Roadside and farmland hedgerows in Normandy (France) were disappearing. Local inhabitants wanted to preserve this traditional landscape feature. So they decided to generate an economic value for the hedgerows and set up a short wood supply chain. Involving all local groups in this was essential.

The main objective of the Guidelines is to provide a non-binding complement to other guidelines and offer advice to RDP evaluation stakeholders on how to carry out the evaluation activities for answering the common evaluation questions related to innovation. Since the RDP’s effects on innovation in rural areas can be...

The development of short food supply chains where intermediaries between farmers and consumers are removed should result in fairer remunerations for farmers and higher quality local food products, supporters say. In 2015, 15% of farmers sold half of their products through these short food supply chains, according to a study carried...

Most European consumers are familiar with migratory species like salmon and sturgeon, and with farmed trout and carp. The long-term viability of these and other inland fish species is the focus of an FAO regional commission whose meeting opens here today. The European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission, established in...

The EU's farm sector and rural areas are major players in terms of the Union's well-being and its future. EU agriculture is one of the world's leading producers of food, and guarantees food security for over 500 million European citizens. The EU's farmers are also the first stewards of the...

Over the past few years, price volatility has become a central concern for European farmers and consumers due to changes in demand, supply and structural characteristics of the market. This has resulted in an increase in costs and debt by farmers, with 2.4 millions EU farms disappeared between 2005 and...

From the Med to the Atlantic, passing by the Black, Baltic and North Sea... one voice: Low Impact Fishers of Europe.

The European Rural Development Network (ERDN) integrates various European research institutions, which are involved in analysing the transformation process of rural areas particularly in Central-Eastern Europe. The main objectives are to advance international knowledge transfer and scientific cooperation in rural development and agriculture, as well as to share and promote...

The Bluefin tuna industry received a windfall in Marrakech, with proposed TAC increases over the period 2018 to 2020, culminating in the highest TAC ever set. What about SSFs?

These guidelines have been prepared as practical action points to strengthen small-scale fishing organisations and help them make their voices heard in the decision-making process. Based on interviews with fishers and fishing organisations from the Atlantic (France, Spain and Portugal), the guidelines are made up of practical action sheets, each...

140 tons of ghost nets retrieved by 533 Polish small-scale fishers…and counting!  

In this Rural Connection number we have information’s about a LAG mission to China and the ensuing cooperation that will follow, about a LAG initiative tackling mental health issues in rural areas, about the major Agri Innovation Summit held in Lisbon, the PEGASUS research project, the first European Rural Youth...

This issue of the FARNET Magazine not only highlights the ability of FLAGs to adapt to a wide variety of territories but also to reach those parts of society that others cannot reach while tackling head on some of the important challenges faced by EU fisheries and aquaculture sectors. Indeed,...

Transmission of farms within the family - this is the main theme of the European project Farm Success, in which the Association of Private Agriculture in the Czech Republic is also involved . As part of our case studies, we have farms stories  from several European countries and we think it...

This report presents the findings of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group (FG) on 'Agroforestry: Integrating woody crops into specialised crop and livestock systems'. Agroforestry, here defined as the practice of integrating woody vegetation with crops and/or livestock systems, is a historical approach to farming that is being re-discovered. Agroforestry practices have...

Social farming, or care farming as it is also called, defines short or long-term activities that use agricultural resources such as animals and plants to promote and generate social services in rural areas. Examples of these services include rehabilitation, therapy, sheltered employment, life-long education and other activities that contribute to...

The specialisation and intensification of European farming systems increased productivity but also led to serious consequences on the environment. These consequences include water pollution due to an excess of manure and slurries in certain areas and high reliance on external mineral and feed inputs, loss of biodiversity and lower resilience...

The Landworkers Alliance is a grassroots union of farmers, growers and land-based workers from across the whole of the U.K. They are a member led organisation campaigning for the rights of small-scale producers and a better food system for everyone.

Aragon is an autonomous region located in northeastern Spain. It holds reservoirs and rivers of great interest for sports activities. Many of those reservoirs and rivers are in rural areas whose towns have suffered large depopulation processes, as their lands have been flooded to build reservoirs and activities such as...

“Mountain regions, territories of innovation” was the title of an international conference held on January 11-13, 2017 in Grenoble, France. The conference was organised by Labex Item, the platform for mountain research and territorial action in the French Northern Alps; it regroups academic and public institutions and other local stakeholders...