Along with Greece, Italy and Portugal, Spain is the country in continental Europe that is faced with the largest percentage of desertification and the greatest water shortages.Next to climate change, intensive and conventional farming are the main causes of this catastrophic form of land degradation. According to the European Commission,...

The efforts of agroecology-oriented farmers and peasants’ orga-nizations have been studied in depth in relation to their political expression, but less so with regard to the forms they adopt to strengthen the socio-economic viability of small- and medium- sized farms within sustainable food systems. Whilst farmers’ self- organization represents a...

This publication is a significant contribution to the agroecological transition. It results from documenting good and little-known stories about traditional seeds, local seeds and farmers’ seed systems. Seed practitioners provide the initial stories. A multi-disciplinary review committee then helped finalize the stories to provide readers and policy-makers with the arguments...

Farmers are increasingly facing challenges relating to climate change. It is vital therefore to make them aware of good agricultural practices that can help them increase not only production, but also their resilience. Having understood well such problems, Access Agriculture is working in Benin, West Africa, to provide rural actors with...

Smallholder, organic farmers in Bolivia struggle to sell their healthy, natural produce to an urban and peri-urban audience that is only slowly awakening to the health risks of food produced with agrochemicals.

Agroforestry (AF) and mixed farming (MF) are two multifunctional land use systems that harbor an untapped potential for future climate mitigation, however, they remain outside of the norm. This review collected and analyzed the policy landscape for AF and MF in 19 European countries. The results show that while the...

Following the 2021 United Nations Food System Summit call for implementing nature-positive production, this document provides an overview on the conceptual, theoretical and operational aspects of nature-positive production agriculture. The concept of nature-positive production revolves around the possible synergies between ecosystem restoration and food/biomass production and among biodiversity, nature and agriculture....

El concepto de Agroecología ha ido evolucionando a lo largo de los años, desde que fuera usado por primera vez en la ciencia agronómica a principios del siglo XX. Sus significados, definiciones, interpretaciones y enfoques se han modificado en el tiempo, expandiendo su campo de aplicación e incorporando variables sociales, políticas,...

Attracting over 3,000 visitors, the Access Agriculture booth was one of the most happening places at the International Pavilion of Millets & Organics – International Trade Fair, which was held, 20-22 January 2023, in Bengaluru, India. Access Agriculture’s booth was graced by agricultural ministers of various states, farmers, extension agents, university...

Summer 2023. 2 young filmmakers travelled through Europe visiting seed producers at their workplaces and experiencing first-hand how important it is to preserve this diversity in Europe. The short documentary gives a voice to these small-scale seed producers and seed savers from across Europe, with beautiful footage shot in Ireland,...

Sustainable practices are seen as one of the solutions to redress the negative impact of agriculture's growing intensification. Despite efforts by many governments, the adoption rate of sustainable practices amongst farmers is still low. One of the causes is policymakers’ insufficient knowledge of farming-system diversity. In order to account for...

In his inspiring speech to the Access Agriculture Entrepreneurs for Rural Access (ERAs), who were participating in a training programme, the Director General of the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE), Dr. P. Chandra Shekara, described each ERA as ‘a digital library and a mobile encyclopaedia.’ He thanked Access...

Agrifood systems are responsible for a third of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to climate change (Crippa et al., 2021). Recent research shows that the earth is reaching a dangerous tipping point where its biosphere may be shifting from a net sink to a source of atmospheric carbon...

The gouverments in Sweden and Norway have nominated the "Summer farming at fäbod andseter – knowledge, traditions and practices related to grazing of outlying lands and artisan food production” to the UNESCO Representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity There are now only 750 active summer- mountain frams in...

The overall aim of OK-Net EcoFeed is to help farmers, breeders and the organic feed processing industry in achieving the goal of 100% use of organic and regional feed for monogastrics, in particular pigs, broilers, laying hens and parents of broilers and laying hens. In the last two decades, the market...

A major meeting this week brought together farmers, bankers, governments and development partners from across Africa and beyond to discuss ways to ensure smallholder farmers, the backbone of the region’s food system, have access to the finance they need to improve and scale up sustainable forest and farm management practices. The...

This interview is part of a series conducted in the lead-up to the 4th Global Conference of the One Planet Network Sustainable Food Systems programme to be held from 24-27 April in Hanoi, Vietnam.  When asked about the current moment for food systems, Lim Li Ching brings the conversation back to 2009, when...

With the support of the OK-Net EcoFeed project this field lab has been investigating ways of reducing pig and poultry farmer's reliance on imported protein for animal feed. It is common practice to clean grains prior to sale leaving a waste product known as tailings, however this product is often...

In 2007 the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty (IPC) played a vital role in uniting small-scale food producers and their allies to establish Over time, a robust global movement for food sovereignty emerged, gaining significant political recognition. Together, we have achieved the democratization of global food and agricultural arenas, including...

Individuals and communities socially construct risk, and societies with greater risk perception may be more apt to mobilize or adapt to emergent threats like climate change. Increasing climate change awareness is often considered necessary in the first stages of the adaptation process to manage its impacts and reduce overall vulnerability....