Austria is a country rich in forests, with almost 48% of its area covered by forests. Against this background, forests play a fundamental role for rural development, for the forest-based sector, and cross-sectoral cooperation such as tourism. Forests are a fundamental element for Austrian cultural landscapes and provide – beyond...

Romanian Network for Rural Development Newsletter, with a lot of news from Romanian agriculture sector and EU 

With a budget of €365 billion, these proposals make sure the CAP remains a future-proof policy, continues to support farmers and rural communities, leads the sustainable development of EU agriculture and reflects the EU's ambition on environmental care and climate action. Today's proposals give Member States greater flexibility and responsibility...

Organic farming is one of the most dynamic sectors of the European agri-food industry. Organic farming means producing food respecting the natural life cycles, minimising the human impact on the environment. The European Union organic logo guarantees production and quality standards for organic farming, such as sustainable production, strict limitations...

Public goods provided by different land management practices in European regions have increasingly attained attention in agricultural policy debates. By focusing on the social-ecological systems (SES) framework, the systemic interrelations (e.g. drivers, resources, actors, governance regimes and policy impact) in land management across several case studies in various topographical and...

Climate change can still be rather abstract for many amongst us. We hear about melting poles, a global increase in hurricane intensity or rising temperatures. For many Europeans this phenomenon does not seem to affect their daily lives. But this is not grasping the full picture. The food you consume...

The competitive environment of dairy cattle production systems is often linked to increased pressure on animal welfare due to various stress factors. It is argued that there is trade-off between production and animal welfare, which includes animal health. However, this is not always the case. The EIP-AGRI Focus Group on...

The new virtual centre, bringing together experts and knowledge from different sources inside and outside the European Commission, will help to tackle the root causes of food insecurity around the world.

LIFE finds the European Commission’s ambitious proposal to amend the Fisheries Control Regulation excessively prescriptive and ill-suited to crack the nutty problems of small-scale fisheries catch reporting, monitoring and enforcement.

The EU Agricultural Outlook conference has now become the key annual gathering of European stakeholders willing to engage and discuss the future of agriculture in Europe and the challenges which lie ahead. The fourth edition of the conference will be opened by Agriculture and Rural Development Commissioner, Phil Hogan. Discussion on day...

Schola Campesina is a training and participatory research centre seeking to strengthen producers’ organizations in their struggle for food sovereignty through knowledge valorization and sharing. Based on the Nyéléni International Forum for Agroecology (2015), and on the principles of Dialogo de saberes, Schola Campesina seeks to boost the sharing of...

On 31 May, ICES have released their annual catch advice for the main stocks in the Baltic Sea, which will guide decision-makers in negotiations of fishing opportunities for 2019. LIFE takes a first look at ICES recommendations, on the basis of initial views and comments provided by our Members. We...

Permaculture is a holistic approach to agriculture that provides for human needs—high-quality food, fiber, fuel, medicine and building materials—while enhancing the ecosystems and communities from which these derive; it offers a set of ethics and principles and a means of integrating social and ecological processes in a way that is...

The monthly newsletter of the Low Impact Fishers of Europe, comming with a lot of interesting news, events and technical informations, regarding Small Scale Fisheries in European Union and not only.

The common agricultural policy (CAP) has been supporting European farmers for over 50 years, but its reach goes far beyond the 28 member states. Many other countries across the globe look at the CAP as a possible model for their own agricultural sector, while in Europe the focus is now...

The monthly newsletter of the Low Impact Fishers of Europe

In 2009, livestock farmer Clément Guillaud from the Isère region in France saw his meat prices drop. Knowing he could no longer live on his current income, he knew he had to rethink his supply chain in an innovative way. He wanted to increase profit and reduce costs without compromising...

The aim of this study is to estimate the influence of climate factors on the technical efficiency of Hungarian arable farms. The technical efficiency of farms is affected by several factors such as the technology used, the relative factor abundance, the institutional reforms with the input and output market environment,...

Agronomic practices and management decisions can have a significant impact on the type and number of weeds on a farm. Understanding this relationship can help organic producers manage weeds through avoidance, and various cultural management practices. The most important steps of non-chemical weed management are prevention, diagnosis, and a number of...

The main objective of this study is to compare the efficiencies of organic and conventional farms in Poland. As shown by the conducted analysis, acting in compliance with the essential production principles, organic farms practiced extensive farming which resulted in reduced efficiency of productive inputs. The efficiency of land and...