Trade in agriculture must now also play a central role in implementing many of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed by the United Nations in autumn 2015. The SDGs will have a direct and profound effect on trade in agriculture. Agriculture, in turn, will have a key role in...

Teagasc (Ireland) has developed an online benchmarking tool to help Irish farmers identify the areas which need improvement on their farm. Dairy, cattle, sheep, tillage and pig enterprises can use the “eProfit Monitor” to analyse key financial and physical data from their farm and compare this to results from other...

The rural productive and land management sectors generate significant amounts of organic waste in forms such as wood residues (such as bark, hedge trimmings or leaves), manure, food processing waste and agricultural residues (such as straw). These ‘waste’ products have a significant amount of energetic value. New technologies and greater...

The European Parliamentary Research Service has published, in March 2017, a research briefing analyzing the mains drivers of rural poverty and social exclusion in the EU and the European policies and instruments to fight it. The report presents statistics on rural poverty compared to urban poverty. Overall, in the European Union,...

Healthy food and nutrition is a very immediate and personal part of our lives, and it is our agricultural sector that lays the foundation for this. Our agricultural, horticultural, viticultural and forestry sectors are also instrumental in shaping our homeland and landscapes. Food, agriculture and homeland: since time immemorial, these...

NATEXPO is organised at the initiative of Natexbio,  the French Federation of the Organic Sector, member of the IFOAM EU network, with the support of its member associations Synadis Bio, Synadiet and Synabio, and the participation of Cosmebio, France Vin Bio and Agence Bio. Natexpo, the international trade show for organic products,...

The Committee of the Regions’ (CoR) opinion on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) post-2020, commissioned by European Commission Vice-President Timmermans, will be discussed during the next plenary session of the CoR in July 2017 (see our previous news post from 3 April 2017, “CoR Opinion on the future CAP under...

Croatia imports a large part of the fruits and vegetables it consumes. Yet, with a rich national tradition of fruit and vegetable production – and optimal climate and soil conditions for it – the country has real potential to produce more. It could meet the demand for high-quality produce at...

The transfer of the notion of generational change to family farms is really a very important a issue for us, which we have devoted a great deal of attention to in the long term. It is not so much a surprise that we (now more than two years ago) have...

A dairy plant in Slovenia created a local mountain supply chain with high added value that resulted in having a positive impact on the local economy and promote the long tradition of the area in dairy production. By modernizing and improving its production technology, the dairy effectively transformed the plant...

Stepping up their long and fruitful partnership, FAO and the European Commission (EC) held the strategic dialogue meeting and agreed on joint priorities and deliverables for 2018-2020. The decision to intensify joint efforts comes at an important moment in time with both partners sharpening their focus in the areas of...

The AlpWeek report was published in April 2017. It summarises the principal elements that were discussed during the AlpWeek event, held in October 2016 in Grassau/Achental in Germany, and it concludes with perspectives for the next AlpWeek. Under the slogan “Alps & People”, this fourth edition of AlpWeek was dedicated to...

On the 6th September 2016, DG AGRI presented the Cork Declaration “A better life in rural areas”. The discussions organised with the stakeholders during this 2-day conference fed the final declaration in a bottom-up approach. For the moment, no real Action Plan for the implementation of the Cork Declaration has been...

The hotspots of food biodiversity often coincide with regions inhabited by indigenous peoples. Old animal breeds, plant cultivars or traditional processed specialties like cheeses, breads or cured meats survive in these areas because they form an integral part of indigenous peoples’ identities. Traditionally, food used to be strongly linked to...

The International Conference on Research for Sustainable Development in Mountain Regions (ICRSDMR) is a scientific event for sharing and discussing methods, tools, results, applications, trends and challenges in research in mountain systems. This event was organized for the first time in Bragança by IPB-CIMO (and other institutions such as Embrapa,...

Over the last few years, Europe has seen a significant increase in the number of migrants arriving at its borders. The European Commission's 2016 action plan on the integration of third-country nationals has highlighted the resources that are available from the European structural and investment funds to support the integration...

The CIHEAM Watch Letter n°38 in February 2017 on "Rural innovation and digital revolution in agriculture " wishes to provide a regional Mediterranean overview in terms of innovation in rural areas and the role of ICT in agriculture. This issue is resolutely prospective and rich in the presentation of various...

Croatia’s horticultural sector is beset by challenges including lack of know-how in modern production techniques, and fragmentation of production. Fruit and vegetable value chains rely largely on the country’s small-scale producers, but many of those producers lack the financing to upgrade their operations and struggle to supply processors and retailers with...

Food security and global peace go hand in hand. The EU’s proposed organic food regulation is not perfect, but it is a step towards the sustainable food system we need, write a group of Green MEPs.

Euromontana is working hard to collect signatures for the 2016 European Charter for Mountain Quality Food Products. We recently created a Facebook page about the Charter. The page contains a link to sign the Charter and will be updated regularly with information about: mountain products, the progress of the Charter, examples of the use of the mountain product...