Current Europe-wide policies on renewable energy are not linked closely enough to rural development, according to a report by the European Court of Auditors, which took the Commission and member states to task for failing to take local needs into account. The report by the Court of Auditors has warned that...

Hearing in the European parliament on the state of play of the landing obligation before its full implementation in January 2019 proves lack lustre.

The monthy newsletter of the Low Impact Fishers of Europe

This edition of the EAFRD Projects Brochure looks at how resource efficiency is being supported in rural Europe. Resource efficiency means using natural resources in a sustainable way. It also means minimising the impact of human activities on the environment. The concept of resource efficiency is encapsulated in the idea...

La diversité des contributions fournies par les systèmes d’élevage s’appuyant sur des races locales, au côté de la production de biens alimentaires et non alimentaires, est rarement abordée de front, bien qu’elle soit essentielle pour comprendre les modalités de gestion de ces races. Ce travail de recherche fait le point...

  The XI European Mountain Convention will be organized on 25-27 September 2018 in Vatra Dornei, Romania, by Euromontana in collaboration with the Agency for Mountain Areas (AZM, Romania). It will focus on the tangible and intangible cultural heritage in mountain areas and on how this strategic resource, inherited from the past,...

As part of the publication “Strengthening the role of women in rural and agricultural areas: obstacles and opportunities” (September 2018) and the conference “Women4Mediterranean Conference 2018 – Women build inclusive societies” (Lisbon, Portugal, 10- 11 October 2018), during which the “Empowering Women in Rural and Agriculture Areas” (UM-CIHEAM) workshop will...

Agroecological symbiosis (AES) is a new, transformative model for adaptive and resilient localized food production and consumption. An AES is formed by farms, small and medium-scale food processors, and bioenergy producers working as one system, in close proximity to each other. The physical proximity is dictated by the ecological necessity...

In Europe and Central Asia, and particularly in countries not part of the European Union, food loss and waste have major implications on food nutrition and security through inefficiencies in the food value chains. FAO is now working with four southeastern European countries to develop strategies for food loss and...

With a population expected to double by 2050 from 1.2 billion to around 2.5 billion predominantly young people, the African continent will need to foster job creation and economic growth through sustainable development. The agricultural sector can play a key role in this, having the capacity to provide jobs and growth...

Last March in New York the sixty-second Commission on the Status of Women (CSW62) took place with a priority focus on ‘Challenges and opportunities in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of rural women and girls’. The Commission recognized in its conclusions «the crucial contributions of rural women to local and...

LIFE members & Management team up with a number of organizations across Europe to stop the attempt to pave the way to a legal and widespread use of this harmful gear. 

147 tons of marine litter fished from the Baltic: Polish small-scale fishers show leadership in dealing with ghost nets

For five years, 1000 Portuguese farmers sowed biodiverse seed mixtures, rich in legumes, across 50 000 hectares. This was part of the Terraprima project which tackled multiple challenges including climate change, biodiversity and soil degradation. This nature-based technique offers a potential sustainable intensification solution, simultaneously increasing production and environmental services....

The parasitic status in the coypus (nutrias) Myocastor coypus , both farm-bred or free-living on river banks, was determined. The evaluation of faeces from farm-bred coypus indicated infection with the following parasites: Trichuris sp., Strongyloides sp., Trichostrongylus sp., Eimeria seidelli , Eimeria nutriae, Eimeria coypi , and Eimeria myopotami . Free-living...

European agriculture faces increasing restrictions on the use of external production inputs, such as artificial fertilisers, pesticides and antibiotics. Organic farmers have experience in dealing with these issues, which is why organic farming may open new avenues for soil management strategies, weed and pest control, and livestock health and wellbeing,...

Italian MEP Paolo De Castro and Copa-Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen sit down for an important exchange of views on the future of the Common Agriculture Policy and the EU budget.

Farmers, processors, traders, wholesalers, retailers and consumers are all actors in the food supply chain. Smaller operators in the food supply chain are more prone to face unfair trading practices (UTPs) due to their, in general, weak bargaining power in comparison to the large operators in the chain. Agricultural producers...

There are a number of innovative projects looking into techniques which can improve production whilst reducing inputs and impact on the environment. These are techniques which can be useful in both organic and ‘conventional’ agriculture. The Operational Group (OG) ‘Special area Altes Land’ in Germany is working on plant protection...

On Monday 26 February the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies presented the identifying logo of the ‘mountain product’ optional quality term at the Chamber of Commerce of Sondrio. This initiative gives value to the work carried out by ERSAF together with Euromontana, which in recent years has...