A new report published by a network of  European grassroots civil society organisations calls for a Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) and wider policy framework that explicitly favours small-scale sustainable producers and re-localisation of food supply-chains, write Chris Chancellor and Geneviève Savigny.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) most recent census data, white farmers operate 96.5 percent of the nation’s farms, on plots of land that average 424 acres each; on the remaining 3.5 percent of land, Hispanic or Latino and Black farmers maintain plots of land that are, on average, 374...

Despite remarkable developments in the field of food safety in recent decades, the global burden of foodborne diseases is still unacceptably high. An estimated 600 million – almost 1 in 10 people in the world – fall ill after eating contaminated food every year, and 420 000 of them die....

Live barriers are made up of lines of native grass, bushes and trees. The native plants are adapted to living with little water and they withstand the strong winds.

Positive deviant practices in gender relations and other livelihood aspects being practiced by women and men against the normative gender relations include women assuming the “role of men” in farm operations such as ploughing, harvesting and threshing; women speaking in public; couples sharing every decision and participating together in social...

L’édition annuelle 2019-2020 de Défis Sud propose un regard sur les agricultures familiales. Pour faire des agricultures familiales un moteur de la lutte contre la faim, il importe de connaître les filières agricoles, les chaînes de valeur alimentaires et les acteurs qui la structurent.

Small-scale family farms are the backbone of food production worldwide. Together, they are the main or sole providers of diverse and nutritious food for 70% of the world’s population. However, the livelihoods of these small-scale producers are increasingly being threatened by the development of our globalised industrial food system. The...

Experts in agricultural trade from 12 post-Soviet countries gather alongside state representatives beginning today in Chisinau for the fifth annual meeting of the Agricultural Trade Expert Network in Europe and Central Asia, or ATEN in short. Over the two-day meeting, participants will exchange information about agricultural trade policy developments in their...

Pastoralism is coping with many challenges, including its low economic viability, excessive bureaucracy, and low generational renewal, leading to its progressive disappearance across Europe. To economically compensate for the environmental services of pastoralism, including preventing forest fires through grazing, two complementary pathways were extensively discussed: on one hand, the need for...

Despite improvements in the control of organic farming, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) said more work is needed to prevent food fraud and ensure that organic standards are met, as traceability is causing continued issues for foodstuffs bearing the bio label.

As escolas da rede municipal do município de São Paulo já contam com 41% de alimentos orgânicos nas refeições oferecidas aos alunos: são mensalmente compradas 287 toneladas de arroz e legumes, 34.104 unidades de banana e 7,5 litros de suco de uva – todos cultivados de forma orgânica. O cardápio orgânico...

Ukraine has productive and healthy soil, called chernozem, that is rich in organic matter. However, leading Ukrainian soil scientists estimate that water erosion affects 13.4 million ha, including 10.6 million ha of arable land. Erosion directly impacts soil fertility and agricultural production, which can lead to significant economic losses of...

How can drones improve olive farms? Andalusian Operational Group (Spain) ‘I+D+i Precision Agriculture’ is trying to find an answer to this question. For the past year, the group has been studying how they can improve productivity and competitiveness in olive farming, while protecting natural areas.

Climate change has become an issue of national security and survival for many countries, as it further exacerbates the fragility of natural resources through the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Climate change also affects food production and value chains and causes considerable damage and production losses in the...

Innovation is the process whereby individuals or organizations bring new or existing products, processes or ways of organization into use for the first time in a specific context. Innovation in agriculture cuts across all dimensions of the production cycle along the entire value chain - from crop, forestry, fishery or...

Technology, as we have seen in other sectors, is critical to affecting change and driving development. It is bringing countries closer together, reducing barriers to trade and offering a window of opportunity to ‘digital native’ youth entrepreneurs at the vanguard of innovation applied to different economic sectors. In agriculture, digitalisation...

El proyecto “Medición y gestión de las pérdidas de frutas y hortalizas en la etapa de producción para Chile” financiado por el programa One Planet Network (10YFP) de Naciones Unidas, tiene por objetivo contribuir a reducir la pérdida de alimentos mediante la adaptación y validación de una metodología para la...

Two years ago, Dutch dairy farmer Matté Eikelenboom started exploring crop diversification in his grazing land, to stimulate soil life and improve the health of his cows. His mixed pastures show promising results for the quality of his feed and the health of his animals. The variety of species also...

Le système alimentaire de Téhéran, Iran Le système alimentaire Iranien fait face à plusieurs défis, menaçant la sécurité alimentaire des habitants et contribuant à l’épuisement des ressources: sanctions économiques internationales entrainant une inflation et augmentation des prix sans précédent, rareté de la ressource en eau et pratiques culturales intensives et...

La problemática ambiental aparece en el campo profesional de los ingenieros agrónomos en los últimos años como una nueva demanda social que está exigiendo nuevas formas de relación entre la sociedad y la naturaleza. El escenario donde tuvieron que desarrollar su actividad profesional en los últimos 30- 40 años estuvo caracterizado...