This week saw the publication of a damning report on the human destruction of the natural world. 1m species are threatened with extinction. Agriculture has a big role to play in this. Here are the top reads to flesh out what the environmental and climate impacts of the current farming system are and what can be done. […]
Introducing our next debate series – rural dialogues. What is the state of play for rural Europe? Are rural places still lagging behind – forgotten, disadvantaged and in need of extra supports? Or is there a rural renaissance of sorts occurring, from smart villages to innovation hubs? Tell us what you know and let’s get talking! […]
How does some research find organic to be better for fighting climate change, and other research finds the opposite? An explainer. […]
Hans Wetzels gets to grips with CAP and Poland, in particular how Polish farmers and Polish policy makers will adapt to likely changes, including a lower overall CAP budget. How the Nationalist party wins hearts and minds, Poland relates to EU subsidies and other EU countries, in particular France and Germany, and finally differences of opinion on organic farming’s productivity, feature in the final in this series. […]
Organic agriculture is a productive form of agriculture delivering significantly higher public goods like soil fertility, biodiversity and better quality of surface and drinking water than conventional agriculture. Consequently, organic farming and other agro-ecological approaches have great potential to contribute to the achievement of sustainability goals at both domestic and international levels. […]
Like most EU Member States, Ireland periodically develops an action plan for its organic sector. There, a team of stakeholders, drawn from the conventional and organic sectors, as well as representatives of the Irish state’s Department of Agriculture, have developed the Organic Action Plan for Ireland, 2019-2025. Ireland has among the very lowest number of organic farmers, and organic land area, in European organics. So what difference will this plan make? […]
In the final part of this short series on Bhutan, Hannes Lorenzen teams up with Adrian von Bernstorff to examine how the Bhutanese economy is increasingly geared toward supporting food sovereignty and organic agriculture. […]
As a major agricultural nation in the east, Poland has a significant interest in how CAP will unfold in the current reform process. We have commissioned journalist Hans Wetzels to get to grips with CAP and Poland. Here we introduce part four, which focuses on smaller producers and how they cope with (or without) CAP supports. […]
The rules imposed on conventional agriculture, in some significant cases, make organic and conventional more alike. However organic is also spawning more radical alternatives, alternatives like biological or regenerative farming, which seem to have all the movement momentum, while eschewing certification – throwing out the biodynamic baby with the bureaucratic bathwater? […]
In part 2 of this short series on the Kingdom of Bhutan Hannes Lorenzen talks with Kesang Choedon,who has created an innovative organic and heritage food enterprise near Thimphu, the Bhutanese capital. The enterprise includes processing of nearly 150 different organic food ingredients from a wide range of local products. Kesang is also a leading light in the countrie’s shift to total organic production. […]
The Kingdom of Bhutan is best known for its high national happiness levels, gorgeous Buddhist monasteries, untouched forests and nature protection areas. Lesser known is that fifteen years ago, the small country in the Himalayan Mountains pledged a shift to total organic food production. ARC2020’s Hannes Lorenzen reports on the innovative entrepreneurs spearheading this transition. […]
Stuart Meikle takes us back to the future, to the poorly named green revolution aka the origins of industrial farming, to the humus farming of just before that, and up to today with the huge challenges farming faces. Agtechtakeback: Tech Revolutions, Retro-Innovations and Humus Farming. […]
Cancer is an emotive topic, so when a team of French researchers say a higher frequency of organic food consumption was associated with a reduced risk of cancer people will inevitably take note – and try to take apart the study. Meanwhile, Roundup, a tool of conventional farming and land management is in the dock – and loosing – over it relationship with cancer. Oliver Moore reports, adding some broader and historical context. […]
North west Europe is not known for its soaring temperatures. Yet, this summer, even Ireland has seen a prolonged drought, with almost no rain for weeks, a similar forecast for the weeks ahead, and temperatures reaching 30 degrees in this more typically temperate place. How are horticulturalists on the yellow-singed emerald isle coping? […]
On the first day on June, Guy Singh-Watson handed over almost ¾ of the business- known primarily for its organic veg box deliveries in the UK – to its employees. So why did this especially committed individual do this – and reject tens of millions of pounds in the process? And what does this mean for food system democracy? […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention