Agroecology is best practice: Biowatch's work with smallholder farmers explores the workings of eight homestead farms in northern KwaZulu-Natal, illustrating agroecology best practices through the personal experiences of each of the smallholder farmers. These farmers have shown that the land can take care of its people - if its people take...

Local and solidarity-based partnerships for agroecology did not wait for a supportive CAP to develop sustainable food systems. For more than a decade, Community Supported Agriculture has been contributing to creating new jobs that cannot be relocated and to the revitalisation and diversification of the agricultural sector especially in peri-urban areas. The...

Eip Agri August Newsletter on Agriculture & Innovation 

Smallholder Farmer Autonomy Over Seed Production – the final release in a series of six videos from the ACB hosted event, National Seed Dialogue and Celebration, held in December 2017 at Constitution Hill. Smallholder farmers feed the world, providing up to 70% of food consumed globally. The seed is...

In August 2018, The Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hosted a speak-out with SADC smallholder farmers in Windhoek, Namibia (SOUTHERN AFRICA) on Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs). FISPs are government agricultural programmes to promote the use of Green Revolution inputs (hybrid seed, synthetic fertilizer...

Since you last heard from us we have been carrying out the final adjustments, tests, and translations to our online training platform. We have also held several multiplier events across Europe in which young farmers and other stakeholders have discussed the importance of succession processes for the sustainability of family farms with leading experts...

In August 2018, the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hosted a speak-out for SADC smallholder farmers in Windhoek, Namibia, on Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs). FISPs are government agricultural programmes that promote the use of Green Revolution inputs produced by multinational corporations. Farmers were not...

Romanian National Rural Network No.5/2018 Newsletter, with a lot of news regarding Rural Development in Romania and EU

The approach based on localized agri-food systems (SYAL, from the French acronym) has brought about new perspectives for analysis of local productive arrangements, complementing and expanding the theoretical background of clusters and industrial districts. In addressing physical, institutional, cultural and relational factors, SYAL’s approach has enabled a more dynamic view...

In August 2018, the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hosted a speak-out for SADC smallholder farmers in Windhoek, Namibia, on Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs). FISPs are government agricultural programmes that promote the use of Green Revolution inputs produced by multinational corporations. These...

In August 2018, the Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) and the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) hosted a speak-out for SADC smallholder farmers in Windhoek, Namibia, on Farm Input Subsidy Programmes (FISPs). FISPs are government agricultural programmes that promote Green Revolution inputs produced by multinational corporations, such as chemical fertilizers. In...

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...

Livestock are found in all regions of the world and supply a wide range of products and services such as meat, milk, eggs, fibre, hides and skins, natural fertilizers, fuel, transport and drought power. They are kept by more than half of rural households and are essential to livelihoods, nutrition...

En la edición 2018 el Anuario de la Agricultura Familiar vuelve a acoger relevantes reflexiones de más de 40 autores y autoras representativos de distintas sensibilidades y ámbitos de estudio. También aglutina más de 300 datos estadísticos de la agricultura, la ganadería, la distribución y el consumo de alimentos en...

European agriculture faces increasing restrictions on the use of external production inputs, such as artificial fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics. Organic farmers have experience in dealing with these issues, which is why organic farming may open new avenues for soil management strategies, weed and pest control, and livestock health and wellbeing,...

Within the scope outlined in the generic scoping report for the regional and subregional assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services (decision IPBES-3/1, annex III), particular challenges found across the Asia-Pacific region include climate change (particularly sea-level rise, increased intensity of extreme storm events, ocean acidification and glacier retreat), population growth,...

There is an international consensus about the unprecedented and pressing challenges that the world is facing in the 21st century, such as hunger and how to feed a growing population, eroding livelihoods of smallscale urban and rural food producers and workers, diet-related diseases, natural resource depletion, environmental degradation and climate change (FAO, 2017). It is also recognized worldwide that...

Champasack, Laos – In recent years, the shed house was introduced to farmers as an alternative technology for growing vegetables during rainy season because the shed house is roofed with transparent plastic. However, due to the use of plastic, the temperature in the house increases, which is not suitable for...

Farming the land as if nature doesn’t matter has been the model for much of the Western world’s food production system for at least the past 75 years. The results haven’t been pretty: depleted soil, chemically fouled waters, true family farms all but eliminated, a worsening of public health and...

A transition to an agriculture based on agroecological principles would provide rural families with significant socioeconomic and environmental benefits. If agroecology has such great potential to feeding the world, why it is not adopted more widely by farmers? Most research analyzing factorsneeded for scaling up agroecology focuses on the social...