Latest from EU Member States
BTV’s Cost: A Farmer Caught Between the Virus and the System
Marie Halicki, a newly established farmer in the French Alps shares with ARC2020 her fight against the BTV in 2024. […]
Month: November 2024
Rural Resilience
Le prix de la FCO : Une éleveuse prise entre le virus et le système
Marie Halicki, une agricultrice fraîchement installée dans les Alpes françaises, raconte pour ARC2020 son lutte contre le virus FCO in 2024. […]
Latest from EU Member States
Behind the Danish Green Tripartite – Democracy, Smallholders and the Rights of Rural People
Ole Kjaerulff Davidsen of Frie bonder – Levende Land argues that The Green Tripartite Agreement in Denmark represents a worrying step backwards for democracy and human rights, excluding small farmers and rural organisations from decisions that deeply impact their lives. In so doing, it violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants. Immediate action is needed to demand genuine democratic involvement and prioritise sustainable farming practices and rural rights that benefit people, nature, and the planet. […]
Latest from EU Member States
The Green Tripartite Agreement Locks in Industrial Ag and Biotech Solutionism
The Danish Green Tripartite could lock in the existing industrial farming system, based on the promises of questionable (bio)technologies. Denmark’s farming system needs a structural transformation and the use of GMOs should be tightly regulated to prevent further ecological damage. As it stands, this Agreement will do nothing to transform the farming sector in Denmark to a truly sustainable model. By June Rebekka Bresson (Noah, Denmark) and Franziska Achterberg (SOS, Germany). […]
Latest from EU Member States
Czech Republic | Fifty Years To Pay For A Farm
A rural European gathering is a special moment. A time for those working on the ground in different territories and regions to compare notes on common challenges at local level, and reflect on European solutions. Access to land is increasingly a barrier for aspiring farmers across Europe, even as an ageing generation of farmers often fails to find a successor. At our European gathering in Plessé in 2022, Czech farmer Terezie Daňková realised how pervasive this issue is in other EU member states. […]
Latest from EU Member States
Weaving Common Ground – European Triangle for Rural Action
On 28 November – 1 December, in the rural village of Grzybów, Poland, ARC2020 is co-organising a European gathering of sustainable rural initiatives to take stock of a new political situation of Europe and to look into possibilities of cooperation: “Weaving Common Ground” between rural and urban people. In collaboration with our local hosts, the Ecological Folk High School and Ziarno association, the gathering will conclude a three-year cooperation of people in rural France, Germany and Poland. […]
Main stories
Navigating the Challenges of CAP Strategic Planning in the EU
CAP implementation faces challenges such as complex governance, insufficient capacity, and obstacles to evidence-based policymaking. Poor coordination between national and regional authorities often disconnects policies from local needs, while limited expertise hinders implementation. The Tools4CAP project report calls for clearer guidelines, inclusive decision-making, capacity building, and tools to enhance stakeholder engagement and policy outcomes. By improving data infrastructure and fostering collaboration, more sustainable CAP Strategic Plans can emerge. Tools4CAP provides methodologies and resources to address these issues and improve decision-making and monitoring. Op-ed by Simone Sterly and Carla Wember (Institute for Rural Development – IfLS). […]
Latest from key partners
Bridging Generations – Shaping the Future of Sustainable Rural Communities Together!
Our partner Forum Synergies invites you to a RuralNext online event dedicated to identifying the needs of rural communities across generations, followed by networking and team-building opportunities, this Tuesday 26 Nov 2024 from 17:30-19:00 CET. […]
Latest from the ARC network
Empowering Cities: The Missing Link in Europe’s Sustainable Food Future
Europe’s mounting crises present an opportunity to redesign our food systems. We need a comprehensive food policy framework that ensures resilience, sustainability and inclusivity – and promotes cooperation over competition. The new EU commission must harness the collective power of cities, rural communities and European policymakers. Op-ed by Anna Scavuzzo, Vice Mayor of Milan and David Dessers, Deputy Mayor of Leuven. […]
Main stories
Ukraine – The Elephant in the Room that Could Unlock CAP Reform
Ukraine is on our screens every day. Still the countryside and its people mainly appear either as victims of war or as soldiers – not as citizens, workers or farmers. When it comes to its vast swaths of agricultural and rural areas, mostly the largest farming entities and their difficulties to export make it into the news. But there is a surprising rural reality in Ukraine that should play a key role when taking a closer look at what a possible EU accession after the war would mean for Ukrainians and citizens of the EU alike. […]
Latest from EU Member States
Political Deal reached on Denmark’s Green Tripartite – What’s in it and what’s not?
After a long silence saturated with rumours and speculations, a broad majority Monday presented a political deal on implementing the informal green tripartite agreement (IGTA) from June. The deal sees stronger reduction targets for Nitrogen pollution than were initially proposed, while maintaining the climate tax and land use changes proposed by earlier agreements. These latter taxes and changes have been criticised as far too little compared the the scale of the challenge by opponents, who also rail against the voluntary nature of the targets and reliance of future technologies and future political will. A significant if still controversial day for Denmark. Asger Mindegaard unpacks the preliminary details for ARC. […]
Latest from EU Member States
France | Local Authorities Can Lead on Sustainable Food
France’s territorial food programmes are an exciting example of what can happen when local communities have a say in their food systems. An open letter signed by a collective of more than 120 French mayors and local councillors of all political stripes, 19 organisations and 7 scientists, and published on Friday in Le Monde, calls for a systemic vision and state support to local authorities who are working to advance the agroecological transition and transform local food systems. […]
Latest from EU Member States
European Days of Action – Mobilizing for a Just Transition of our Food Systems
October has come to a close, and with it, another year of European Days of Action! With 64 events in 25 countries, we’ve raised our collective voice to highlight some critical EU negotiations next year: the EU budget, also known as the Multiannual Financial Framework and the upcoming Common Agricultural Policy. Mia Mancini and Pauline Naterstad tell us more. […]
Latest from Brussels
European Parliament backs Weakened EU Deforestation Law amid Voting Chaos
The European Parliament has voted in favour of the proposed one-year delay in the implementation of the EU’s new deforestation law and thrown its weight behind a new ‘no-risk’ category for countries. But amid voting system failures and more negotiations to come, the vote is far from the end of the story. Feeling bamboo-zled? Here Natasha Foote breaks down all you need to know. […]
Latest from EU Member States
The Danish Green Tripartite Agreement Ignores a Necessary Transformation of EU Farming
Sybille Kyed, Policy director of Organic Denmark says that the Green Tripartite Agreement sets agri-food in that country onto the wrong track. It sidelines organic farming, ignores biodiversity and soil considerations on the majority of Denmark’s land, and in so doing inadvertently solidifies a questionable use of crops and land: organic can feed more people as the rules for organic farming mean extravagant amounts of crops aren’t grown to feed indoor animals. While ambivalent on technology, Kyed is concerned the agreement directly supports technology irresponsibly. Finally, she proposes another approach, one that integrates CO2e into CAP’s GAECs and eco-scheme system. […]