Meet Matthew Hayes, an organic-biodynamic-biointensive farmer originally from the UK, who has lived and farmed in Hungary for the last 25 years. He runs a market garden with his wife Kata in Zsámbok, a village in Pest county to the east of Budapest. In his first Letter From The Farm, Matthew writes...

Because women and girls are already socioeconomically marginalized in many societies, they are especially vulnerable in emergencies. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, women and girls in developing countries face disproportionate hardships, and the progress being made to close existing gender gaps may falter or roll back. For that...

Agroecology is a farming approach that’s inspired by natural ecosystems, combines local and scientific knowledge, and focuses on the interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment. Given the outsize contributions of conventional agriculture to climate change and biodiversity loss, there’s growing recognition the global food system needs a paradigm...

The witches' broom (Moniliophthora perniciosa) is considered as one of the main threats for cacao production and, consequently, for chocolate production worldwide.. In this work, the genetic diversity and population structure of M. perniciosa were analyzed for 59 isolates collected in five departments of Colombia and using 10 microsatellite markers....

This publication provides an answer to these questions, which were at the heart of strategic conversations initiated by IFOAM EU to foster the further development of the organic movement. One result of these conversations is a shared vision of the European organic movement to 2030 and beyond, described in Part...

En Colombia, el cultivo de guayaba se desarrolla principalmente en los departamentos de Santander, Boyacá, Meta, Valle del Cauca, Caldas, Risaralda, Atlántico y Tolima. Los principales canales de comercialización de la fruta son la venta para consumo en fresco y la producción de bocadillo. Por tal razón, las enfermedades que...

Food systems need to meet food security, nutrition and environmental goals, especially in a world with growing demand and a changing climate. There is now broad consensus on the need to transform current food systems towards more sustainable models. Agroecology is increasingly seen as a framework to transform food systems...

A recent documentary on fisheries and its impacts on the marine environment has grabbed widespread global attention for not only what it says but also for what it does not address. The recently released Netflix documentary Seaspiracy (2021) has sparked a frenzy of discussion in various media outlets and on social...

This practice explains and clarifies the planning process for home-grown school feeding (HGSF) including the needs assessment. In addition, it provides guidance on the design and implementation of HGSF programmes. It clarifies:  the objectives of the programme; the menus it provides; how it ensures food safety and quality; how it links smallholder farmers (and...

La forma de manejo de los árboles que aparecen por germinación de semilla o por rebrote se conoce como regeneración natural. Esta práctica consiste en la asociación de árboles y de cultivo para la conservación de humedad en el suelo y favorecer el desarrollo de la siembra, especialmente en zonas...

Based on surveys and on extensive stakeholder consultation process over four years in 21 European countries, the current increase in production and use of organic seed in Europe seems too slow to reach the goal of 100% organic seed in 2036. • Seed companies need reliable data on the actual demand...

The LIVESEED project investigated how crop breeders and seed producers can combine best practices from across the industry to increase the availability and quality of organic seeds. The results will help meet the EU’s ambitious targets for organic agriculture. Under the Farm to Fork strategy, the European Commission has set a...

La FAO ha desarrollado casos de estudio de gobernanza del agua en seis países de Latinoamérica, en apoyo a la institucionalidad competente, mediante la evaluación de la información disponible y el levantamiento de las percepciones de actores, enriquecido con instancias de diálogo y participación a nivel territorial, nacional y subregional. En...

El objetivo de este trabajo fue caracterizar tecnológica y socioeconómicamente el sistema de producción de ñame (Dioscorea spp) en la región Caribe, se usó el método descriptivo con información de una encuesta estructurada y aplicada a 98 agricultores, así como la técnica de muestreo aleatorio simple. El análisis de datos...

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...

On 21 March 2020, ten days after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a pandemic, a voluntary closure was imposed on all fishing and fish marketing activities in Kollam in the southern Indian state of Kerala. Shot during the peak of the first wave of Covid-19 in India, this...

A recurrent controversy related to food systems and their transition toward more sustainability is the ability of organic farming to produce sufficient food for a growing world population. This long-term research from FiBL provides new and interesting insights into this policy issue. Results from long-term comparative farming systems research of FiBL in Kenya,...

This practice explains how conservation agriculture (CA) works, its limitations, and how to identify practical solutions to challenges farmers face in Timor-Leste. For the adoption of CA practices, the CA principles must be well understood by those providing advice and by those implementing it – extensionists and farmers. This practice describes...

El Programa Especial para la Seguridad Alimentaria (PESA), Nicaragua, provee de cabras lecheras a familias que viven en zonas rurales, de mayor vulnerabilidad al hambre y la pobreza. Cabras lecheras como alternativa para mejorar la alimentación conduce a un aumento de la seguridad alimentaria en estas áreas. Este material proviene...

El impacto directo de las restricciones a la movilidad- propias de la cuarentena - afectó principalmente al sector comercial y de servicios, con reducción del empleo. Se estima que una parte de la población que perdió su empleo -de muy difícil cuantificación - ha retornado a las zonas rurales, que...