polish farmers are despairing and protesting en masse. Hans Wetzels reports from Poland on land grabbing. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention