This Report on the typology of the agricultural holdings in France is based on data from the agricultural census 2000. It uses three main criteria: labor type, commercialization and management type. A specific variable related to the direct marketing is used and put into debates. The identification of the diversification...

Thea aim of the study was to present the situation of rural women in Poland compared to other European countries. Investigations included their career, educational and social aspirations, and the possibilities of supporting female economic activity on the rural labour market. It was found that rural women have varied career,...

Driven by steadily increasing demand, the number of organic producers has grown rapidly over the past decade. The new challenge for organic producers, suppliers, manufacturers and distributors is to maintain growth without compromising consumer confidence in the sector. A new European Union Action Plan on the future of Organic Production...

This report assesses the competitive position of the European Union (EU) agri-food sector in the world market by examining the influence and scope of policies affecting competitiveness. Considering recent Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) changes, the method combines a value-chain approach with trade performance indicators, surveys of stakeholders, case studies and...

Innovation in organic agriculture is about finding the right balance. Although organic farmers want to boost their output - yields from organic farms are typically 75%-80% of that from conventional modern farming - they do not want to do it at any cost. The challenge is to produce more without...

As organic production grows in Europe, the sector’s focus is on competitiveness and sustainability. Another compelling characteristic of organic farming is its natural tendency towards social inclusion. This facet is to be supported and enhanced by the renewed European Union policy mix and social inclusion has been made one of...

This training project, implemented in 6 out of the 28 Bulgarian regional districts, contributed to enhancing the knowledge and increasing the capacity of berry farmers in terms of implementation of good and sustainable agricultural practices.

Ecological compensation areas are implemented on Swiss farms with the aim of encouraging biodiversity, but recent studies have found that the existing system of incentives for specific conservation measures is insufficient to halt biodiversity loss in the Swiss agricultural landscape. A project with the title “Score with biodiversity - farmers...

A small farmer in the village of Méréaucourt decided to diversify into tourism activities by joining the “A bed in the meadow” association.

L'agriculture familiale est aujourd'hui sous le feu des projecteurs. Tandis que les Nations unies ont proclamé 2014 « Année internationale de l'agriculture familiale », les plaidoyers visant à démontrer l'importance, en termes de développement, de cette forme d'exercice de l'activité agricole à travers le monde, trouvent à se faire entendre....

information about the prospects of the cooperative sector as a means to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants in the rural environment, to ensure the increase in the producers’ revenues, to consolidate the economic role of the producers’ occupational entities, to improve and develop the activity in the agricultural...

Governments and international agencies frequently boast that small farmers control the largest share of the world's agricultural land. Inaugurating 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), sang the praises of family farmers but didn't...

Family farming is the most common operational farming model in Europe – representing 97 % of the European Union’s (EU) 12 million farms. Thus it is of great importance in the EU. It covers a diverse range of situations, including farms of all sizes. While there are obvious differences across...

Analyzing the current situation of the agriculture in Romania, we can observe a fragmentation of the landed property, so that, the subsistence and the semi-subsistence farms hold 60% of the total agricultural areas utilized (13.2 million ha of agricultural land), and the commercial farms 40%. Concerning the number of farms,...

Organic production is an overall system of farm management and food production that combines best environmental practices, a high level of biodiversity, the preservation of natural resources and the application of high animal welfare standards, and a production method in line with the preference of certain consumer for products using...

Documentaries on the Best Practices in Rural Development carried out by young farmers that have been granted support under EU Rural development policies.

The EU Forestry Strategy was adopted in 1998, following a Resolution of the European Parliament calling for the Commission to put forward a proposal for such a strategy and a Communication from the Commission which highlighted the challenges facing the EU forests, the policy and legal framework for forests and...

A short film giving a glimpse of the beautiful School Farm Site and a little insight into our hopes and dreams for the land. Don't be deceived though! Perhaps we should have included some footage on a really muddy, wet, cold day of the hard work which goes on to keep...

12 million farms, 172 million hectares of agricultural land, 25 million people involved in agricultural production – these are some of the key data for the EU farming sector in 2010; but what about the situation of individual farms and how do things differ between Member States and as compared...

Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) have established in parallel to conventional food chains, playing a key role in the emerging food networks that are continuously arising as an alternative to the globalized agri-food model. The diversities and particularities of the experiences existing all over the world (box schemes, farmers’ markets,...