Food and agriculture stand today at a crossroads. Looking back, major improvements in agricultural productivity have been recorded over recent decades to satisfy the food demand of a growing global population. But progress has often come with social and environmental costs, including water scarcity, soil degradation, ecosystem stress, biodiversity loss,...

Young farmers in a number of EU countries have been severely affected by the dry weather conditions this spring and summer. In this press release from 30 August and following a CEJA working group during which delegates discussed the drought situation, CEJA urges the European Commission and national governments to...

En América Latina y el Caribe, el cultivo de algodón se remonta a hace más de 5 mil años y representa un legado cultural y económico muy importante: el 80% de las unidades productivas algodoneras son de la agricultura familiar. Las mujeres rurales dedicadas al algodón participan en todos los eslabones...

The Climate Smart Farmers Field School (CFS) enhanced the capacities of 629 farmers in Climate Change adaptation skills in rice production in 14 farming barangays in 3 municipalities in BICOL Philippines by increasing their knowledge and skills on climate change adaptation strategies, demonstrating hands-on climate risk resilient agricultural technologies and setting up of small...

This is the story of Mr Nov Keo, a PGS-organic farmer in Cambodia. He is part of one of the PGS groups formed and supported under the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) on "Small-Scale Farmer Inclusion in Organic Agriculture Development through Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS)".

El agua es esencial para la vida del ser humano; sin embargo, en algunas comunidades es un recurso con acceso limitado, especialmente durante el verano. Por esta razón, la FAO y el Ministerio de Agricultura, Ganadería y Alimentación (MAGA), impulsan en Guatemala la implementación de filtros artesanales de aguas grises. Estas estructuras...

In parts of Asia, where animal transport often happens quickly through unregulated and remote border areas, animal diseases are especially difficult to control. Because of this, and because livestock play a major role in economic growth in the region, it is important to address animal diseases that have the potential to...

Alfred Grand is an organic arable farmer near Tulln, Austria. Minimising tillage and using a rotational cropping system on his 90 ha farm is what he swears by to increase organic matter in his soil. He is part of the Austrian Operational Group BIOBO. Since 1998 Alfred has reduced tillage and...

Aunque las mujeres tienen una participación significativa en las actividades económicas rurales de América Latina y el Caribe, a menudo su trabajo es invisibilizado en las encuestas y los censos nacionales y agropecuarios, así como en sus propias comunidades. Además, las mujeres reciben una doble carga laboral, siendo responsables de trabajo...

Diets vary greatly from place to place based on food availability, eating habits and culture. Yet, when it comes to food, there is a lot that we know about what is and what is not good for us and this is true no matter where we live. Societal changes, however,...

President Emmanuel Macron launched the General State of Food (GSF), an investigation into the French agrifood system in the second half of 2017. Bringing together different food and farming stakeholders, the aim was to combat the various crises in the agricultural sector and work to build a healthy, sustainable and...

Some 5 000 northern Montenegrin farmers still make the traditional dried beef Crnogorska Goveđa pršuta, which, along with the Montenegrin dried and smoked sheep meat Crnogorska Stelja, is poised to receive geographical indication (GI) status, an origin-based label that signals quality, authenticity and tradition. This development is the result of work...

FAO in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of Uzbekistan organized the International Conference on Development of Organic Agriculture in Central Asia during 22-24 August 2017 within the framework the project TCP/UZB/3501. The major objectives were to bring together experiences in Central Asian and neighbouring countries, discuss...

Over 2.5 million hectare of forest landscape will be restored by countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia under the Bonn Challenge by 2030. The commitment was made by Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan at the first Ministerial Roundtable on Forest Landscape Restoration and the Bonn Challenge in...

Millions of small-scale farmers and foresters will be able to better protect their lands from the impacts of climate change, and improve their livelihoods thanks to renewed global efforts announced last two weeks ago on the side-lines of World Forest Week (COFO24). The Forest and Farm Facility initiative - a partnership...

Against this background, and as a follow-up to the “Conference on the role of interbranch organisations in the food supply chain”, the department for agriculture and rural development  organised this conference on “The contribution of producer organisations to an efficient agri-food supply chain” with around 200 invited participants – technical...

A team of experts from the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority of Romania (NSVFSA) participated this week in the first workshop of a series of activities aimed at strengthening the national capacities of the Republic of Moldova in assessing risks related to food safety. The five-day workshop is one...

How have farmers, entrepreneurs, social movements, and innovative political actors managed to move away from or circumvent industrial agriculture and move towards a sustainable food system? This report describes seven case studies of agroecological transition to draw insights on how the lock-ins of industrial food systems can be overcome, where the key leverage points for transition...

El propósito del Manual es generar una guía conceptual y práctica para enfrentar desde diversas dimensiones el proceso denominado Transición Agroecológica, que permitirá apoyar y conducir dentro de un contexto real y concreto, a las comunidades, organizaciones o productores individuales, de la mayor parte de la zona de producción agrícola...

As a first step towards the evaluation of the EU promotion policy for agricultural products, the European Commission has published a summary of the planned assessment, the so-called evaluation roadmap. The aim is to inform and seek feedback from citizens and stakeholders on the different steps of the evaluation. The European...