Currently, short food supply chains represent a viable alternative to the conventional globalized supply chains, thus gradually becoming a more and more proeminent actor in the global logistics sector. The previously mentioned short food supply chains are in general extremely varied both in terms of nature and practices, benefiting producers as well as...

South-eastern Transylvania is one of Europe’s most important natural and cultural landscapes, supporting many rare habitats and fauna and flora species including some of the most significant areas of wildflower-rich grasslands in Europe. This high nature value farmed landscape is the result of good husbandry over hundreds of years, and...

Traditional fisheries involving fishing households (as opposed to commercial companies), using relatively small amount of capital and energy, relatively small fishing vessels (if any), making short fishing trips, close to shore, mainly for local consumption. In practice, definition varies between countries, e.g. from gleaning or a one-man canoe in poor...

Depuis 2004, le Réseau AMAP Ile-de-France accompagne le développement du mouvement des AMAP dans la région. Il soutient aussi depuis 2009 l'installation de nouveaux paysans en agriculture biologique de proximité, avec ses partenaires du Pôle Abiosol.

Before submitting the project, Agroserv Ltd  - from SLOVAKIA, had 2 466 hectares of agricultural land at its disposal, but nevertheless, its capacities were not fully used: the machines and the technologies used were obsolete, whereas the company did not have the capacity to  manage efficiently animal production and the...

This article provides an introduction to the topic of stakeholder involvement in rural development policy and sets the scene for the rest of this EU Rural Review. It clarifies the importance of stakeholder involvement and how and why the EU is prepared to invest so much to support it. It...

Eighteen months after floods washed away the livelihoods of thousands of farm households, Serbian agriculture is getting back on track – thanks to help from the European Union and FAO. A second phase of assistance for central and western Serbia started in the summer and is now close to completion. More...

Extending the definition of small scale fisheries is a recurrent issue in policy and research debates. A broader definition of small scale fisheries would need to encompass, in addition to vessel size attributes such as vessel length, variables relating to their local operational range,their social role in coastal communities and...

Hosted on CIHEAM’s website (ciheam.org), the Mediterranean Observatory aims at contributing to the exchange of ideas by providing information and analyses on agriculture, food and development within the Euro-Mediterranean area. In this regard, various statistical indicators were collected and processed in order to offer essential information for all those who,...

The Europe and Central Asia region (ECA) has achieved Millennium Development Goal 1C, to halve the proportion of undernourished people, with undernourishment at less than 5 percent in the region since 2010-12, the lowest of all five FAO regions. All countries in the region have made considerable progress in reducing...

The transition from Socialism to Capitalism occurred in many countries worldwide, but nowhere was it so sharp as in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. Many researchers studied this process since the fall of the Berlin Wall in the autumn of 1989. Twenty-five years later, an international workshop was...

Open Farm Sunday is an annual event involving almost 400 farms that organise activities for over 200000 visitors. Since it began in 2006, over 1350 farmers have opened up their farms, welcoming more than 1.25 million visitors and creating a high-profile national event that attracts major sponsors. Farmers are provided...

The potential for success in ensuring that agriculture is both competitive and viable under the new Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) will depend particularly on engagement with farmers, foresters and land managers, as well as their representative bodies and advisors. In this article, we consider the relevance of rural development objectives...

Summer pasture farming i Norway, short introduction

Agriculture plays an important economic, social and cultural role in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is also a country with a very high percentage (over 34 %) of its territory falling in Natura 2000 areas. Therefore, the implementation of CAP rules and supporting mechanisms plays a crucial role for conservation of these areas....

Sustainable management of natural resources and climate action are at the heart of the rural development objectives 2014-2020. This article argues that this can only be achieved through active and broad stakeholder engagement. Such engagement is necessary at one level to ensure that the full range of actors on the...

The diversity of agriculture in the world reflects the immense variety of societies and natural environments on the planet. Indeed, agricultural systems range from various types of shifting slash-and-burn practices – sometimes very similar to those of the first sedentary human groups – to quasi-automated agricultures in some regions of...

Balanced territorial development seeks to ensure that rural development benefits the full range of rural stakeholders and local communities. It is about diversifying rural economies to create jobs and opportunities in a range of sectors of activity, reducing poverty, and supporting vibrant local communities. The local level is often the...

We often hear ‘formal’ stakeholder consultation processes described as time-consuming and bureaucratic, undertaken without adequate information, real representation, or time to discuss and report back. Too often they are carried out as a formality with no chance of influencing well established mechanisms of non-transparent decision-making. We will argue here that...

Communication can be used as a strategic tool to support and improve stakeholder engagement. Done effectively, it can help different types of rural development stakeholders understand why, when and how they can benefit from engaging in the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs). Good communication is essential for ensuring stakeholders find out...