Bees and other pollinators are very important for human survival. One third of food produced in the world depends on pollination and bees play the most important role among the pollinators. By pollination, bees contribute to successful agricultural production, to providing food security, and they also assure the nutritional security...

This year’s Forum for the Future of Agriculture will be the first to take place since the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were adopted by world leaders in September 2015 and FFA2016 will look at what this means for agriculture and the environment in Europe and around the world. Now that...

Last transhumance describes in photography and film the extinction of a millennial way of life. Last Transhumance is an artistic, ethnographic and sociological project totalling 8 years, 6 countries, more than 50,000 km travelled, 100,000 photos, 70 hours of footage and 100 hours audio recordings.

Although relatively new, Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) is attracting increasing interest and attention in various parts of the world including in Central Asia. FAO and other partners have a number of on-going and forthcoming projects which deal with different aspects of the CSA approach. Given the importance of conceiving and...

The 2016 Eurasian Grassland Conference will take place from the 20th to the 24th September 2016 in the historic town of Sighişoara in central Romania. This is the 13th annual meeting of the EDGG (formerly known as European Dry Grassland Meetings, EDGM), which aims to promote exchange and collaboration between...

Expanding economic development to rural areas is a top priority for Azerbaijan, as it works to diversify the national economy and reduce dependence on oil. One of the first impediments to be tackled is excessive land fragmentation and small farm sizes. A new project launched here today by FAO will help...

Agriculture is an engine of growth for rural communities, particularly in the developing world. It has also proven to be an especially viable tool for women to lift themselves out of poverty. Women in developing countries rely heavily on the income they earn from agriculture-related activities to provide for their...

The goal of the WFAL 2016 is to organise a world forum in 2016 to address the major issues linked to unequal access to land, natural resources. Ten years after the World Forum on Agrarian Reforms (Valencia, Spain, 2004) and the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (Porto Alegre,...

Just in time for spring sowing season, FAO delivered over 67 tonnes of maize, alfalfa and red clover seed to more than 4 500 farmers in 17 municipalities in eastern, central and western Serbia. Farmers received seeds and fertilizer during March and April and immediately got down to business –...

Fifty-four dairy cows were handed over to selected rural women in the Issyk-Kul province of Kyrgyzstan last week. Provision of the livestock – together with several units of agricultural machinery – was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Government of Switzerland.  The handover event was attended by representatives...

Traditional international agriculture exhibition “Ka pasesi… 2016” will take place at Aleksandras Stulginskis University (Akademija, Kaunas dist., Lithuania) on March 31 – April 2, 2016.

Almost a decade after the first Congress, IFOAM EU is celebrating its 10th European Organic Congress in the Netherlands this April 2016. The theme of this year’s Congress is transforming food and farming through organics. We want to look at how organic and agro-ecological approaches can really lead future agri-food...

As protein-rich quinoa becomes a trendy food choice worldwide, one pioneering farmer in remote Kyrgyzstan is reaping the benefits. Azamat Kaseev in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul province harvested his quinoa crop earlier this month. Equipment, training, field testing and more were provided under an FAO project designed to test the feasibility of quinoa...

During the Soviet era, pesticides were habitually overused or misused in efforts to boost food production. Today, large quantities of obsolete and banned pesticides pose a significant threat to people’s health and the environment. Georgia said goodbye to the last of its stocks of old pesticides last month, as a convoy...

The official policy of the present Norwegian government is to encourage fewer, bigger farms. With only 3% of the land suitable for farming, Norwegian agricultural production is limited and most of the food comes from abroad. In the fjords, there are big salmon farms largely for export, and Norway still...

Current situation in European agriculture has to meet new challenges due to volatile agricultural markets and uncertain political situation in neighbouring countries. Past events have shown various bottlenecks in contemporary food production and trade. In order to provide for global food security, it is necessary to intensify agriculture, boost production,...

Mediterranean grasslands (including rangelands, pastures, meadows, fodder crops) are important resources covering up to 48% of the whole region. Although these ecosystems are a key element in the production of high quality animal products and in the livelihoods of producers, they provide a range of ecosystem services besides forage production,...

The CIHEAM WATCH LETTER n°38 to be published in October 2016 on "Rural innovations and digital revolution in agriculture " wishes to provide a regional Mediterranean overview in terms of innovation in rural areas and the role of ICT in agriculture. This issue will be resolutely prospective and rich in...

“Putting farmers first” is the main theme of Terra Madre Balkans 2016. 350 delegates will be arriving from 13 countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, The Republic of Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey, Italy and Albania). The Balkan region hosts a wide variety of farmers. For this reason,...

The aim of this study has been to analyse the changes in farm structures in the post socialist Central and Eastern Member States of the EU (EU-10) through the period since their accession to the EU, to explain the drivers of these changes, to evaluate the different development paths of...