August 2014 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

TTIP agenda threatens good intentions for UK local food

August 25, 2014 Peter Crosskey

Planning for local food supplying public procurement is something of a farce, Peter Crosskey points out, with TTIP in the background. […]

Ireland Improves Payments & Options for Organic Farmers

August 21, 2014 Oliver Moore

A laggard by EU standards, Ireland may, finally, start to catch up with the average organic acreage thanks to better supports […]

Photo: Council of Canadians/Creative Commons

CETA – setting the precedent for TTIP?

August 20, 2014 Robert Pederson

Many observers have indicated that CETA serves as a trial run for the larger trade and investment deal between the EU and the US. […]

Tough Times for Eastern European migrant workers

August 19, 2014 ARC

How do western farms treat eastern labour? Appallingly, it seems. […]

The original CSA? interview with Ryoko Shimizo of SEIKATSU

August 17, 2014 Hannes Lorenzen

Back in 1965, a Japanese Consumer Co-Operative Union initiated the next level of connectivity between producers and consumers. […]

UK agroecology centre taps into water research

August 15, 2014 Peter Crosskey

Joined up thinking about Agroecology, Water and Resilience. Meet the team at Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology and Food Security. […]

CAP Greening: Ireland opts for path of least resistance

August 11, 2014 Oliver Moore

No real greening for the Emerald Isle as Ireland opts for everything but any significant environmental improvements. […]

ARC Newsflash August 2014

August 11, 2014 ARC

ARC NEWSFLASH AUGUST 2014 Dear friends and supporters, Welcome to our August newsletter! We’ve been busy, working away especially on TTIP and agroecology over the last month. In many ways, these two strands of the agri-food world are poles apart. One deals with corporations on both sides of the Atlantic, and their cronies, trying to make labour, environment, health and safety rules weaker. The other presents solutions for making agri-food, rural communities and the living world better. Can you guess which is which? :-) Both these areas, as well as a shocking story on farm labour from Romania, a positive story on pesticides and people power, as well as lots of useful dates for upcoming events, make up the core of this August newsletter. More highlights from our recent posts include: Leave it to Tescos: UK food imports food security Permaculture: Green Solutions in the Greek Countryside Pioneer’s GM Maize 1507: the full history in Europe WWOOFing in Romania Don’t forget we have a regularly updated newsticker (recent updates include TTIP, bees, ‘fat tax’, pesticides & biodiversity), the 2000m² project, and we are very active on […]