The Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement between the EU and Canada has been signed. A day in the sun for supporters of the trade agreement, who claim it will benefit both regions, opponents however point to a number of ratification hurdles and significant concerns which may, they claim, still scupper the deal. […]
We need a radical transformation of agriculture and industrial food systems to deal with future challenges, says Hans Herren, In an interview published in the Foundation on Future Farming’s new brochure “Agriculture at a Crossroads”, he takes stock of the IAASTD’s impact and looks at the current debate on food and farming systems. […]
In our #AfterCAP debate opener, rural sociologist Jan Douwe van der Ploeg outlines his vision for what he calls integrated rural development. […]
In what is a fast moving a still fluid situation, it appears the Walloon administration in Belgium may have made CETA signing conditional on a significant change – the international court element to the treaty may now, it appears, be subject to European Court scrutiny. […]
Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan appears to be sticking to his guns on the banning of pesticides in Ecological Focus Areas, despite the opposition of 18 EU Member States. So what’s next? […]
In what has been a dramatic few days of high level diplomatic wrangling, walk outs and crisis meetings, the Belgian region of Wallonia appears today (Monday) to be holding firm to its position that it will block ratification of CETA. Will Wallonia cave to the enormous pressure its under? And what’s next for the EU and CETA? Article includes text of Wallonia CETA parliamentary resolution. […]
New data from Lower Saxony on the registration of ecological focus area (EFA) for 2016 are published. The data shows almost no changes: The EFA is still an expensive measure for taxpayers with little positive impact on biodiversity. Sebastian Lanker gives ARC2020 this exclusive on the topic. […]
UK mainstream media dubbed it a “food waste supermarket” when it opened in September, but The Real Junk Food Project’s first warehouse in Pudsey, Yorkshire, is unlike anything that most people would describe as a supermarket. To be sure, it has shelves loaded with supermarket food products, alongside fresh produce from allotments and surplus products discarded by a food photography studio, but there is not a shelf-edge price label in sight. Instead, users are invited to “pay what they feel” – either in cash or in kind. Local supermarkets have agreed to donate stock which they can no longer sell legally, but is still fit for human consumption. In so doing, they save the cost of disposal and The Real Junk Food Project can “feed bellies, not landfill.” The depot is the latest in a series of projects and pop-up cafés that tackle food waste head-on. The Real Junk Food Project network has members across the UK, France and Germany: contact details can be found on its website at www.therealjunkfoodproject.org By loading the video, you […]
Barry Finnegan of ATTAC Ireland explains how Ireland’s upper house voted – by a single ballot – against CETA last week. He also points to the wider implications of this (albeit) non-binding vote – the first of its kind in an EU member state parliament. […]
As part of CAP simplification, the European Commission is attempting to bring in some changes to greening. However a group of 18 Member States oppose three of the new, clear simple rules which happen to be stricter than the current rules. […]
UK prime minister Theresa May addressed he political party, the ruling Conservative party, at their conference at the start of the month. She tried to reassure the warring factions of that party that her plans for Brexit were on track. It’s clear she favours a hard – that’s complete – break from the EU, and not a soft – that’s partial – separation. […]
Hannes Lorenzen tells us about war, peace, regulations, EU relations and rural ways in this letter from Ukraine. […]
A highlight of Cork2 was the sobering presentation of Janez Potočnik of The Rural Investment Support for Europe (RISE) Foundation. he is also Co-Chair of UN International Resource Panel, Former European Commissioner for Environment, and previously of Research. […]
Pesticide victims Laurent Guillou and Stéphane Rouxel have won their cases against former employer Nutréa-Triskalia. The former employees at the Plouisy site of the giant Breton agricultural cooperative Triskalia suffered acute exposures to pesticides in 2009 and 2010. They suffer from hypersensitivity to everyday household chemicals (MCS), a condition that has also been recorded among Gulf war veterans. The decision by the Tribunal des Affaires de Sécurité Sociale (TASS) at Saint Brieuc to award damages to pesticide victims is the first of its kind to recognise MCS in the French justice system. After years of legal battles, their accusations that the massive use of pesticides in food production is an environmental and health scandal are being vindicated. Read: Pesticides – Did Co-op’s Practices Lead to Cancers? MCS is a debilitating condition: in the soundtrack of a campaign video [Paroles-de-Plouisy], Rouxel recounts that in his case it can be triggered by something as trivial as encountering people wearing perfume or after shave. The effects can come hours or days later and include severe headaches as well […]
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