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...

Esta edición ha sido posible gracias al apoyo de la Fundación McKnight, una organización familiar con sede en Minnesota, Estados Unidos de Norte América, que busca promover un futuro más justo, creativo y abundante donde las personas y el planeta puedan prosperar. Esta edición especial consta de dos partes. La primera,...

The POLLINATORS CHALLENGE BADGE is designed to help educate children and young people about the importance of pollinators for people and the planet, and how to help safeguard them against extinction. This material is appropriate for use in school classes, Guide or Scout groups or youth meetings generally. It includes...

This policy brief published by International cooperation for development and solidarity (CIDSE) and the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) of Coventry University has presented a synthesis of research on how to ‘make money move for agroecology’. Drawing on the collective intelligence of leading agroecologists and donors, the policy brief identifies twelve different...

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...

Agroecology is a farming approach that’s inspired by natural ecosystems, combines local and scientific knowledge, and focuses on the interactions between plants, animals, humans and the environment. Given the outsize contributions of conventional agriculture to climate change and biodiversity loss, there’s growing recognition the global food system needs a paradigm...

This publication provides an answer to these questions, which were at the heart of strategic conversations initiated by IFOAM EU to foster the further development of the organic movement. One result of these conversations is a shared vision of the European organic movement to 2030 and beyond, described in Part...

Food systems need to meet food security, nutrition and environmental goals, especially in a world with growing demand and a changing climate. There is now broad consensus on the need to transform current food systems towards more sustainable models. Agroecology is increasingly seen as a framework to transform food systems...

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...

Formed in 2007, Food Plant Solutions Rotary Action Group (FPS) creates science-based educational materials, which: identify highly nutritious local food plants, explain how to grow them in a sustainable, agroecological way, detail the nutritional value of the plants and describe why human bodies require those nutrients. The resources created by FPS allows people to better...

Certification in agriculture ensures compliance with tangible standards and should generate economic opportunities for farmers. This study quantifies the variable profit and efficiency impacts of organic certification in dairy farming across Europe, using farm-level FADN data from 25 countries while accounting for heterogeneity through a class splitting model. Four distinct...

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...

By putting farmers at the heart of the learning and innovation process, FAO’s Farmer Field Schools (FFS) empower people, households and communities and help restore ecosystems. The discovery-learning process in FFS is ideal to support farmers’ learning and innovation on agroecology.

FAO Agroecology Newsletter #48 June 2021

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...

The initiative is located in the valley of Asni, at the foot of the High Atlas Mountains. In 2010, the family farms of the Tifawine cooperative decided to change their practices to improve the value of their orchards. Since this transition to agroecology, yields have increased by 27% and so...

A field robot autonomously hoed sugar beet for the first time in the canton of Thurgau. And FiBL filmmaker Thomas Alföldi was right there with his video camera. First he filmed the robot from all angles, sent up his drone and then interviewed the farmer about his the material into a...

The Organic Farm Knowledge Platform provides practical information for organic farmers and advisors. Initially, the platform was set up to cover tools and information on organic arable farming, addressing current bottlenecks. In the past two years, materials on the feeding of monogastrics and seeds/breeding were added. Now the platform has...

The initiative is taking place in the Rabat region. The Zirâa Al Hayate "Seed of Life" cooperative in the Rabat region distributes plant products from 10 farms with agroecology practices. The cooperative's farms started their activities with agroecology techniques in 2017.  The 10 participating farms of the cooperative are labeled Participatory...