This paper presents issues and challenges for farm and enterprise diversification and integration of small scale farmers into value chains in East Europe and Central Asia (EECA). First, it discusses context and approaches to agricultural and rural income diversification. Second, it assesses the extent of agricultural diversification in EECA. Third,...

The 2012 agricultural year in the EU was characterised by a stable real agricultural income per labour unit , after the income growths recorded in 2011 (+8%) or in 2010 (+17%). On aggregate, since 2005 the EU-27 agricultural real income per labour unit has increased by 28.5% driven by an...

Les fientes de volailles constituent un très faible apport potentiel en matières organiques. Il faut plutôt considérer les fientes de volailles comme un engrais organique azoté bien que la teneur en azote total des fientes brutes soit inférieure à 3 %. L’apport en phosphore avec les fientes est également important....

Bien qu’elles ne représentent que quelques pourcents de la masse des terres cultivées, les matières organiques (MO) du sol ont des rôles extrêmement importants à jouer : construction et stabilité de la structure, maintien ou augmentation de la capacité à retenir l’eau ou les éléments minéraux, etc. Les différents types...

Since 1992, successive CAP reforms have led to the decoupling from production of mainstream support payments to farmers (Pillar 1). Instead of paying farmers for a quantity of production, payments are attached to the land that farmers use. To determine if a piece of land is eligible for CAP payments,...

The initial project dates back to 2003 (in the context of Leader+), when 8 farmers developed a quality programme for growing, feeding and breeding the typical “Alpine Grey” cattle. Following the decline of the milk market, the local farmers'' cooperative had the idea of extending the quality programme to the...

Civil code is the basic private legal legislation regulating the status of individual subjects including for example agricultural tenure. https://portal.gov.cz/app/zakony/zakonPar.jsp?idBiblio=74907&nr=89~2F2012&rpp=15#local-content (available in Czech language only)

These report analyses trends regarding farms specialized in olive oil production over the period 2000-2010. It analyses structures, costs of production, margins and income indicators. The objective is to identify the characteristics of farms in economic difficulty and those in a better situation. The main source for this report is...

This short video  presents the basic concept of the Regionalwert AG (RWAG) and interviews founder Christian Hiss, the fruit farmer Joel Siegel as well as shareholders who have invested in the RWAG.

This publication seeks to identify and explain the different legal issues related to organic production, including a comparative analysis of selected public and private legal sources of international relevance, as well as recommendations on the issues to consider in the design of national organic agriculture legislation. It is a first...

A short Video about local partnerships between consumers and small-scale farmers

Initially, Farming Systems Research took the farm as a starting point for an analysis of a broad range of issues linked to agricultural production. Soon afterwards, it was recognised that to understand farming, the scale of analysis needed to be broadened, to capture the interactions between farms and their natural,...

The modernization of Swedish and European agriculture in the past century has increased yields immensely. At the same time, modernization has led to a uniform, biologically depleted agricultural landscape and a number of other negative impacts. Most serious of these impacts are reduced biodiversity, pollution of water and the air,...

Pastoral landscapes are farmed in many different ways, reflecting the variety of pasture and livestock types (breeds of cattle, sheep and goats) in Europe. Some farming systems make use mainly of grasslands that may be sown or semi-natural vegetation. Others exploit pastures of shrubs, for example heather moorland is a...

Looks at solidarity purchasing groups in Tuscany as an example of consumer intiated alternative food networks.

This report presents findings and recommendations from a five-year national project – Mapping Local Food Webs – to engage local volunteers across England to research their local food ‘webs’: the network of links between people who buy, sell, produce and supply food sourced locally.

A journey in "Le Conche", farm of the young Calabrian farmer Vincenzo Sposato: his passion for the job, the relationship with the family, friendship and his future plans. The story focuses on the innovations brought by Vincenzo who having inherited a traditional olive trees farm,  in a few years turned...

Cascina Barosi is a farm completely run by women. Cascina Barosi is a journey backwards, from big cities to the countryside. Benedetta, from Milan, managed a farm near Cremona. The film recounts his relationship with technology, enabling her to remotely control to the work on the farm, succeeding so to...

The film tells the special relationship of Matteo Bolognesi with agriculture: original, organic and biodynamic, but without giving up technology. With small investments from the Rural Development Programme of his region, has created a niche market in which he is producing essential oils, lavender, rosemary, spices for the well-being and...

8 % of the total EU population lives in mountainous areas which represent a particularly important eco-region in Central Europe. Because of ecological, climatic and economic reasons an increasing pressure is imposed upon agriculture. Hence in large parts of European mountainous areas drastic changes in agricultural structure and land use...