The project 'Economic Assessment of GHG mitigation policy options for EU agriculture (EcAMPA)' is designed to assess some aspects of a potential inclusion of the agricultural sector into the EU 2030 climate policy framework. In the context of possible reductions of non-CO2 emissions from EU agriculture, the scenario results of...

The overall objective of the ER+ component is to assist ultra-poor women and their families in disaster-prone areas of Bangladesh in lifting themselves above the lower poverty line toward greater food security. To achieve the objective, a third “promotional” year has been introduced to ER, during which women—either ER laborers/trainees...

Rural land provides a range of key functions and services on which society depends. However environmental and social benefits continue to be undervalued in land management decisions. Using the concepts of public goods and ecosystem services, the PEGASUS project will investigate new ways of thinking about the way farmland and forests...

The food supply chain plays a substantial role in the European economy, connecting sectors such as agricultural, food processing industry and distribution that together make more than 5% of European value-added and 7% of employment. Furthermore, all European consumers are directly affected by EU food supply chain performance since food...

A new laboratory in the village of Tsilkani in Georgia has been furnished with all the equipment needed to conduct seed quality control – thanks to an FAO project financed by Austria. Operated by the Scientific Research Centre of Georgia’s Ministry of Agriculture with, the new lab is equipped with seed...

Organised by the European Commission, the European Development Days (EDD) bring the development community together each year to share ideas and experiences in ways that inspire new partnerships and innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. For its tenth anniversary, EDD 2016 will focus on the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable...

L’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’Alimentation et l’Agriculture (FAO) et l’Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) ont lancé le projet de « Conservation de la biodiversité et la gestion adaptative des systèmes ingénieux du patrimoine agricole au Maroc ». Un investissement de 772.000 dollars est attribué pour préserver la biodiversité des systèmes agricoles...

The International Symposium on Agroecology for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems has been jointly organized by FAO and CAAS, and the People’s Government of Yunnan Province of China, with the support of the Government of France. In his message from the Director General of FAO, Ren Wang, Assistant Director-General stressed that:...

The forestry sector has seen many changes in recent years, leading to a need for adapted management methods. Demands of society and markets are evolving, bioeconomy is increasingly important and new business potential and innovative possibilities are appearing. A Finnish project looked into how to support forest owners in this...

Yam has several nutritional benefits, yet the crop remains neglected and underutilized. In the absence of national research and extension programmes on yam, LIBIRD’s initiative to promote yam cultivation on terrace walls has caught up with the Chepang communities in Nepal.

FAO Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa concludes a two days’ regional consultation in Cairo to discuss the contribution of Livestock to Food Security in the region. The conference gathered 65 Senior Technical Officers representing Near East and North Africa (NENA) Countries, key livestock experts and scientists from...

The seventh meeting of the Working Group on Aquaculture (WGA) of the Regional Commission for Fisheries (RECOFI) was held in Doha, the State of Qatar, from 26 to 28 April 2016 and was attended by the representatives from six Member countries. The WGA reviewed the outcome and recommendations of the...

150 peasants and eaters from 26 countries stretching from Ireland in the West to Georgia in the East and Norway in the North to Greece in the South of Europe came together from 16th to 18th September 2016 in the framework of the 3rd European Meeting of Community Supported Agriculture...

Des travaux existent sur les systèmes herbagers autonomes, voire économes, mais souvent sur des zones géographiques restreintes, difficilement transposables sans adaptation parfois importantes. Ainsi, des monographies d'exploitations économes / autonomes ont été réalisées dans une précédente étude par l'Institut de l'élevage afin de décrire certaines conduites d'exploitation et leurs impacts...

Sustainable agriculture and food systems will play an important role as countries across Europe and Central Asia pursue the new global goals for human society and the planet. An FAO-organized workshop in Budapest this week is discussing the essential connections between sustainable agriculture and food systems on the one hand, and...

FAO’s Liaison Office in Moscow convened a consultation meeting with industry unions yesterday to discuss the feasibility of organizing an inter-sectorial Agricultural Outlook conference in Russian Federation. The meeting hosted top managers of some of the most influential unions representing the interests of the Russian meat, dairy, sugar and grain business....

After spending our summer building labor-intensive hugelkultur mounds, we decided to try our hands at a MUCH simpler form of permaculture, using the Ruth Stout Method: Simply growing our food in hay!

This report is a background brief of current succession processes on family farms in Europe, consisting of data gathered from questionnaires and open interviews, to inform the Farm-Success Project. Family farms represent an important resource throughout Europe, which help reduce unemployment rates, tackle demographic challenges of European farming and maintain and...

On the 30th of June, 2016, Dr Stephan Rist and Mrs Bettina Scharrer, from the Centre for Development and Environment and Dr. Moser, from the Archives of Rural History – both structures within the University of Bern, Switzerland – hosted the first workshop of a project called “The importance of solidarity...

From drones to smart phones, advances in ICT are bridging the extension gap, providing information on climate-smart technologies and practices, and helping to level the playing field by making these technologies more affordable, accessible and applicable for even the poorest smallholder and family farmer.