The University of Groningen is presenting a summer school ''Designing sustainable landscapes within regional food systems'' that will hold between 30 August - 3 September 2021. The objective of the school is for participants to develop capacities and skills for the analysis and design of multifunctional agroecological landscapes within sustainable regional food systems,...

The European Green Deal is at the centre of the Commission’s policy agenda. Its prime objective is a sustainable, climate-neutral Europe by 2050, acting as a vehicle for investment and growth . The Green Deal emphasizes that it is ‘key’ to manage the transition towards a more sustainable food system,...

The report covers the EU in its current composition (EU-27). It presents the medium-term outlook for EU agricultural markets, income and environment to 2031, based on a set of macroeconomic assumptions deemed most plausible at the time of the analysis. Oil price, population forecasts (based on IHS Markit), the USD/EUR...

The future health of Europe’s people and the planet lies on our plate: the way in which food is farmed, fished, processed, distributed, valued, prepared, consumed and wasted must change to ensure that the environmental, social and economic sustainability of food become core assets of the EU’s food systems, along...

Climate action is vital. And yet there is a risk that, taken alone, climate action could mean those with economic power keep it, all the while avoiding the bigger, systemic changes required to face our social and environmental challenges. We argue here for climate action that works within a local...

The scope of the training ''Agroecology in the 2021-2027 Multi-annual Financial Framework of the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA)'' that was held on 3 and 4 November 2021 was to raise awareness on the meaning, role of and country experiences in agroecology and to provide concrete clues...

This report was initiated following the EEA's 2018 assessment of the status of and pressures on European waters, to highlight the role of agriculture in achieving an improved status of surface water and groundwater in future river basin management plans (EEA, 2018b; EC, 2019c). The EEA's 5-yearly state of the...

White-flowering, light-hulled peas can be included up to 30 % in poultry feed. Growers of field pea can sell their crops to compound feed producers. However, trading pea is not always straightforward and on-farm or local use generally increases the profitability of growing pea. For this on-farm use to be...

Our food and farming systems need to respect planetary boundaries, be climate-neutral, circular, diverse, and fair. They need to be prepared for the digitalisation of our economies, which brings new opportunities but also comes with risks. To achieve this, all actors in the food chain need to change – farmers,...

In Spain, the G100 Rural Proofing project aims to develop a Spanish model for rural proofing. The G100 initiative is led by the social economy NGO El Hueco and is supported by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and the region of Navarra.  The impact of legislation on rural areas has been analysed for...

EU Pollinator Week is an event that focuses on the importance of pollinators for healthy ecosystems, our wellbeing, and culture. In 2021, it will be an online event held on 27-30 September with the theme "A New Deal for Pollinators".  The 2021 EU Pollinator Week is organised by Members of the...

Maria Tekülve, the Deputy Head of Division and Focal Point for Rural Development and Agroecology at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) reflects on the role of agroecological approaches in international cooperation in an interview with Silvia Richter for the International Journal for Rural Development. The material reflects Maria Tekülve's personal opinion. ''A significantly...

This report, elaborated in the frame of EU-funded LIFE project OREKA MENDIAN (2016-2022), focuses on how human activities can support sustainable management of mountain grasslands in Europe. Today, more than 75% of the grassland area in the EU-28 is considered to have an unfavourable conservation status. The widely negative picture of...

Compost is part of the natural cycle. It is a result of mi¬crobial decomposition of dead organic matter in the presence of oxygen (aerobic conditions). The repeated application of compost on arable and vegetable fields does increase soil organic matter content as well as the microbial diversity and abundance of...

The new Commission starts its mandate with high ambitions thanks to the new European Green Deal. Our first objective is to make Europe climate neutral by 2050. But, this must be accompanied by much wider environmental initiatives, starting with a new EU Biodiversity Strategy. Adopted in April 2017, the EU...

It is estimated that the total number of small farms in Southern European (SE) countries has decreased by 33% between 2010 and 2019. This loss is despite the widespread acknowledgement and appreciation of the important role that small farms play in supporting rural livelihoods, conserving biodiversity and maintaining traditional landscapes,...

Despite the raise of awareness on the use of pesticides during the last 30 years, pesticide industries grew up thanks to the lack of information about the real damage these products could cause on the environment, human health and on producers’ incomes. The lack of knowledge using large and small...

Social capital, collective action, agroecology and cooperation are the four leading principles proposed to policy makers in the national CAP reform of 2020. By showcasing the BOND Project’s chosen regional activities and analysing their scope and implications, this report argues that the European farming sector needs a fresh approach, based...

Desde que comenzó el confinamiento por la covid-19, hemos cambiado el hábito de nuestra compra de alimentos y esto afecta tanto a quien los produce como a quien los consume. Por un lado, han aumentado las cuotas de mercado de las grandes cadenas de supermercados; quienes perpetúan un sistema de aprovisionamiento...

Como práctica, la agroecología propone el diseño y manejo sostenible de los agroecosistemas con criterios ecológicos (Altieri 1995, Gliessman, 2002) a través de formas de acción social colectiva y propuestas de desarrollo participativo que impulsan formas de producción y comercialización de alimentos y demás productos agroganaderos que contribuyen a dar...