Following the extra meeting of the Coordination Committee of the European Rural Development Network held in Brussels on April 14th  The National Rural Network received proposals from nine members: four of them are active in the field of rural development (National Agricultural Research Foundation – {NAGREF}, Agricultural Products Certification &...

The Hungarian National Rural Network (HNRN) has been active in publicizing the CAP reform process since 2009. The series of events started with a national conference, “The future of the Common Agricultural Policy” organized by the Presidency of the HNRN in December 2009 to discuss the various CAP scenarios. The...

In July 2009, the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food launched a public consultation process on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post 2013. As part of this process, the Department invited interested parties to submit their views on the range of issues that arise in relation to the future of...

The target group for the questionnaire, developed by Latvian National Rural Network (NRN) were rural inhabitants. Latvian NRN chose two ways to collect the necessary information – via questionnaire on NRN’s internet home page www.laukutikls.lv (264 respondents) and by organizing open discussions in different regions of Latvia (48 discussions). In...

Following the launching of the public debate regarding the future of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) at the European level and as discussed in the additional meeting of the Coordination Committee of the European Network for Rural Development of 14 April 2010, the Romanian National Rural Development Network (NRDN) has...

In response to the challenge launched by the European Network for Rural Development (EN RD), the Portuguese Rural Network held a wide debate on the future of the Rural Development Policy. This debate was organized around the questions posed: • What should be the objectives of the future rural development policy? • How...

From the findings that emerge from both the general public as well as the main stakeholders of the agricultural sector it is clear that there is a convergence of attitudes on a number of key issues related to the sector, although the findings among the general public must be read...

Sofia, Bulgaria - Visitors to the first Terra Madre Balkans event, which opened in Sofia today, were greeted with specialty cheeses, artisan breads, jam and honey. The food fair for small-scale farmers and producers, devised by the organization Slow Food and supported by WWF, kicked off in the Botanical Garden...

Le pastoralisme est une des pratiques les plus anciennes de l’activité humaine. Il produit des paysages spécifiques, à la fois par la marque qu'il imprime au territoire et par les traditions culturelles matérielles et immatérielles qui leur sont associées. Exposé à des mutations profondes dans certaines régions, en voie de...

The motivation behind the ENRD's consideration of this topic and this background paper, which raises some key issues for further debate, is two-fold. Firstly, the last two enlargements in 2004 and 2007 brought millions of small farms into the EU, most of which are either subsistence farms (SFs) or semi-subsistence...

Romanian rural areas contain the highest level of agricultural workers in the European Union, resulting in the challenge of stimulating non-agricultural employment. This paper uses the methodology of policy evaluation to analyse the influence of 3 measures the CAP. From an objectives tree to reveal the objectives of the programme...

During the last decades, droughts have become more frequent in the Mediterranean, West Asia and North African countries, and have had negative socio-economic impacts which are frequently linked to a high exploitation of available water resources. The Fourth Assessment Report of the International Panel on Climate Change states that extreme...

Take a tour, accompanied by curious sheep and geese, of Mark Cooper's self-sufficient small farm. Over several years, he transformed a rundown house and hillsides of berry brambles into pasture and gardens where he produces and preserves most of his family's food. Visit the Goose Grotto in a constructed pond,...

The Food Security Thematic Programme (FSTP) is a programme of the European Union (EU) that aims ―to improve food security in favour of the poorest and the most vulnerable, and contribute to achieving the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG), through a set of actions which ensure overall coherence, complementarity and...

Describes trends in direct selling by farmers in Italy by region, product and place of sale. Proposes a model of variables that affect the probability of a farmer adopting direct sales: farmer (gender, age, off-farm income); farm (farm type, work units, standard gross margin) and location (region, altimetry, less favoured...

Romania is a country of peasants, with a long deep history in peasant agriculture, which effects everything in the country, including its art, culture, and the way Romanians think. This has survived despite the best efforts of past empires and communists to destroy it. Today peasant culture remains the bedrock...

Bees are the most important pollinators in Europe. We studied bee assemblages on 7 pairs of extensively and intensively grazed sites in three lowland grassland types in Hungary. No chemicals were applied on the grasslands. The bees were collected using sweep net surveys and 1 m wide transect surveys in...

Position and Perspectives of Small Farms with Respect to the Structure Development of Subsequent Vertical Link Blažková, I., Sadílek, T. (2009). Proceedings of 111th Seminar, June 26-27, 2009, Canterbury, UK The article describes the position and perspectives of small farms’ production sales with respect to the structure development of subsequent vertical...

Mediterra 2009, the eleventh Ciheam annual report, has been drawn up in the context of an innovative regional approach and has the special feature of uniting the efforts of the Ciheam − the only intergovernmental organisation in the Mediterranean Basin − and the Blue Plan, the Regional Activity Centre of...

Permanent pastures are therein defined as utilized agricultural area used permanently for 5 or more years through cultivation (sowing) of grass fodder crops or through natural regeneration and is not included in the farm crop rotation. This area can be used for either grazing or mowing. All grass species that...