Women play a crucial role for the development and economic growth of EU rural communities. Yet their key role is too often ‘invisible’. The workshop Advancing gender equality in rural areas in the EU aims to enhance the understanding of their challenges and explore solutions. Women play a crucial role for...

Ensuring poultry and pig welfare has become a crucial issue for low-input outdoor and organic farms, currently threatened in Europe by the international sanitary and economic crisis contexts. The PPILOW project helps providing keys for proposing and testing strategies and practices favouring welfare in these production systems. In this 6...

This report is based on a survey conducted in the Western Balkans and Turkey between June and November 2019. The survey focused on sectors deemed suitable for participation in modern supply chains (MSCs) and covered one to three sectors for each country. Based on data retrieved from national statistical offices...

La Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario (FCA-UNR) se ubica en la zona núcleo de la región pampeana por lo cual su evolución institucional ha estado signada por un sinnúmero de políticas públicas orientadas a impulsar y desarrollar un modelo productivo agroexportador. En tal sentido, y...

Some 30 years ago, eminent anthropologist Paul Richards described the practices of smallholder farmers as a type of performance, similar to theatre or a musical act. Farmers acquire skills and competence through practice, rehearsal and improvisation. I have recently learned that the same applies to the marketing of farm produce....

The Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) virtually launched a new booklet, "Taking Agroecology to Scale - Learning from Natural Farming in India," based on a strong working relationship formed with RySS, which resulted in 15 online webinars on scaling natural farming. The booklet summarizes and reflects on the...

La Stratégie de développement du secteur des cultures pour l'Afrique de l'Est 2021-2026 établit une série d'objectifs et d'interventions convenus par les représentants des ministères de l'Agriculture des pays relevant de la juridiction du Bureau sous-régional de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture (FAO) pour l'Afrique orientale ainsi...

It never ceases to amaze me why it’s so difficult to buy locally produced food that is tasty, seasonal, fresh and chemical-free directly from farmers. Why do government policies and programmes always seem to favour big agro-business and supermarket culture? It’s Thursday. I’m on my way to collect this week’s food...

This study inquires on the outscaling of the microtiller, a machine developed by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) in the 1990s to address the tedious rice land cultivation in the Cordillera highlands of the Philippines. Stakeholders of the project were interviewed, particularly staff members of PhilRice and the Department of Agriculture; representatives...

The Philippines is one of the most climate change-vulnerable countries. Sea level rise, water variability, rain-induced flooding, and landslides are among the observed impacts across municipalities and cities in the country. Cities and urbanizing areas, have been experiencing these impacts, making localized issues of poverty, food insecurity, unemployment, and conflicting land uses, more complex and challenging. Grounded in...

Small farms are a key component of the EU rural economy. In fact, over three quarters of farms in the EU are classified as small with holding sizes below 10 hectares, and a large proportion of these small farms are below five hectares in size. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)...

Selenicereus megalanthus H. is a tropical fruit belonging to the family Cactaceae, is rich in essential nutrients, antioxidants and bioactive components. It presents wide variability in different characteristics and a great demand in the market, however, genetic studies in Colombia are scarce. The main of this study was to characterize...

 In the context of the ‘‘European Green Deal”, the European Commission adopted a comprehensive Farm to Fork Strategy, which recognises the inextricable links between healthy people, healthy societies and a healthy planet and aims to address comprehensively the challenges of sustainable food systems.  During the last decades the EU has...

If the world is to transition towards agrifood systems that are more sustainable and equitable, small-scale production systems will be key to progress. Large parts of the world depend on small-scale systems for maintaining food security and nutrition (Lowder, Sánchez and Bertini, 2021; Herrero et al., 2017). Despite this centrality,...

Transformation of the agriculture sector in Africa is at the heart of driving progress towards ending poverty, hunger and malnutrition. Common agricultural policies and practices, and knowledge sharing across the region, supports this aim. Areas of common agricultural policies and practice include support to the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme...

Some 30 years ago, eminent anthropologist Paul Richards described the practices of smallholder farmers as a type of performance, similar to theatre or a musical act. Farmers acquire skills and competence through practice, rehearsal and improvisation. I have recently learned that the same applies to the marketing of farm produce....

The COVID-19 pandemic fully exposed the vulnerability of the global agri-food system to shocks and stresses, highlighting the need for transformation and action to make it more resilient and inclusive. This paper offers a unique insight into the global nature of the COVID-19 pandemic by examining impacts and responses in...

Forest-based adaptation is an ensemble of climate actions that employ forests and trees in support of climate change adaptation and resilience, including sustainable forest management, forest conservation and restoration, reforestation and afforestation. Forest-based adaptation can help address the gaps between current adaptation actions and the adaptation needed for reducing climate-related...

MIXED is a project funded by the EU Horizon2020 programme. MIXED will explore the benefits of mixed farming and agroforestry systems (MiFAS) to climate, environment and society in general and support the further development of such systems. MIXED explores different types of MIFAS. The assumption is that MiFAS have the...

A few decades ago, a former US Secretary of Agriculture told farmers they should get big or get out. A glance through agricultural census data since then would appear to show that this is exactly what farmers have done – gotten bigger, and many have had to get out. But...