Building sustainable food systems together’ is an annual gathering of European stakeholders interested in helping to shape the EU’s path towards sustainable food systems. Stakeholders across the food value chain, public authorities, international and civil society organisations, as well as other citizens and the interested public are invited to join the...

Rural Romania news - NSU Newsletter #59- 6/2021 . Topics include: AgriFish Council of 28-29 June 2021&agreement on CAP; Bulgaria-Romania meeting on LEADER;Survey on small farms and youth in mountain areas;LTVRA Communication; Marginimea Sibiului mountain area cooperative opens first store&many more topics from EU and national level.

A collective of organisations, coming together under the banner of the Nyéléni Europe Food Sovereignty Movement have just released a new report : “Roots of Resilience : Land Policy for an Agroecological Transition in Europe”. The report argues for an approach to land policy in Europe based on a model of land...

On 30 November and 1 December, the Organic Innovation Days 2021 entitled “Better inputs for organic agriculture” took place online. This public event was organised in collaboration with the two Horizon 2020- funded EU projects RELACS and Organic-PLUS. Both projects aim to reduce the use of controversial inputs in organic...

The region of Europe and Central Asia is an economic and agricultural powerhouse that boasts diverse cultures, agri-food systems and climatic zones, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said today. This diversity, he added, provides opportunities to share experience and good practices within the region and beyond, but to tap this potential...

By producing high-quality food with low environmental impact, organic farming will play an essential role in developing a sustainable food system for the European Union (EU). A sustainable food system is at the heart of the European Green Deal. Under the Green Deal’s ''Farm to fork'' strategy, the European Commission has set a target of...

Meet Matthew Hayes, an organic-biodynamic-biointensive farmer originally from the UK, who has lived and farmed in Hungary for the last 25 years. He runs a market garden with his wife Kata in Zsámbok, a village in Pest county to the east of Budapest. In his first Letter From The Farm, Matthew writes...

Based on surveys and on extensive stakeholder consultation process over four years in 21 European countries, the current increase in production and use of organic seed in Europe seems too slow to reach the goal of 100% organic seed in 2036. • Seed companies need reliable data on the actual demand...

The LIVESEED project investigated how crop breeders and seed producers can combine best practices from across the industry to increase the availability and quality of organic seeds. The results will help meet the EU’s ambitious targets for organic agriculture. Under the Farm to Fork strategy, the European Commission has set a...

The SWOT analysis accompanying the CAP Strategic Plan in Bulgaria identified this country as one of the Member States with the highest loss of HNV farmland in the EU. Unfortunately, it digs no further to analyse the reasons behind the loss, the types of HNV farmland that suffers most, or...

12 European partners join forces in a coordination and support action to develop a framework for a European network of agroecological living labs, research infrastructure and learning spaces for farmers, research and civil society actors. European agriculture and food systems are strongly impacted by a large number of challenges such...

Over the past decades, agriculture has become increasingly dependent on the use of herbicides and of pesticides. While they have contributed to boosting yields, herbicides can have negative effects on the environment, on biodiversity and also on human health. Therefore, the EU has more recently created policies which seek non-chemical...

The project consists of seven WPs and 32 activities aimed to:- study the status and potential of milk and meat supply chains based on species rich grasslands- improve the organization and efficiency of the supply chains based on species rich grasslands, and implement innovative solutions in the farms- develop an...

Back on Chiara Garini’s forest farm at the foot of the Italian Alps. Three years in, her mushroom farm and forest garden is at a crossroads: should she expand or diversify? In any case Chiara is determined to bring utopia into her business plan, and tells us about an exciting...

The Focus Group (FG) on sustainable beef production was launched in 2020 as part of the activities carried out under the European Innovation Partnership 'Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability' (EIP-AGRI). The main question for this Focus Group was “How can grass-based* beef production systems, based on agroecology principles, remain sustainable?”. Beef...

In Estonia, organic production has recently developed rapidly and the share of organic land in the total agricultural area is approximately 23%. However, organic milk production has not increased, and many current farmers were also the pioneers from the start. Reasons for the relatively low proportion of organic dairy herds...

Watch the presentation from Anna Pollak, Operational Group ‘Alternative methods for wireworm control in potatoes’ during the EIP-AGRI seminar ‘'Healthy soils for Europe: sustainable management through knowledge and practice’ on 13 April 2021

Technology Platform of Organic Agriculture Extremadura (PTAEEx), an Operational Group belonging to the European Innovation Partnership on Agricultural Productivity & Sustainability (EIP-AGRI), elaborated a Research & Innovation Agenda which identifies the main priorities and challenges of the sector with the objective of reaching a sustainable organic sector and its optimal development in...

Organically bred sheep and goats can play a key role in preserving the landscape and biodiversity in the steeper meadows and pastures in Zasavje, a picturesque valley in the Sava Hills in central Slovenia. However, local breeders were facing difficulties in selling their meat due to the low prices and...

Transferring pastoral knowledge to preserve vibrant rural areas Over millennia, pastoral societies have accumulated knowledge and skills on how to successfully manage pastoral systems. Their work contributes to maintain vibrant rural areas, benefitting the rural economy and reversing land abandonment, while it also unlocks multiple ecosystem services for the whole society. Yet,...