Urgenci's Newsletter - The International Network ofCommunity Supported Agriculture. Urgenci's newsletter has been named TEIKEI,«cooperation» in Japanese, as a tribute to the pioneering role of the Japanese organic agriculturemovement in setting up the first Community -supported Agriculture models. It is also a tribute to the victims ofthe March 2011 Earthquake and...

Besides yield, nutrition and income, a family farmer harvests several other benefits from an agroecologically designed farm. So, we need to have a different set of parameters to capture impact of an agro-ecological system. Measuring the impacts of agro ecology over several parameters of different kind has encouraged farmers in...

gronomic practices and management decisions can have a significant impact on the type and number of weeds on a farm. Understanding this relationship can help organic producers manage weeds through avoidance, and various cultural management practices. The most important steps of non-chemical weed management are prevention, diagnosis, and a number of...

In small and remote villages in South Asia, our rich agricultural crop/breed diversity and associated knowledge is slowly getting wiped out and is being replaced by a handful of `high yielding’ and `improved’ crops/breeds. Rampant use of chemicals has led to the death of soil and is poisoning our food...

Transitioning toward more sustainable agricultural development paths requires extensive change and not simply marginal technical adjustments, as suggested by a strong conception of agroecology. To deal with transition, we believe that agroecology can be enriched by a deep analysis of sustainability transition frameworks and, conversely, that preexisting theories can be...

A new study has found that food products linked to their place of origin are economically and socially beneficial to rural areas and promote sustainable development. Food products registered with a Geographical Indication (GI) label boast an annual trade value of over $50 billion worldwide. Such products have specific characteristics,...

The “Train the trainer event” was an important milestone of the CSact! Project team, as one of the main activity of the project is the adaptation of the Be part of CSA! Training programme to local contexts. 18 international participants from 7 European countries met in Vác (a small city...

A system as vastly complex as food requires a systems approach. To understand and influence the interrelated economic, ecological, and social drivers of our current food systems we are initially focused on the following three impact areas: agroecology; climate, health, and well-being; and true cost accounting. We aim to accelerate the...

There will be a full schedule of presentations, discussions and activities. Some of the highlights of the Conference include a Ministerial Roundtable on Zero Hunger, a Roundtable on "Imagining future healthy and inclusive food systems in Asia and the Pacific,” an Exhibition honoring the achievements and progress of the 10 Regional...

One of the main issues of the commercialization of agriculture is the lack of storage capacity for the farmers’ organizations (FOs) especially those that produce fresh vegetables. Without effective storage system, farmers cannot consolidate their produce and manage demand-supply opportunities properly. That is why oftentimes, there is too much supply...

At the National Seed Dialogue and Celebration, hosted by the African Centre for Biodiversity, smallholder farmers, activists and government officials gathered at the Women’s Jail at Constitution Hill to discuss issues of farmer-seed systems and seed policies and laws. Claire Rousell's bog gives an overview of this event and ots...

“Grape Mundo” is a technology ecosystem that guides grape farmers to do precision and sustainable grape farming to produce high-quality grapes using minimum chemicals, thus lowering the cost. This ecosystem also helps grape farmers sell export quality and residue-free grapes across a huge PAN India market, without any involvement of...

Se presentan los principales hechos de la visita de una delegación brasilera a Colombia para avanzar en la construcción y formulación del marco conceptual para formular un proyecto de cooperación entre ambos países en Agricultura Familiar. Como insumo de información técnica se destacó el documento «Criterios Generales para la Agricultura Familiar»...

Small-scale agroecological and organic farming systems require appropriate machinery and technologies, and a change of paradigm in the way they are conceived, produced, sold and patented. The mainstream agricultural model has led to machines that are getting increasingly bigger and more expensive and complicated, and thus inaccessible for many farmers...

Érosion, désertification, salinisation, à Fimela, delta du Saloum, 30 % seulement des terres agricoles restent cultivables. C’est la cause du bradage des terres et de l’exode rural vers les villes ou vers l’étranger. Pour  remédier, l’ambition de Jardins d’Afrique est de former des jeunes à la pratique d’une autre agriculture,...

Family Farming and Sustainable Development at the CPLP

Climate change is one of the most important challenges to sustainable development in the Northern mountainous region of Vietnam. IK is also used in cultivation techniques in extreme climatic conditions. With cultivation conditions are mainly sloping land, many traditional techniques have been applied to limit soil erosion due to heavy rainfalls...

There is growing awareness of the unique and important role smallholder farmers around the world play in conserving, using and enhancing biodiversity. Conventional breeding has created a separation between farmers and specialised breeders. Participatory plant breeding (PPB) is a field of action developed over the past 25-30 years to overcome...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

For refugees from Syria who have been in Turkey for years already with no income, a job can mean the world. It means buying winter clothes for your children, getting them to school and even just being able to feed the family. It means no more endless days of wandering...