Small family farms are in general extensively managed in Estonia and are in general structured in a way which facilitates outdoor systems (e.g. pastures convenient to the animal housing). Having said that, there are no specific conditions in the Pillar 1 payment rules which would exclude intensive or indoor farming...

Gains in political commitment around Family Farming were one of the most notable results of International Year of Family Farming IYFF-2014. Not just because of reaping results in the form of numerous laws, programmes and other specific public policy improvements, but also because of the spirit of collaboration and understanding...

Policy networks are usually seen as a ‘new mode of governance’ that allows more flexibility and more informal involvement of a wider set of stakeholders in policy design and implementation compared to more formal consultation processes. In this article, we examine the specific characteristics of the rural policy networks (National...

The call on Sustainable Food Security dedicates €431 million to ensure sufficient, safe and nutritious food for all, while safeguarding natural resources. Tackling the challenge of how to feed 9 billion people sustainably by 2050, this call puts approaches that aim at using nature and resources better at the heart...

More than half a billion people live in the European Union. Every one of these EU citizens can benefit from rural development policy outcomes that produce better quality food, as well as a vibrant and healthy countryside where people can live, work and visit. Member States’ Rural Development Programmes (RDPs)...

The €128 million Rural Renaissance call is about opportunities for sustainable rural growth, looked at through integrated approaches, cutting across sectors and taking a territorial perspective. It has the ambition to modernise policies and governance, and foster new business developments. The projects should boost innovation, advising and demonstration approaches in...

AGRIREGIONIEUROPA has the twofold aim  to foster dialogue between scientific research and land in agriculture, agribusiness and rural development, and to combine the regional and national dimension with the international and European Union in particular. This issue of the journal is entirely devoted to family farming,  with a geographical focus...

Approximately 38% of the EU budget (equivalent to 0.4% of the Union’s GDP) is spent on agriculture and rural development. This pooling of resources at EU level ensures efficient and effective spending that avoids distorting the internal market and delivers a wide range of public goods. It is much more...

A movie about the possibilities of rural revival in traditional Transylvania.

In the dairy sector, despite low prices, milk deliveries are expected to slightly increase at EU level in 2015 and most probably in 2016. 2015 production is even expected to decrease in the two main milk producing countries, Germany and France. More milk is channelled into SMP and butter because...

A number of projects are then briefly presented whose ideas and approaches reflect different aspects of the overall priority. These do not aim to represent a comprehensive guide to the types of project that could be relevant, but to provide a range of interesting examples. Following this overview information for...

Land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is believed to be expanding at an alarming rate, accompanied by the lowest agriculture and livestock yields of any region in the world. While cereal production has increased marginally over the past two decades, more than 70 percent of this growth is due to...

Since the mid-term review, the French government has had the objective of maintaining grass-based livestock systems, and sheep and goat systems in particular. This has been translated into significant financial transfers from arable farms to the livestock sector. The new CAP continues this policy in favour of livestock systems, through...

Ireland is a single payment region on paper. However, the convergence process will not be completed by 2019 (the Department commitment is that no-one will have a payment rate below 60% of the 2019 national average by that time) and payment rates over the national average will only be reduced...

As the European Capital of Culture 2018, Leeuwarden-Fryslân is developing a Celebrating Diversity programme to reverse the trend of decreasing bird, bee and fish populations. We envisage inter-community links to exchange experiences on new governance arrangements for rural areas and to create a legacy.

Expectations in FARNET are currently high for Fisheries Local Action Groups (FLAGs) to be increasingly active in fostering local development around Europe. In particular, we hope to see increased cooperation with LEADER LAGs and to support local groups to tap into multiple EU funding sources (multi-funding).

A Hungarian LAG located in the northern part of Hungary and bordering with Slovakia, wanted to support local producers and craftsmen by providing them new marketing/trading opportunities. To achieve this the LAG established a permanent local market were producers from both countries could sell their products. Project activities included the setting...

Many rural areas in Europe are still deprived of high speed (30+ Mbps) internet connections, which holds back the potentials of farmers, rural businesses and entrepreneurs to grow their activities. Next generation broadband access for rural areas is an increasingly clear priority for EU rural development policy.

This research comprises an in-depth analysis of the Slovenian pig meat supply chain where the models of supply chain relationship in pig production were scrutinised. The data was collected in an extensive nation-wide survey including 152 respondents. Besides the structural characteristics of farms the focus was on vertical relationships and...

A major symposium on the the global impacts of UK food consumption. Food for humans and conservation are in conflict. The challenge for humanity is how is to produce more food for more people on less land and with less environmental impact. Feeding people should not come at the expense...