Latest from the ARC network Archives - Page 2 of 18 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Time To Rethink ‘Plant-Based’ – Part 2

March 2, 2022 Stuart Meikle

The mere fact that a product is ‘plant-based’ is no guarantee of sustainability. Whether our food comes from plants or animals, in terms of sustainability our choices would be better informed by nutrient cycles. Much of our agriculture depends on monoculture crops which are unable to feed themselves as, in the absence of plant biodiversity, they are starved of nature’s bounty of nutrients. Second in a two-part series by Stuart Meikle. […]

‘Slow, Tricky and a Pain’ – Importing Seeds after Brexit

February 23, 2022 Marianne Landzettel

The rows of colourful seed packets on display in large garden centres in the UK may look as well stocked and tempting as ever, and big seed companies too, continue to offer a wide choice of conventional, mostly hybrid varieties. But gardeners and growers looking for open pollinated and organic seed are having a harder time. By Marianne Landzettel. […]

France | Change Is In Our Hands – Part 2

February 4, 2022 Valérie Geslin

Far from the stereotype of the solitary farmer, Marion and Benjamin make a conscious effort to get farming out of its bubble. It’s the only way they’ll shift mentalities, they believe. The two farmers, who are associates in a cooperative mixed farm in Brittany, also open up on the thorny issues of unpaid activism, taking holidays as a farmer, and feeding the community versus feeding the world. Part 2 of an interview with Valérie Geslin. […]

Time To Rethink ‘Plant-Based’ – Part 1

February 1, 2022 Stuart Meikle

‘Plant-based’ is the new ‘sustainable’. Marketed as the remedy to many of our crises, on closer inspection the label means little. And worse, rather than helping us to respect planetary boundaries, it embeds a belief that we can continue to consume because plants are a forever-giving source of food, fibre and fuel. In the first of a two-part series, Stuart Meikle debunks the reductionist virtues of ‘plant-based’ products. […]

Oxford Real Farming Conference 2022 | New Dawn For Solidarity

January 17, 2022 Ursula Billington

After three action-packed days, the Oxford Real Farming Conference 2022 ended on a positive note, forging hope from solidarity. With powerful takeaways on diversity and knowledge sharing, there was much to be optimistic about thanks to contributions from a multifarious community of kindred spirits and a vibrant youth element. Ursula Billington reports. […]

Undeniable Success of the ECI “Save bees and farmers”

December 21, 2021 ARC

The success of the European Citizens’ Initiative “Save bees and farmers” in 2021 was a historic result in the journey to reduce synthetic pesticides, restore biodiversity on farmland and support farmers to transition to agroecology. If the initiative is accepted by the Commission, the Commission will have to analyse and respond to the citizens’ requests. This article originally appeared in Justice Pesticides’ December newsletter. […]

Position Paper on Soil Carbon Sequestration and its Possible Remuneration through CO2 Certificates

December 14, 2021 ARC

More than 30 organisations and individuals active in the fields of nature conservation, environmental protection, agriculture and science have collectively spoken out against the use of CO2 emissions certificates as a tool for preserving and building humus in soil. In a position paper on soil carbon sequestration, the broad alliance rejects the compensation of greenhouse gas emissions through CO2 emissions certificates. […]

UK | Supply Chains No Longer Fit For Purpose

November 27, 2021 Vicki Hird

Farmers in England and Wales want to move away from centralised supply chains where they say they have little influence over prices, not enough connection to consumers, and are not rewarded for delivering positive climate and nature outcomes. This is according to the findings of Sustain in its report ‘Beyond the Farmgate’ which lays out the results of a new survey of 500 English and Welsh farmers. […]

COP26 | Corporations Team Up With CSOs To Push Big Data Solutions For Sustainable Food & Farming Systems

November 11, 2021 Ursula Billington

Food and farming is notable by its almost total absence from climate change discussions at COP26. Yet farmers can and want to be part of the solution. Could big data be the key to unlocking a transition to sustainble farming and food systems? An unlikely alliance of multinational corporations and civil society organisations makes the case for a Global Farm Metric. Ursula Billington reports. […]

Food Sovereignty, Climate Action and Local Resilience

November 10, 2021 ARC

Here we republish the introduction to ‘Food Sovereignty, Climate Action and Local Resilience’, a pamphlet produced by the Green European Foundation with the support of Green Foundation Ireland and Cultivate. […]

Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 4

October 25, 2021 Stuart Meikle

Feeding the soil and avoiding fossil fuels is the Holy Grail of sustainable farming. Techno-solutions aside, this will entail working with nature by mimicking nature – and harnessing the capabilities of ruminants. In the final installment of this series, Stuart Meikle outlines solutions for fossil fuel-free farming. […]

Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 3

October 18, 2021 Stuart Meikle

It’s tempting to blame burping cows for methane emissions. But while nature cannot distinguish between naturally occurring methane and methane derived from fossil fuels and anthropological activity, humans can – and should. Methane has a role to play in sustainable farming. We cannot let the debate around methane emissions cloud the broader benefits of farming with ruminants, argues Stuart Meikle in part three of this series. […]

Should Agricultural Subsidies Go To Labour Not Land? | New Report

October 12, 2021 ARC

‘Should agricultural subsidies go to labour not land?’ This question was up for discussion at a meeting hosted by ARC2020 in Summer 2021. Area based payments are absolutely central to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) yet they have a range of negative impacts and act as a barrier to progressive change. […]

Farming Bounded By Our Biological Boundaries – Part 2

September 27, 2021 Stuart Meikle

Despite the climate change mitigation emphasis on carbon sequestration, building soil carbon is first about food security, second about atmospheric carbon drawdown. By working with nature’s natural cycles to provide nutritious food with a low environmental footprint, Regenerative Agriculture will provide the transition from fossil-fuelled agro-chemistry to utilizing the farm’s natural resources, argues Stuart Meikle in the second part of this series. […]

Meat Atlas 2021 | Abattoirs – Chopping but not Changing

September 21, 2021 ARC

To mark the publication of the Meat Atlas 2021, we are republishing a selection of our favourite articles. In this one, Peter Birke brings attention to poor labour conditions in the global meat industry. The pandemic has put a spotlight on this issue, but it is by no means new. EU food trade unions call for a bloc-wide response. […]