he European Court of Auditors has urged the European Commission to avoid “unnecessarily complicated” rules for mapping EU farm fields eligible for direct payments under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and to “simplify the system” wherever possible. The Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) is a key control mechanism of the CAP, which...

Water scarcity is a pressing problem for the future of agriculture and food, but solutions are available for using water more efficiently. Vladimir Rakhmanin, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Europe and Central Asia, shared some of those solutions with participants at the Budapest Water Summit 

DG AGRI and the ENRD Contact Point jointly organised a workshop on ‘Agri-environment-climate Measures (AECM): Challenges of controllability and verifiability’ in Brussels on 7 December 2016. The workshop addressed specifically the design and implementation of result-oriented AECM; collective approaches to AECM; and support for input reduction. It further discussed challenges...

The Association in Defence of Mediterranean Artisanal Fisheries (ADPAM), the Regional Federation of Canary Island Fishing Cofradias, the Gaia Oceans Association, the Tarragona Fishing Cofradia and the Low Impact Fishers of Europe (LIFE) met in Tarragona to ask that Bluefin tuna quoas are assigned by ICAAT specifically to the coastal small...

The Focus Group brought together 20 experts from 15 EU Member States and a diverse range of backgrounds. They explored the potential for making effective use of the EIP-AGRI to improve the long-term viability of High Nature Value (HNV) farming systems and thereby stop/reverse the decline in HNV farmland currently...

On 12 December 2016 the Council, led by the Slovak Presidency, adopted conclusions on strengthening the position of farmers in the food supply chain and tackling unfair trading practices.  The Council acknowledges the importance of a well-functioning food supply chain and expresses concern about the vulnerability of farmers in this context, despite multiple efforts to improve...

LIFE staff and members will meet with DG Mare services on 19th October in a multi-stakeholder consultation ahead of the ahead of the 20th Special Meeting of ICCAT in Portugal, November 14 to 21. Ahead of the stakeholder meeting, LIFE sent a letter to Commissioner Vella calling for a dedicated small scale fishing quota.

During the World Rural Forum representative Laura Lorenzo’s visit to Hungary, the National Committee on Family Farming showed great interest in providing continuity for the International Year of Family Farming through various action strategies such as the Directives on Family Farming. Using this approach, the National Committee is already working...

Vegetable production is the most important horticultural sector in Germany, as measured by production area and gross value added. During 2015, open field vegetable production included 115,500 hectares. The annual per capita consumption of vegetables in Germany has increased significantly over the past decades from only 64 kg in the...

Association of private farming of the Czech Republic organized an International Conference on family farms and Common Agricultural Policy of EU. The event was held in Brno on 4 - 6th of April 2016. 10 European countries attended the conference. Herewith volume 4. Presentation of Lithuania

APF CR is a part of the International project FARM_SUCCESS, which deal with succession at family farms.  The main aim of the project is to provide tools and knowledge to young farmers in order to enhance and support succession process in family farms. In mid of September already third meeting...

Sustainable development has long been part of the political agenda of the European Union. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their related targets, approved in September 2015 by the UN General Assembly, provide a new policy framework worldwide towards ending all forms of poverty, fighting inequalities and tackling climate change,...

More than 50 percent of the world's population currently lives in urban areas and this is expected to rise to 70 percent by 2050, particularly in developing countries. Increasing effects of climate change, including storms, floods and other extreme weather events, pose an added threat to how people in cities, especially...

Food Commerce has turned into one of the most controversial economic battlefields in humankind history, whilst the society of today is characterized by a single existential criterion, manifested from top to bottom: efficiency. Due to the distinctive features and functions of agriculture, the economic theory has a subtle approach of the efficiency concept in agriculture, compared...

Established in 1926, International Green Week is taking place for the 81st time in 2016. The IGW is a one-of-a-kind international exhibition for the food, agricultural and horticultural industries. At the same time, the IGW is the point of origin for the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) with...

Overview of the main resolutions of the Council APF CR held in Ostrava on 9-10th March. The council APF CR concluded that any of the proposed points/amendments from the previous Council held in November 2015 were not fulfilled by the Minister/ry of agriculture. Therefore APF CR insists on the previous...

Social enterprise is a dynamic and inspiring way of doing business. Social enterprises are innovative, independent businesses that exist to deliver a specific social and/or environmental mission; they form a diverse community and their approach, which seeks more-than-profit, is adopted by a huge range of organisations of every size, operating...

An overhaul of food systems – production, distribution and consumption – to make them more sustainable, will be needed to meet the food needs of a growing and ever more urban world population. That will mean attacking food waste, which is especially high in urban areas.

As the Coordinator of the H2020 project “Social Innovation in Marginalised Rural Areas” (SIMRA), I am very pleased to share the news that the 1st Workshop of the H2020  SIMRA Social Innovation Think Tank (SITT) that took place on October 26th – 28th 2016 in Bratislava and was endorsed by...

A first required step to improving the integration of refugees and migrants s to increase understanding between host communities and new arrivals. Such approaches aim to ‘change the narrative’ around migration, increasing the likelihood of more positive outcomes for all.