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...

Small family farms are in general extensively managed in Estonia and are in general structured in a way which facilitates outdoor systems (e.g. pastures convenient to the animal housing). Having said that, there are no specific conditions in the Pillar 1 payment rules which would exclude intensive or indoor farming...

Policy networks are usually seen as a ‘new mode of governance’ that allows more flexibility and more informal involvement of a wider set of stakeholders in policy design and implementation compared to more formal consultation processes. In this article, we examine the specific characteristics of the rural policy networks (National...

The call on Sustainable Food Security dedicates €431 million to ensure sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all, while safeguarding natural resources. Tackling the challenge of how to feed 9 billion people sustainably by 2050, this call puts approaches that aim at using nature and resources better at the heart...

More than half a billion people live in the European Union. Every one of these EU citizens can benefit from rural development policy outcomes that produce better quality food, as well as a vibrant and healthy countryside where people can live, work and visit. Member States’ Rural Development Programmes (RDPs)...

The €128 million Rural Renaissance call is about opportunities for sustainable rural growth, looked at through integrated approaches, cutting across sectors and taking a territorial perspective. It has the ambition to modernise policies and governance, and foster new business developments. The projects should boost innovation, advising and demonstration approaches in...

AGRIREGIONIEUROPA has the twofold aim  to foster dialogue between scientific research and land in agriculture, agribusiness and rural development, and to combine the regional and national dimension with the international and European Union in particular. This issue of the journal is entirely devoted to family farming,  with a geographical focus...

Approximately 38% of the EU budget (equivalent to 0.4% of the Union’s GDP) is spent on agriculture and rural development. This pooling of resources at EU level ensures efficient and effective spending that avoids distorting the internal market and delivers a wide range of public goods. It is much more...

A movie about the possibilities of rural revival in traditional Transylvania.

In the dairy sector, despite low prices, milk deliveries are expected to slightly increase at EU level in 2015 and most probably in 2016. 2015 production is even expected to decrease in the two main milk producing countries, Germany and France. More milk is channelled into SMP and butter because...

A number of projects are then briefly presented whose ideas and approaches reflect different aspects of the overall priority. These do not aim to represent a comprehensive guide to the types of project that could be relevant, but to provide a range of interesting examples. Following this overview information for...