Latest from Brussels

COP out – all eyes on 19th Dec as Council aims to derail Pesticide Regulation (SUR) 

As Ministers meet in Montreal to pontificate about biodiversity, back home in Europe they are working hard to keep nature-destroying pesticides flowing. The EU’s attempt at updating the pesticide regulation – the SUR  – may be delayed by 6 months if Ministers get their way, making final passage more difficult. Scientists and civil society are now focused on the Council Meeting 19th December when the next delay of SUR may be copper-fastened. Ashley Parsons and Oliver Moore report.  […]

Main stories

Reforming CAP in Wartime – New Report

As the last CAP Strategic Plan (Netherlands) has been approved, we launch a report summarising the key aspects of the CAP Strategic Plans approval process that started a year ago. This report is a collection of the work produced throughout the year, a look back on 2022, and what to look for in 2023. […]

Main stories

Food Security at the Crossroads: an Exhausted Model or a Sustainable One?

What are the pressures on the agri-food system, what role does CAP and wider EU agri-food policy play, and how could things be different? Here, Spanish organisations outline their problems and solutions. Topics covered include many agri-food system imbalances such as fossil fuels, nutrition, ultra-processing/malnutrition, water, soil, waste, a lack of food sovereignty and spurious war prioritisations. The need for rebalancing and the potential of agroecology are proposed for a more sustainable agriculture. […]

Latest from EU Member States

France | Meet The Farmer-Bakers Proving Their Skills – part 2

Fabienne and Sébastien opened the farm gates a long time ago. In fact, they make a point of visiting other farms, in order to respect different approaches. Finding solutions in cooperative approaches, they helped set up an abattoir co-op with other poultry farmers as a direct, bottom-up response to increasingly complex issues of animal welfare and biosecurity. Part two of a conversation with Valérie Geslin. […]

Rural Resilience

Paroles de paysans | Paysans boulangers, un métier à façonner 2

Pour Fabienne et Sébastien, le décloisonnement est une histoire qui remontent à il y a 10 ans, avec une association culturelle : Le Barouf dans la Taupinière. Une perspective ouverte envers les pratiques agricoles de l’autrui leur permet de respecter les différences. Installés sur un territoire dynamique, sur leur ferme Le Fournil de La Barre (44), ces paysans boulangers font les ventes directes et ont 3 AMAP. Fort d’approches coopératives, le couple mise sur l’abattage en commun pour fait face aux enjeux, de plus en plus compliqués, autour du bien-être animal et de la biosécurité. Deuxième partie de leur conversation avec Valérie GESLIN. […]