Latest from EU Member States

UK online-only basic payments deadline approaches…

The UK parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee (EFRA) this week published its findings on the provision of rural broadband, warning that until there is completely reliable broadband coverage in the UK, “…there will be those who, through lack of online access, are disadvantaged through no fault of their own.” The committee heard that at present one in 10 CAP applicants either do not have a computer or do not use broadband. Last year, the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) wrote to 18,000 farmers in England who would no longer qualify for Pillar I area-based support, leaving some 90,000 registrations that need to be completed by the May 15 deadline. With fewer than 100 days to go, the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) is reporting that just over 22,500 farm businesses have registered. This means that registration levels will need to top 700 farms/day to meet the deadline requirements. The union has been emailing and texting members to remind them of the need to register. The RPA has set up 50 help centres across England, where […]

Newsflash

ARC Newsflash – Special Edition 2015

View this email in your browser Report: 50,000 take to the streets of Berlin to say: We Are Fed Up!  This year’s  “Wir haben es satt!” (We are fed up!) march surpassed even last year’s record attendance, with 50,000 people marching through the streets of Berlin. Their aim? To say no to a broken industrialised globalised food system and yes to an alternative. Find our extended report here. Coming up: Good Food Good Farming Conference Brussels – 10 and 11th FEBRUARY 2015 GOOD FOOD, GOOD FARMING CONFERENCE Renewing civil society’s agenda towards sustainable food and agriculture and a living countryside Who? ARC 2020 platform, Friends of the Earth Europe and the organic movement IFOAM, in collaboration with the European Economic and Social Committee invite you to a conference on the future of farming and food, on fair trade and sustainable rural policies.  Why? This 1.5-days event brings together representatives from civil society, grassroots groups, researchers, national/regional authorities, policymakers and more to: 1. Assess the implementation of the reformed CAP 2014-2020, prospects of agricultural sustainability and of rural renaissance. 2. Identify milestones […]

Latest from the ARC network

‘We are fed up!’ Demonstration January 17th in Berlin

We are getting ready for the big demonstration coming up in January. Over 30,000 demonstrated at the event in January 2014.  This year, we are expecting another huge, international turnout.  Mark your calendars now! Call to the fifth “We are fed up with agro industry!” demonstration Stop animal factories, genetic engineering and TTIP. For a new agricultural policy! Saturday, 17.01.2015, 12pm, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin Demonstration – Tractor Procession – Rally “We are fed up with agro industry!” Agribusinesses continue to gain ground: A few international corporations are undermining seed diversity and are pushing for GMOs on farms. Investors continue to build new, industrial mega-barns, where animals are subjected to sufferable conditions. At the G7 Summit and through free trade agreements like the TTIP and CETA, the world leaders are setting the course for the global industrialisation of agriculture. The consequences are ubiquitous: More and more farmers must abandon their fields, both here and in the south. Markets are flooded with cheap meat. The cultivation of monocultures is encroaching on the rainforest. Arable land has become an […]