The Commission adopted the 2017 promotion strategy for EU agricultural products with a total budget of €133 million compared to the €111 million available for 2016. This amount will co-finance several programmes, most of which will target third countries and regions, including China, Middle East, North America, South-East Asia and...

A learning pack for teachers and young Europeans aged 11-15, about food and the importance of farming in our life. The teacher's pack contains a DVD, a usb key, worksheets and a map. This set can be a great help for geography, ecology and healthy nutrition lessons.

Learn about: making access to land, fisheries and forests more equitable, how to protect people's tenure rights, options to simplify the administration of tenure and make it accessible to all, how to ensure disputes are resolved before they degenerate into conflict  

Expanding rural markets means attracting more people to rural areas where they can then purchase local goods and services. This offers the potential for increased margins and improved returns for rural producers. The creation of ‘rural destinations’ can help brand rural areas to tap into trends around the ‘experience economy’ and...

If we want to fight climate change and contribute to global development, is the solution really as simple as becoming vegetarian or even vegan as is sometimes suggested? The answer depends greatly on where we live, and the truth is that the global consumption of meat, milk and eggs is much...

This chapter is an attempt to analyse the characteristic features of Mediterranean family farms, revealing their importance compared with other forms of agriculture. We go on to describe the challenges that they are or will be facing, and their strengths in helping to address these (in terms of food security,...

The international scientific conference will provide a venue for policy makers, top managers, academics and researches that deal with economic and management issues related to specific issues within the agri-food chains and natural resources management.

TE Lochhead and sons are a traditional dairy producer who in 2001, saw their herd of cattle wiped out by the outbreak of foot and mouth disease in southern Scotland. Rather than simply replace the herd, Gavin Lochhead and his family looked into opportunities to differentiate from other farmers. The farmer...

When water is scarce, irrigation scheduling and irrigation efficiency are especially important. New, innovative ways of obtaining real time feedback on irrigation management are currently being developed including digitally connected fruit measuring tools and online precise irrigation-scheduling algorithms.

The landscape in Sierra de Gredos was modelled largely by the livestock that traditionally grazed in mountain pastures in the summer and descended to the valleys when the snow came. In this video, one of the few goat farmers left in this Natura 2000 site explains their pastoral management and...

The Polyculture Market Garden Study is one of the programs currently running at Balkan Ecology Project and is a multiyear study of a 0.5 acre (2000 m2) market garden growing herbs, vegetables and perennial fruit and nuts in polycultures. The project’s mission is to develop and promote practices that provide...

Small and medium-sized enterprises are a focal point in shaping enterprise policy in the EU. The European Commission considers SMEs and entrepreneurship as key to ensuring economic growth, innovation, job creation and social integration, writes Franc Bogovič.

How smallholders may contribute to food and nutrition security remains a key challenge in many developing countries. Despite being the main rural actors, smallholders are frequently the most food insecure, given an array of biophysical and socioeconomic challenges that were addressed during the workshop. These proceedings discuss the potential role...

A video about the management of open landscapes by extensive livestock farmers in the French Causses-Cévennes

Slovak Minister of Agriculture Gabriela Matečná said that the bioeconomy is a necessity. But Central and Eastern Europe is still lagging behind in its uptake, but the key to the transition may be in the regions.

This report provides a global overview of the food insecurity situation due to different crises and natural disasters, to support the programming of the Pro-resilience Action (PRO-ACT) funding mechanism, a component of the Global Public Goods and Challenges (GPGC) thematic programme of the European Union. The analysis covers the period...

This report surveys the recent literature on producer organizations with a specific focus on factors affecting their establishment and their impact on farmers' market performance and welfare. The report also discusses producer organizations' role in improving farmers’ bargaining power and allowing them to respond to various challenges which result from...

A recent open meeting of the Family Farmers’ Association(FFA), held at Westminster, brought together a core group of individuals, organisations and policymakers to discuss ways to support and protect smaller farms. With the UK rapidly losing its traditional farming culture, groups like the FFA and the Land Workers Alliance (LWA) see protecting smaller...

Report on a project looking at three enterprises involved in short supply chains: Willem & Drees in the Netherlands, Pico Bio in Switerland and Cooperativa Agricoltura Nuova in Italy.

In 2015,  the Blackstairs Farming Group, inspired by the opportunity set out in the  Irish  Rural Development Plan (RDP) for 2014-20, took the lead and looked for help in designing a results-based agro-environment payment scheme (RBAPS) tailored    to their local area. They secured financial support from the Heritage Council and...