Main stories Archives - Page 54 of 119 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

AgtechTakeback | Digital Consolidation – Entrenching Agrichemical Companies & Industrial Ag?

September 26, 2018 ARC

Digital agriculture, broadly defined as the use of mass amounts of data to influence decision-making on farms, has incredible potential to make farms more economically and ecologically sustainable. However, it also poses risks to the privacy, profitability and independence of farmers. Jason Davidson is the Food and Agriculture Campaign Associate at Friends of the Earth (US). […]

An Agro-Ecological Europe by 2050: a Credible Scenario?

September 23, 2018 ARC

The “Ten Years for Agroecology in Europe” (TYFA) scenario developed jointly by IDDRI and the consultancy firm AScA, in collaboration with a scientific council composed of leading researchers, shows that a fully agro-ecological Europe, free from synthetic inputs and based on the redeployment of natural grasslands and the extension of agro-ecological infrastructures (hedges, trees, ponds, stony habitats), could sustainably feed 530 million Europeans by 2050. […]

AgTechTakeback | Neither neoLuddism nor Corporate Ag – Towards a Holistic Agroecology

September 23, 2018 ARC

Will hi-tech save agriculture from its otherwise intractable problems? Certainly technological stakeholders want it to appear so, as digitisation increases both in the fields and in the policy documents and future plans for the sector. So what is the peer to peer and agroecological response to this? […]

AgTechTakeback | L’Atelier Paysan on Self-Build Communities in Farming

September 20, 2018 ARC

This is #AgtechTakeback. L’Atelier Paysan is a French cooperative that works with farmers to design machines and buildings adapted to the specific practices of small farm agroecology. In addition to distributing free plans on its website, L’Atelier Paysan organizes winter self-help training sessions, during which farmers train in metalworking and build tools which they can then use on their own farms. […]

European Coordination of Via Campesina (ECVC) on Future of CAP

September 18, 2018 ARC

CAP should better support all of those who work the land and produce food, while helping develop agroecological practices. Read extracts from two European Coordination of Via Campesina (ECVC) documents on the Future of CAP. […]

Good Food Good Farming Campaign is cooking up a storm

September 17, 2018 Helene Schulze

Across the continent, farmers, environmentalists, pastoralists, fishers are grabbing their pots and spoons to call for a more socially and environmentally just European food system. We want to see policy which supports small farmers and rural livelihoods, protects our soil, water, ecosystems and biodiversity and provides healthy food for all. On the 27th and 28th October, let’s make sure we are heard! […]

Letter From The Farm | High Nature Value in Ireland

September 9, 2018 ARC

How do you make the most of what is typically called poor land? Meet agroecologist and farmer Dolores Byrne from the north west of Ireland. And, meet a HUGE spider… […]

re:CAP | How Farm Policy Can Attract and Keep Young and New Entrants

September 6, 2018 Helene Schulze

After a summer break, we return to our re:CAP series to talk young and new farmers. We speak to Christian Rehmer (BUND – Friends of the Earth Germany), Aurélie Catallo (Pour Une Autre PAC), Ulrich Jaspers (AbL and Die Verbände-Plattform), and Ariel Brunner and Harriet Bradley (BirdLife). […]

#AgtechTakeback – Debate by ARC2020 and IATP

September 2, 2018 Karen Hansen-Kuhn

As the role of technology increases in farming and food, and corporate powers use this to extend their power, we need to strive for technological developments that are appropriate for farmers, for eaters and for the planet. Welcome to #AgTechTakeback. […]

Drought support in Germany: Are state aids reasonable?

September 2, 2018 Sebastian Lakner

The German summer 2018 will be remembered for one of the hottest and driest. A long lasting high pressure brought high temperature records combined with extremely low rainfalls. Sebastian Lakner explains the state aids for farmers in Germany amounting to 370 Mio. EUR. […]

Biochar – the Ultimate Tool to Make Farming More Sustainable?

August 28, 2018 Oliver Moore

Imagine there was a soil amendment that could be produced from waste biomass and could do the following: draw down carbon, increase soil fertility in acidic soils, increase yield and productivity – especially for the poorest farmers with the worst soil, reduce nutrient run off, improve water retention in soil, while also protecting against soil borne diseases? Say hello to biochar…. […]

‘Agroforestry’ may be new weapon in climate change fight

August 26, 2018 ARC

Agroforestry could play an important role in mitigating climate change because it sequesters more atmospheric carbon in plant parts and soil than conventional farming, report researchers. […]

Climate Extremes Cause CAP Greening Rollback

August 21, 2018 ARC

CAP greening changes have been announced by the EU Commission because of drought However, these moves have annoyed some as they involve the cancellation of measures supposed to help make farming more resilient and robust in the face of climate extremes. And what will happen next, once this emergency passes? […]

Letter From the Farm | Work for the soil and the soul

August 13, 2018 Chiara Garini

We return to Chiara Garini’s agroecological farm in Italy’s Trento Province to see how she has been getting on. In this letter, she tells us of the importance of paying attention to the soil and the soul. […]

Post-Brexit Food, Farming and Fair Trade | Migration and Trade

August 9, 2018 Sharon Anglin Treat

How will border and mobility restrictions as well as the drafting of new trade deals under the current Brexit plan impact UK food and farming? In this final entry, Sharon Treat explores the potential risks of the Brexit deal. […]