“10% agroforestry land-use mandatory for every organic farm” is the call from the European Organic-PLUS and AGROMIX research projects led by Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR). This impact is being discussed by certification bodies and may become UK/EU organic and agroecological standard at the next ‘organic-plus’ upgrade of...

The theme of RIA 2022 was ‘The Future is Youth’, inspired jointly by 2022 being the European Year of Youth, the long-term vision for rural areas, and the Rural Pact, developed by the European Commission. RIA 2022 sought to promote the importance of European youth to build a better future...

The scale and protracted nature of displacement today highlights more than ever the need to integrate environmental preparedness and response in humanitarian interventions. Addressing the environmental impacts of forced displacement and related risks is essential with environmental protection being a necessary pre-condition of human protection. Over past years, FAO has...

Farmer Field Schools (FFS) facilitate exchange between practitioners. Recommendations shared between practitioners are often found more convincing and are thus implemented by farmers more rapidly.

Agroecological transitions aim at developing sustainable farming and food systems, adapted to local contexts. Such transitions require the engagement of local actors and the consideration of their knowledge and reasoning as a whole, which encompasses different natures of knowledge (empirical, scientific, local, generic), related to different dimensions (economic, environmental, technical,...

Does Eastern Europe have a specific dynamic regarding the development of LSPA (Local Solidarity Partnerships for Agroecology)? Together, let’s find different methods and models to build a more sustainable food system. The module is designed for consumers and producers interested in finding out more information about CSA in Hungary and Romania. It may also...

Foreign tuna fishing companies, mostly from Asia, have been exploiting Madagascar’s waters since the 1950s. The bloc that is now the European Union joined the hunt in 1986 and didn’t stop for decades, renewing its deal with Madagascar every few years. Yet when the last Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA), as...

A bold redefinition of historical inquiry based on the "cropscape"--the people, creatures, technologies, ideas, and places that surround a crop Human efforts to move crops from one place to another have been a key driving force in history. Crops have been on the move for millennia, from wildlands into fields,...

With the support of the OK-Net EcoFeed project this field lab has been investigating ways of reducing pig and poultry farmer's reliance on imported protein for animal feed. The practice of sprouting seeds has been proposed as a method of ensuring green food is available for livestock all year round...

The wide variety of marine species of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, found in different geographical subregions and habitats, has led to the development of a highly diversified fishing sector characterized by a broad range of fishing gear. Over time, harvesting marine resources has become more efficient due to...

Fondé par Séda et Tiyéda Bawiena dans leur région natale de Kara au Nord Togo, le Centre International de Développement Agro – Pastoral (CIDAP) promeut l’agropastoralisme et l’agroécologie depuis les années 1980. Retour sur les évolutions majeures de ce centre de formation de référence qui donne une place centrale à...

From as early as I can remember, my grandparents inspired me with their love for gardening and growing food. They were enthusiastic, knowledgeable and instinctively knew how to grow vegetables and fruit. As a young child I would spend many days in the home garden with them, helping to weed...

The farmer field schools (FFS) approach was developed by FAO and its partners more than 25 years ago as an alternative to the dominant extension method, which did not work in situations with more complex and unexpected problems, such as pesticide-induced pest outbreaks.In a typical FFS a group of 20-25...

This report presents an overview of how data collected under the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and in particular due to the Integrated Administration and Control System (IACS) (Sagris et al., 2013). This system can contribute to a better detection of LD drivers. LD is an umbrella term considering soil threats...

Estimating emissions and removals from forest degradation is important, though challenging, for many countries. Where forest degradation is a major source of emissions, governments want to cover it when reporting on their mitigation efforts. However, estimating emissions from forest degradation is hard. There are major challenges to accurately estimating emissions from...

Agroecology is a body of knowledge, practices and political movements that aims to support transformation of food and agricultural systems to long-term social and environmental sustainability. African farmers face multiple challenges, and agroecology has been proposed as contributing to solutions and hence is being supported and promoted on the continent....

Many essential oils have antibacterial or anti-inflammatory properties. With the help of an advisor, dairy farmers can test alternative mastitis treatments with essential oils following a common protocol established by RELACS.

Agricultural & Rural Convention ARC2020 Newsletter Summer 2023. This summer, find the time to visit a farm, to chat with farmers, to break bread together. And if you are a farmer reading this, and you can find the time  - reach out to people driven by environmental campaigning passion. Bring them to...

The COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented shock to capture fisheries and aquaculture sectors. This scoping review of 670 articles explored the spatial, temporal, and thematic coverage of this event. The search period was January 1, 2020 to February 7, 2022. Articles were mainly peer-reviewed journals (88%) with the remainder from...

Le projet ARENA « Appui à la Résilience Economique, Nutritionnelle et Alimentaire des familles ruralesvulnérables » a démarré en octobre 2020, pour une durée de 30 mois, grâce à un financement de 400 000€, attribué par l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD) dans le cadre de l’Initiative « Santé enCommun »,...