In his book, ‘Harmony, A New Way of Looking at Our World’, The Prince of Wales shares his insights about the timeless laws and principles which permeate everything around and within us, an understanding of which can enable us to make better sense of the world in which we find...

At SIMRA’s first General Assembly, celebrated in Barcelona last May at the Mediterranean European Forest Institute (EFIMED), we got the chance to see first-hand how inhabitants of the Comarca of Bages are minimizing the impact of forest fires in their area. This location was a very fitting place to learn about...

This film is about Duncan Leaney, a conventional tenant farmer near Taunton in Somerset who realised his farm was no longer viable due to the increasing costs of inputs such as chemical fertilisers and pesticides. At the same time his profit from cereal crops was not going up resulting in...

Animal diseases that spread across national borders are nothing new – but how those diseases behave under a changing climate and more erratic weather is cause for concern. With support from its member nations, FAO is ramping up efforts to keep transboundary animal diseases at bay, starting with a dedicated...

How can remote areas with harsh climates eat local sustainably produced food all year round? And in the case of west Wales, in terms of vegetables, is there anything to survive on beyond cabbages and leeks? This film captures the story of Blaencamel, a 50-acre farm in the Aeron Valley,...

The Centrales Villageoises (“Village Centers”, in English) are local companies aiming at developing renewable and sustainable energies in rural and mountain territories in France by involving citizens, local communities and businesses.

Recently established organic regions aim to be model regions of sustainability. In the frame of this article we understand organic regions as territories that aim at the sustainable management of local resources, based on the principles of organic farming and agroecology. The contribution focuses especially on the role and configurations...

The FAO-EU FLEGT Programme has committed to a significant contribution to global Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) achievements in 2017 under the Phase III programme. This year’s objectives were to increasingly operationalize the projects that were endorsed under the first two calls for proposals in the Voluntary Partnership...

The workshop provided a platform to discuss how policy, including trade and development policies, can help farmers, from developing and developed countries, to be integrated into the value chain, supporting the development of new technologies while fostering innovation. The discussion focused on the development of policy priorities that are relevant...

It’s 5 o’clock and the alarm goes off. She has breakfast and, with the radio in the background, she gets dressed for work. Milking starts at 6, but before that she needs to take the cows to the milking parlour. They aren’t many, but with the old facilities they find...

The project was born with the aim of decoding and explaining what makes a good idea or project successful in often under populated, isolated or challenged geographical areas. It aims to drive innovative solutions through reconfiguring social practices and implementing proven and successful civil society actions. The SIMRA project is...

A group of scientists has sent an open letter to EU decision-makers, warning that a planned increase in harvesting levels of forests for bioenergy use risk having a negative impact on the climate. This letter is a shorter version of an open letter signed by 190 scientists from the EU and US....

This film is about a farm that boldly bucks the trend. While the general direction of agriculture is to increase in size, specialise and mechanise, Ragman’s Lane is just 60 acres, has a whole host of enterprises and is expert in low-tech solutions. At a time when agriculture employs ever...

The number of actors in the food chain varies greatly at each level. In the EU, around 11 million farms produce agricultural products for processing by about 300 000 enterprises in the food and drink industry. The food processors sell their products through the 2.8 million enterprises within the food...

This article asks whether the concept of values-based food chains (VBFC) can help explain and advance processes fostering sustainability transitions in the food system of the Global North. The VBFC concept is contested in the context of the author’s research into Canadian and UK university food procurement experiences designed to...

The project “Adotta un terrazzamento” [“Adopt a terrace” in English] aims at regulating and expanding mountain farming activities by giving any interested person the opportunity to adopt a terrace and provide direct or long-term support to the mountains of the Brenta Valley, in the Alps region in Italy.

The consultation is open for a further six weeks until 2 May, and then the hard work of analysing and assessing the many thousands of responses can begin ahead of a conference to present the results planned for 7 July in Brussels.

Extensive livestock farming is the most important population-fixing activity in Iberian rural areas. This is so because, unlike other activities, it requires people to take care of the animals every day. Furthermore, in many marginal rural areas, extensive livestock farming is often the only possibility that the territory has to...

“Adotta una mucca”, (“Adopt a cow” in English) is an Italian initiative from the Valsugana Valley in the Trentino province. Its objective is to introduce tourists, children and families to mountain life and culture. Adopters can visit various Alpine huts, learn how mountain products are made faithfully following old recipes...

During the event, participants will explore the richness and the dynamism of mountainous territories, and their innovative initiatives for building sustainable food systems.