In the “Land Rights Campaign” Eco Ruralis researches the important aspect of generational renewal in peasant farming and its complex relation with land tenure and stewardship. First of all, we aim to disseminate the information to our members, Romanian peasants, and deepen their understanding and capacity to react to the imminent threat in the near future: the loss...

El mundo está alimentado por la agricultura familiar. Sin embargo, las pequeñas parcelas de cultivo y las explotaciones familiares han estado denostadas durante todos estos años, en los que el irremediable proceso de desagrarización ha ido aparejado de un insistente eslogan del capitalismo: lo pequeño no es competitivo. Es ya...

How do small-scale farming communities deal with the challenges of migration and land abandonment stemming from falling local income? This project shows the value of linking small-scale producers for their mutual benefit. Advantages are obtained on behalf of all small-scale farmers by procuring one food-safety authorization for multiple producers, by...

With the help of the young farmer grant, the producer has installed a processing unit for the production of ice cream, enabling him to sell ice cream at local events. He has also made two rooms available for guests and runs a bike rental service.

Cuando las Cortes Generales aprobaron la Ley 45/2007, para el Desarrollo Sostenible del Medio Rural, el objetivo fundamental era llenar un vacío legislativo y político que supliera la ausencia de una legislación y de una política rural propias, que se había cubierto parcialmente con reglamentos y políticas derivadas de la...

Brian O’Riordan, LIFE’s Deputy Director, explains to the readers of Inshore Ireland the consequences of the “tradition of exemptions” and the future steps needed for a correct management of the small-scale fleet in the long term.  

A collection of short examples of initiatives/projects related to new entrants into farming (mostly small scale)

The international community is beginning to recognize the integral role of urban agriculture in improving the economy, environment, and health of cities. The Resource Center on Urban Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF) Foundation expects that by 2020, 85 percent of the poor in Latin America, and about 40 to 45...

Since 1990, in 25 European countries the populations of a group of common farmland birds have been reduced by roughly 25% and in some cases as much as 50%. This decrease in bird numbers along with the wider decrease in biodiversity in the EU is largely related to loss of...

The forest not only supplies the raw material for paper and solid wood products, it also has a great potential for renewable energy production. As the EU designs its energy and climate policy for post-2020, it is essential to consider this remarkable asset. Without a congruent EU bioenergy policy with the...

Following ICES advice for 2017, LIFE’s Members of the Baltic Region (including Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany) elaborated the following action plan, to be presented to decision-makers, with concrete proposals for a correct management of the Western Baltic Cod stock. Cod is one of the main sources of income for...

Organic farming in Austria has undergone various development phases, starting from the pioneer phase in the inter-war period and  a phase of institutionalisation between the 1970ies and the 1980ies when organic associations were founded and first regulations for the certification of organic products were established (Austrian Food Code). From the...

Fundația ADEPT Transilvania  is listed among the 1.000 worldwide cultural institutions on the Google Cultural Institute, which brings together millions of artifacts from multiple partners, with the stories that bring them to life, in a virtual museum

Following ICES advice for 2017, LIFE’s Members of the Baltic Region (including Poland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany) elaborated the comments and highlights below, to be presented to decision-makers, with concrete proposals for a correct management of Baltic stocks. 

Climatic constraints, especially the scarcity of water and land resources have always been characteristic of Mediterranean agricultural systems that have developed ingenious farming systems to adapt. Today, the resilience of these systems is challenged since climatic disruptions will generate different conditions for agricultural production throughout the region and will impact...

Saturday 29th October, Warsaw - Member organisations and invited guests met in Warsaw, Poland to celebrate LIFE’s work in support of the small scale, low impact fishers of Europe

FAO Permanent Representatives of Australia, Chile, Kuwait, Japan, Libya, Russian Federation, USA, and the European Union are on a field visit to of Albania and Serbia this week. By visiting FAO project sites and talking with farmers, national officials, FAO partners, other UN agencies and FAO teams on the ground,...

In the Mediterranean, the diversity of production systems and value chains is seen as an asset for sustainability. More than anywhere else, the Mediterranean zone boasts a wide range of sheep and goat farming situations, products and natural resources. This diversity of production systems has provided many different products, shaped...

Cork, a picturesque city in South-West Ireland might not ring a bell to many people, and the event taking place there this week even less: the Cork European Conference on Rural Development. Unless, of course, you’re somehow involved – for better or for worse – in the European Union’s agricultural...

On 21 February 2016, at Sighişoara, Fundaţia ADEPT repeated for the 6th consecutive year, its popular annual event dedicated to Family Farmers and Small-scale Producers from the Târnava Mare area, bringing together around 200 local farmers with the specialists who have contributed to the survival and prosperity of their landscapes....