Drylands represent 40% of the Earth's surface, produce 44% of the world’s food and are home to 80% of the world’s poor. Eighty per cent of Kenya comprises arid or semi-arid lands. Rainfall occurs in just one or two short, intense seasons. Because the land is so dry, when rain...

  Learning is a lifetime activity. Nowhere is this clearer than in agriculture, and especially among women farmers. Being responsible for over 70% of agricultural production on our continent, we farm through knowledge sharing. In complex and closely knit social groups, starting in early childhood, knowledge is birthed, nurtured and passed...

The role of small-scale family farms in development is the subject of long-standing debate. Despite predictions on the likely evolution of small farms, as urban and industrial sectors account for larger shares of economic activity, the agricultural landscape in the developing world continues to be dominated by family-operated smallholdings. Consequently,...

Durante los últimos cincuenta años hemos vivido un fuerte proceso de apropiación de las semillas agrícolas por parte de las grandes corporaciones multinacionales. Esto se hace con el apoyo del desarrollo de legislaciones relacionadas que favorecen un tipo de semillas de corte empresarial (híbridas, de alto rendimiento y los transgénicos),...

Entre los días 18 al 21 de octubre de 2016 se realizó en la Universidad Nacional de Santiago del Estero (UNSE) el Pre Congreso de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Sociología Rural (ALASRU). El presente material es un compendio de los resumenes de todos los trabajos presentados en dicha actividad académica. Los trabajos se...

Not since the Green Revolution half a century ago has there been such a golden age for agronomy.  But unlike the hey-day of new high-yield varieties of rice, wheat and corn, there is no consensus today about where the science of farming should be headed and what it should be...

This video shows an example of where CAP support simplified innovation and clean energy investments at a horticulture farm in Venlo, Netherlands. It is made from the DG AGRI video - The Common Agricultural Policy "On the ground...” (2013).

The Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2 Programme was created to develop and implement an EU research and innovation policy for more sustainable and resource efficient agriculture, forestry, inland water and marine systems that supply European society with sufficient food, feed, biomass, and other raw materials, as well as ecosystems services,...

The EIP-AGRI Focus Group on High Nature Value (HNV) – Farming Profitability 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...

This video features Angela Hilmi discussing about giving peasants access to financing by investing in their farm without resulting to indebtedness. Angela also talks about empowering peasants by giving them the freedom to choose the methods that they would want to employ which results to autonomy and not depedency. This...

A platform of farmers, retailers and service providers,civil society organisations, NGOs, government officials, and researchers improves livelihoods in Rwanda. Through interaction and collaboration, these groups experiment with various technological and institutional innovations, thereby tackling local agricultural challenges. This experience illustrates the importance of institutionalising a space where knowledge can be...

The fact sheet explains how organic agriculture can sustain biodiversity.

Rice is the Philippines’ most important food crop and a staple food in most of the country. It is produced by two million farmers in four million hectares of land. It is one of the early adaptor countries of the Green Revolution. Impact studies of the Green Revolution revealed that...

Between September 16 and 18, 2016 the North Moravian City of Ostrava will play host to a meeting of the European organizations and communities involved in the project of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). The purpose of this gathering that will be attended by over a hundred people from all over...

Mongolia is located in Central Asia in between Russia and China. Only 1% of the arable land in Mongolia is cultivated with crops. The agriculture sector therefore remains heavily focused on nomadic animal husbandry with 75% of the land allocated to pasture, and cropping only employing 3% of the population. Dundgobi...

Food Tank has put together a list of documentaries and films to inspire, educate, and give viewers some food for thought. Each film explores a different topic in food and agriculture, some with a dash of social equality or a splash of health awareness. Whether you're a social activist, small...

The central coast of California, with its Mediterranean climate, is an important strawberry growing region. Strawberry production here, as in many other locales, is highly dependent on expensive, energy-intensive, and environmentally harmful off-farm inputs. The current system of industrial, conventional strawberry production in California can be traced back to the...

Helping Moldova’s agrifood sector become more internationally competitive, more sustainable, more resilient to climate change, and a major contributor to rural development are the objectives of an agreement signed today between Moldova and FAO. Results will include strengthened the food safety system and phytosanitary control services, promotion of Moldovan agrifood products...

For tomorrow’s farmers, the choice is to get connected or face the consequences. And the transition is already under way. In 2015, almost all French farmers (98%) used the internet at least once a week for professional reasons, according to the 2015 Agrinautes-Agrisurfeurs study.

Rocrops is a smallholder farm established in 1990 in Trinidad. It is owned and managed by the husband and wife Ramgopaul and Beena Roop. The Rocrops farm is comprised of 1.29 ha. (3ac) of former degraded and acidic (3.5pH) sugar cane lands. The development of the farm has emphasized a...