Latest from EU Member States

France | Letter To The Next Generation

Sjoerd Wartena first went “back to nature” almost half a century ago. In this letter to the younger generation he reflects on our relationship with nature and the land, the importance of modelling change, and the role of humility and compassion in giving humanity a second chance. […]

Latest from Brussels

ARC2020 – New Report on CAP Strategic Plans

Throughout 2020, ARC2020’s Matteo Metta, along with Hans Wetzels and Rosa Melina Armijo Campos have worked on the Common Agriculture Policy, CAP, specifically the unfolding of the CAP Strategic Plans process. This work has formed the content of our dedicated CAP Strategic Plans section, and the new report which has been compiled from these policy analysis pieces. Below we present the introduction to this new report, and have made available the report to download here too.  […]

Latest from key partners

Regional Rural Responses – Reimagined.

As the pandemic collides with inequality and the ecological emergencies, fresh approaches to building resilient local food economies are emerging. Innovative communities are experimenting with ways to shorten, amplify and democratise supply chains. ARC2020, Cultivate and Forum Synergies came together to organise a webinar where pioneering community-led initiatives operating at the regional level, with the aim of encouraging the replication, scaling up and scaling across of these approaches.  […]

soup and talk meeting about agri-food Berlin
Latest from key partners

Soup and Talk 2021 – Tell the World about Your Good Food Initiative!

Running since 2011, Wir Haben Es Satt (WHES) has become Europe’s biggest gathering against industrial farming and for a fair and agroecological and food systems transformation. 2021 will see a unique iteration of WHES, with many activities happening digitally. With  much of the action online, this also means that people all over the world can now join in. Here we introduce a core part of WHES, Soup & Talk 2021, which ARC2020 is helping coordinate.  […]

Latest from Brussels

The Common Agriculture Policy and Sustainable Farming: A statement by scientists (December 2020)

40 scientific experts have come together today to release a paper on the role CAP plays in trying to make farming sustainable. Below we republish the summary of this paper, and provide a link to download the paper in full. Led by Guy Pe’er, and including our own Matteo Metta, the paper is critical of both the initial CAP proposal by the Commission from 2018, and more critical again of the positions taken by the Council and Parliament in October 2020. Important reading in the current trilogue context. […]

Latest from EU Member States

Ireland | Wake Up and Smell the Ammonia

In Ireland, dangerous levels of ammonia emissions are driven largely by the burgeoning cattle population. Yet policymakers are turning a blind eye to the link between ammonia pollution and the expanding national herd. The evidence shows that Ireland is pursuing growth in the agri-food sector at the expense of air quality, biodiversity and human health, reports Alison Brogan. […]

Latest from Brussels

CAP, Interrupted – So Withdraw the CAP!

As trilogues to decide the future of CAP progress behind closed doors, the business-as-usual lobby is fighting its corner with some level of exacerbation. They are annoyed with the Commission, with the scientific community, and with young people in the decision-making corridors. Fridays for Future and a host of civil society stakeholders want the Commission to Withdraw the CAP, and the case for doing just this is mounting, as the chasm between the European Green Deal and CAP widens. […]

Main stories

UK | Why “Buy British” Won’t Feed the Nation – Part 2

In post-Brexit Britain, the new Agriculture Bill is exposing the fault lines between environmental conservation, neoliberal trade deals, and the future of small-scale farming. In part two of this series, Anoushka Zoob Carter explores the phenomenon of technological nationalism in post-CAP politics, and the conflicts it is generating between advocates of rural renewal and of an emancipatory rural politics. […]