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We are back on Chiara Garini’s forest farm at the foot of the Italian Alps. Three years in, her mushroom farm and forest garden is at a crossroads: should she expand or diversify? In any case Chiara is determined to bring utopia into her business plan, and tells us about an exciting new development on the farm… […] -
The European Green Deal and CAP emphasise digitalisation for ecological transition and sustainable growth. However, as Gianluca Brunori argues, we need to understand digitalisation as a process of social transformation, which takes place both as an effect and as a driver of technological change. A careful analysis of needs, opportunities and threats, including at the local level, add the necessary nuance for appropriate digitalisation. […] -
Interest is mushrooming in the power of fungi to feed and heal people and the planet. On one urban farm in Bristol, England, mushrooms upcycled from wood chip are building topsoil as well as feeding the local eaters. Meanwhile another nearby mushroom growing initiative is giving wealthy landowners an incentive to preserve their woodland. Ursula Billington reports. […] -
Ireland’s Environmental Pillar – the country’s leading coalition of environmental NGOs – today withdrew from the Department of Agriculture’s Agri-Food Strategy Committee after concluding that the draft Strategy is “woefully inadequate to meet the social and environmental challenges we face.” […] -
Meet Matthew Hayes, an organic-biodynamic-biointensive farmer originally from the UK, who has lived and farmed in Hungary for the last 25 years. He runs a market garden with his wife Kata in Zsámbok, a village in Pest county to the east of Budapest. In his first Letter From The Farm, Matthew writes about the struggle between light and darkness, the hung(a)ry gap, and lessons in patience. […] -
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has adopted an opinion on agroecology suggesting a comprehensive set of measures to foster agroecology in the EU. The opinion highlights problems with European agriculture, including global warming, soil degradation, biodiversity destruction, as well as needs – protecting natural resources, reducing GHG emissions, fostering biodiversity and moving from extraction to circularity. […] -
Social conditionality must be part of the next CAP reform, says an open letter to the co-legislators. Signed by a broad coalition of over 100 organisations, including ARC2020, the letter presents a united front for social justice to the trilogue negotiations. […] -
The Czech Republic’s renewed appetite for protectionist food quotas is hard for the EU to swallow. But can quotas for domestic produce really yield results for food self-sufficiency? Comment from beef farmer Terezie Daňková. […]
