Food supply for the growing world population significantly contributes to ecological and societal challenges. At the same time, there is a growing demand from policies, society and the food sector to improve sustainability in agriculture. Through operational management, farmers can contribute to an improvement of sustainability while adapting their farm...

MagosVölgy Ecological Farm was established in 2013 by Judit and Zoltán Dezsény, a young urban-to-rural migrant couple. MagosVölgy Ecological Farm is situated in North-Hungary, 85 km north to the capital of Budapest. MagosVölgy literally means Seeds Valley as well as Elevated Valley. Seed is the core symbol of life, representing the...

This newsletter is the second edition of the Farm-Success Project newsletter. The Farm-Success Project newsletter outlines all of the most recent Farm-Success Project developments, detailing the Project’s road to creating strategies to train farmers for a sustainable succession process in order to enable and to motivate young farmers to continue...

The European Union and Chile last month (7 April) concluded negotiations on a trade agreement in organic products. The deal provides that Santiago and Brussels will mutually recognise the equivalence of their organic production rules and control system and “ensure a high level of respect for the principle for organic...

TV5 Monde documentary about Saschiz, Romania and Fundatia ADEPT Transilvania`s contribution to develop and sustain the area.

Romanian National Rural development Network Newsletter, National, and international subjects

In 2015, 119 million European citizens, representing almost a quarter of the EU population, were at risk of poverty and social exclusion. Statistics show that the average poverty rate is slightly higher in rural areas, with very contrasting situations across the Union as some countries display a huge poverty gap...

Model Sheep Fold is a good example of how traditional farming methods are supported by technical exper-tise to ensure that the traditional way of life in Romanian villages may be maintained. Solar panels supply the shepherds with electricity for light and for charging their cell phones. This enables the shepards...

In Noord-Brabant, a region in South-West Netherlands, Govert van Dis and his wife Phily Brooijmans are running an organic arable farm of around 100 hectares. They run the farm together and actively follow innovations in agroecology. Crops are grown without the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers, therefore crop rotation...

It has been known for centuries that nature and agriculture nourish each other. Before intensive agricultural practices became widespread throughout the world during the second half of the 20th century, agricultural areas represented not only food sources for the human population, but also areas thriving with a diversity of plant...

With only 30 to 50% of the total arable land, small farmers feed the people of Europe. Small farms are significantly more productive per unit of land. ECVC released a factsheet on peasant farming in Europe.  

Supporting farm businesses is a key priority of the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs), notably through investments in physical assets (Measure 4) and farm and business development (Measure 6). Such investments can help farms to modernise their processes or diversify their activities, enabling them to survive in the modern economy by...

“NATURAL WATER RETENTION MEASURES (NWRMs) are multi-functional measures that aim to protect water resources and address water-related challenges by restoring or maintaining ecosystems as well as natural features and characteristics of water bodies using natural means and processes. The main focus of applying NWRM is to enhance the retention capacity...

Rural businesses can develop in very diverse sectors of activity. The local opportunities will usually depend on the specific characteristics of the territory. Targeted investments in areas of local opportunity can create jobs, increase spending power and create sustainable economic growth in rural areas. One growth area in recent years...

The theme of the development of organic farming in the EU and in Poland was taken up in the study, pointing out that organic production is an element of the EU agricultural product quality schemes. In this sense, organic production pursues the same objectives under the Common Agricultural Policy which...

Smart villages are the new concept of villages around Europe where the traditional services are improved by using new technologies. Mr Mario Milouchev, Director of DG AGRI for Rural Development Programmes1 and Pre-accession assistance, explains how digital solutions help those villages improve the economic performance of their areas but also...

Four decades of communism and an overnight transition from socialism to the free market caused dramatic shifts in food consumer – producer relationships across Eastern Europe. In the Czech Republic, a history of cooperatives and local food production contrasts with today’s situation, in which the country is almost entirely dependent...

While that number may seem small compared to the business generated by trade in the automotive or energy industries, the agri-food sector is of particular importance to the EU economy and, more importantly, the economy of millions of families. EU exports of agricultural and food products to third countries – not...

All the information from the EIP-AGRI Focus Group on Ecological Focus Areas at a glance

Organic and eco-sustainable farming is particularly suited to farms situated within parks, because it does not harm local ecosystems as it does not use pesticides and promotes biodiversity, improving biological links and creating ideal habitats for animal life. It also promotes grants that reward farmers for acting as “guardians/stewards of...