Newsflash

ARC Newsflash 10 June 2011

European Parliament’s Dess Report adopted, but falls behind expectations On 25 May, the European Parliament’s Committee on Agricultural and Rural Development (COMAGRI), as expected, has adopted a report setting out its views on the CAP towards 2020. The committee found a compromise position on the huge differences between the political groups about the future of European farmers and rural regions and so avoided a false start into it newly-endowed co-decision powers. That is the good news. The bad news is that the message is not sufficiently concrete or ambitious, and does not respond to the expectations of civil society as laid down in our ARC communication which was published in parallel with Commissioner Ciolos’s reform proposals last year. We are missing a clear statement by the Parliament on how the future Common Agricultural Policy will organise the urgently needed transition towards sustainable farming and food systems, with synergies between plant and animal production, good management of biodiversity, soils and water through crop rotation and a serious reduction of non-renewable inputs like fertilisers, pesticides and oil-based […]

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–ARC Conferences

Since its formation, ARC has organised two major conferences in Brussels, both attended by Commissioner Dacian Cioloş and a wide range of stakeholders.   2nd ARC Conference – 13 July 2011 1st ARC Conference – 4-5 November 2010    

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Recent updates

–1st ARC Conference

Building our common future: Finalising a “Communication of Civil Society to the EU on the Future of Agriculture and Rural Policies”   The first ARC Conference took place on 4-5 November 2010 at the Committee of the Regions in Brussels. After two rounds of consultation within the ARC network, the ARC members and supporters along with observers finalised their “Communication of Civil Society to the European Institutions on the Future of Agricultural and Rural Policy”. Dacian Cioloş gave the opening address on first day of the conference. It was the most important step of the ARC network to date. Gathered in Brussels for two days, the ARC network put the final touches on its Communication of Civil Society to the European Union on the Future of Agriculture and Rural Policies.  In a common statement, the civil society organisations assembled in Brussels described the two funds through which this new policy should be implemented : the European Agricultural Fund focused on food and farming; and the European Rural Fund, focused on the wider rural economy and territorial development. […]

Recent updates

–Rally for a new agricultural policy in Germany

The German campaign „Meine Landwirtschaft – unsere Wahl“ (My agriculture – our choice): www.meine-landwirtschaft.de has organised an large, nation-wide rally through Germany culminating in a protest in front of the German chancellery. Following the „Wir haben es satt“ rally on 22 January 2011 in Berlin, one of the largest public demonstration for a new agricultural policy in recent German history, farmers from all over Germany have now toured Germany on their tractors all the way to Berlin where they convened on June 9th, 2011 for a protest rally in front of the German chancellery. They are calling for a small-scale, fair, animal-friendly and ecological agriculture. The routing of the rally is available here: http://www.meine-landwirtschaft.de/sternfahrt/routen.html The closing event „Angela, we need to talk“ including a farmers‘ banquet took place on June 9th from 10am to 12am in front of the German chancellery. Take a look at the video appeal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfxU28mHAdY The farmers from all over Germany presented a list of demands to chancellor Merkel calling for a cultural change in farming. From the dominant unsustainable, resource-intensive, […]