El Departamento de Agricultura, Ganadería, Pesca y Alimentación (DARP) de la Generalidad de Cataluña efectuó el pasado 5 de agosto, los pagos correspondientes a la campaña 2015 de la ayuda a la ganadería ecológica para un total de 455 expedientes y un importe de € 2.974.529,48. Se atender todas las solicitudes de...

The original concept of Monitor Farms is that they are farmer-led initiatives to improve the performance and profitability of a farm, typical of the local area, over three year period. To date the model has been used at over 40 Monitor Farms across Scotland. The agritourism Monitor Farms are run...

In Italy, an innovative partnership between organic farmers, local governments, catering and hospitality industries have led to the creation of Bio-districts – territorial networks that promote short supply chains, preserve local traditions and resources, and support rural development. We talked to Salvatore Baslie, one of the initiators of the Bio-district...

Eco Ruralis association, together with national and international partners, organized the event “The Right to Food Sovereignty – Public Peasants Consultation”, on 24th of April, in Bucharest, Romania. Through this event, a national process was launched, with the purpose of creating a national peasant strategy for the future of agriculture...

This publication presents the short term outlook for the arable crops, meat and dairy markets in the EU for 2016-2017. The report is based on analysis of market experts within the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Commission. Information and data available until 15 June 2016 have...

The UK government could have stopped wealthy landowners including aristocrats and a Saudi racehorse owner receiving hundreds of thousands of pounds from the EU’s common agricultural policy, the European commission has said.

The second Mayors Summit of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP), will take place on 13-14 October 2016 at FAO Headquarters in Rome. Due to the strong link between FAO’s mission and the objectives of the MUFPP, FAO has agreed to support this initiative and to host the second annual gathering...

The Europe 2020 strategy for growth and jobs called for a stronger role of financial instruments in 2014-2020. The European Council subsequently gave a mandate to the European Commission that the programming of the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) should be used to significantly increase the overall EU support...

A one-day ENRD seminar to look at the practical opportunities for promoting the Green Economy through the Rural Development Programmes. The event is designed for all those involved in the implementation of the Rural Development Programmes from EU, national, regional and local levels. The aim is to share experiences, provide...

The idea behind the approach of AgriSpin project is that all partners have their own experiences, ideas and approaches which are worth sharing with others. Nobody pretends to know best. A golden standard or silver bullet for stimulating innovations does not exist. Every partner is working in a context that...

On 6 December 2016 the second edition of Organic Innovation Days took place at the Representation of Emilia Romagna Region in Brussels. The event generated a great interest among the researchers, European regions, farmer organisations, companies and policy makers. The day started with a policy panel where Simona Caselli, Minister of...

After several years of preparation for implementation of the European Innovation Partnership for agricultural productivity and sustainability (EIP-AGRI), the very first Operational Groups (OGs) are now established and they are running projects with funding from national and regional rural development programmes (RDPs). As the first practical experiences of the OGs...

On 6 December 2016 the second edition of Organic Innovation Days took place at the Representation of Emilia Romagna Region in Brussels. The event generated a great interest among the researchers, European regions, farmer organisations, companies and policy makers. The day started with a policy panel where Simona Caselli, Minister of...

A Unique Sense of Place - the Tarnava Mare area of South-eastern Transylvania is one of the forgotten jewels in Romania's crown. It is one of the Europe's most important natural and cultural landscapes, including some of the finest pristine wildflower rich grasslands – the result of centuries of good...

A hazelnut farm in France’s Aquitaine region sought to upgrade and extend its visitor centre to improve access to children and disabled people as well as to provide more facilities. The plan also responded to a rise in overall visitors. The hazelnut farm used EAFRD funding to create an interactive...

EU forests serve a wide range of economic, social and environmental purposes and provide around three million jobs. Wood remains the main source of financial revenue and forest biomass represents the biggest source of renewable energy in the EU. However, forests also provide a large range of other products, such...

The Seminar is part of the ENRD work on ‘Smart and Competitive Rural Areas’ where the main objective is to ‘To maximise the impact that RDPs have on supporting farms and rural firms in accessing emerging markets’. The main focus for the activity has been on cooperation and investments which increase...

This short film is showing a bit from the daily life on a summer mountain goat farm I Western Norway. It shows a modern and mechanized summer mountain farm with mechanized milking. The milk is preceded and on the farm. The chesse is sold from the farm and delivered to...

150 participants and volunteers from 25 countries gathered from Sept 16th -18th in Provoz Hlubina (Ostrava, CZ) for the 3rd European meeting on CSA. Participants unanimously adopted the European Declaration on Community Supported Agriculture which they will all take home to their respective countries.

This month's newsletter focuses on Operational Groups (OGs). Hear about some first experiences from people involved in OGs and discover a range of tools and information which are available for you to use on the EIP-AGRI website.