Articles by Natasha Foote

About Natasha Foote

Natasha is a freelance journalist, podcaster and moderator specialising in EU agrifood policy. She previously worked as an agrifood journalist with the EU media EURACTIV, and before that spent several years working on farms around Europe to learn more about the realities for farmers on the ground. Natasha holds a Master’s degree in Environment, Development and Policy with distinction from the University of Sussex, where she worked on food issues and alternative approaches to food production.

Agri MEPs Move to Weaken Pesticide Regulation and Starve it of CAP funds

October 10, 2023 Natasha Foote

Lawmakers from the European Parliament’s agriculture committee have greenlit their opinion on the EU’s plan to slash the use and risk of pesticides in half. The agriculture committee (AGRI)’s opinion calls for pushing the target date back from 2030 to 2035, scrapping a ban on the use of pesticides in sensitive areas and block the use of the EU’s farming subsidies programme (CAP) to fund pesticide reduction ambitions. So what does this mean and what’s next? Natasha Foote and Oliver Moore report. […]

Commission Doubles Down on Glyphosate Re-Authorisation

October 9, 2023 Natasha Foote

The European Commission has doubled down on its stance to renew the authorisation of the controversial herbicide glyphosate for another decade despite mixed reactions from EU lawmakers, dismissing concerns over identified scientific data gaps. […]

(Don’t) Show me the Money! Agri MEPs reject Green Cash Plan for Pesticide Reduction

October 4, 2023 Natasha Foote

Agriculture MEPs have dismissed outright a compromise amendment put forward to help fund farmers’ transition towards reducing the use of pesticides – and, in doing so, forfeited their only card to play in the debate on pesticides. Natasha Foote Reports. […]

Šefčovič’s First Green Dealing Fails to Impress

October 4, 2023 Natasha Foote

European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič’s pitch to take over as Green Deal chief has fallen flat after failing to answer MEPs calls for details and timelines of the core sustainability files still missing in action. The Sustainable Food Systems Law and Animal Welfare legislation overhaul came in for particular attention. Natasha Foote reports. […]

EU Green Deal – How are the Agri Elements Progressing?

October 1, 2023 Natasha Foote

With a number of key agrifood files missing-in-action or still jumping through legislative hoops as EU elections loom, the coming months will be the defining moment for the legacy of the Green Deal, the EU’s flagship policy for environmental sustainability. […]

Commission Proposes 10 Year Glyphosate Renewal

September 20, 2023 Natasha Foote

The European Commission has proposed to renew the authorisation of the controversial herbicide glyphosate for a further 10 years meaning that, if member states give their go-ahead, its use in the EU will be allowed until 2033. Natasha Foote reports […]

Belgium | The Hidden Cost of Food Waste Redistribution

November 20, 2020 Natasha Foote

Redistributing food waste is surely a win for the environment and for society. So why is it such an uphill struggle? In the Belgian capital, a project called ‘Feed the culture’ helps out workers in the arts sector who are struggling to put food on the table because of the COVID-19 closures. Natasha Foote speaks to the volunteers on the ground in Brussels. […]

Poking Holes in Farm to Fork: Health Groups Take The Strategy’s Temperature

March 25, 2020 Natasha Foote

The Farm to Fork strategy aspires to fix our broken food systems while advancing the EU’s sustainability goals. In this three-part series we hear what environmental, health and farming organisations have to say about Farm to Fork so far. Here, Natasha Foote reports on some of the key voices in the health sector to bring us their take on the strategy as it currently stands. […]

The EU-CO summit was a no-go: so what’s next for CAP?

March 18, 2020 Natasha Foote

EU Leaders disagree on CAP, on how it should be funded, and on how that funding should be divided up between different priorities. Meanwhile, there are delays, the parallel farm to fork strategy, talk of transitional arrangements, and now, the global pandemic that is COVID-19 to deal with. Natasha Foote unpacks some of the details. […]

‘Too good to be true’ – The UK Co-op Helping New Entrants Get Access to Land

March 13, 2020 Natasha Foote

All too often access to land is an insurmountable hurdle for new entrants to farming. The innovative Ecological Land Co-operative tackles this head-on, by developing accessible smallholdings for ecological agriculture and supporting new farmers. […]

Auditors – Measures to Stabilise Farmer Incomes have ‘limited effect’

December 17, 2019 Natasha Foote

The European Court of Auditors examined farmers income stablisation in a recent report. The findings were mixed, with direct payments, insurance, mutual funds all assessed. Many measures have failed to live up to expectations. What’s more, the uptake of these payments was found to be uneven, inefficient and, in some cases, unfair. And in some cases public aid and insurance may even be prolonging unsustainable practices. Natasha Foote has more. […]

Rural Dialogues | Intergenerational Collaboration in the Vineyards of Southern France

November 6, 2019 Natasha Foote

Lack of access to affordable land is one they key obstacles to new farming entrants. The sector is suffering from a seriously aging population which puts the future of European small-scale farming at risk. How can we encourage more young people to get into the profession when access to land is so tricky? Natasha Foote talks us through the problem and explores one exciting approach on the vineyards of Southern France. […]

Dishing the Dirt on the Living Agriculture Meet

March 25, 2019 Natasha Foote

Our Mazi farmer, Natasha Foote, joined the first International Meeting For Living Agriculture in Paris. It aims to forward agroecological transition by facilitating exchanges between people working in this field in diverse ways, in different areas and on all sorts of scales. Here is what she took back to the farm. […]

Letter from the Farm | Spring Update from Greece’s Mazi Farm

March 13, 2019 Natasha Foote

The idea of support species stems from the observation that in nature, you always find a diversity of species growing together. You can observe different species working together to support and facilitate the growth of others and for the good of the whole system in many complex interactions. […]

Letter From The Farm | Mimicking Natural Processes in Greece

December 19, 2018 Natasha Foote

We are back in Greece on Mazi Farm with Tash Foote who talks us through the thinking behind the farm design. […]