Dr. Oliver Moore is the communications director and editor-in-chief with ARC2020. He has a PhD in the sociology of farming and food, where he specialised in organics and direct sales. He is published in the International Journal of Consumer Studies, International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology and the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. A weekly columnist and contributor with Irish Examiner, he is a regular on Countrywide (Irish farm radio show on the national broadcaster RTE 1) and engages in other communications work around agri-food and rural issues, such as with the soil, permaculture, climate change adaptation and citizen science initiative Grow Observatory . He lectures part time in the Centre for Co-operative Studies UCC.
A propos d'Oliver Moore
Oliver voyage beaucoup moins qu’auparavant, pour ce qui concerne son activité professionnelle. Il peut néanmoins admirer par la fenêtre de son bureau les mésanges charbonnières et les corbeaux perchés au sommet du saule dans le jardin de sa maison au cœur de l’écovillage de Cloughjordan, en Irlande. L’écovillage est un site de 67 acres dans le nord du Tipperary. Il comprend d’espaces boisés, des paysages comestibles, des lieux de vie, d’habitation et de travail, ainsi qu’une ferme appartenant à la communauté. Les jours où il travaille dans le bureau du centre d’entreprise communautaire, il profite d’une vue sur les chevaux, les panneaux solaires, les toilettes sèches et les jardins familiaux.
Ce bureau au sein de l’écovillage constitue en effet un tiers-lieu de travail accueillant également des collaborateurs des associations Cultivate et Ecolise, ainsi qu’un laboratoire de fabrication (« fab lab »).
Oliver est membre du conseil d’administration de la ferme communautaire (pour la seconde fois !) et donne également des cours sur le Master en coopératives, agroalimentaire et développement durable à l’University College Cork. Il a une formation en sociologie rurale : son doctorat et les articles qu’il publie dans des journaux scientifiques portent sur ce domaine au sens large.
Il consacre la majorité de son temps de travail à l’ARC 2020. Il collabore avec ARC depuis 2013, date à laquelle l’Irlande a assuré la présidence de l’UE pendant six mois. C’est là qu’il a pu constater l’importance de la politique agroalimentaire et rurale grâce à sa chronique hebdomadaire sur le site d’ARC. Après six mois, il est nommé rédacteur en chef et responsable de la communication, poste qu’il occupe toujours aujourd’hui. Oliver supervise le contenu du site web et des médias sociaux, aide à définir l’orientation de l’organisation et parfois même rédige un article pour le site web.
À l’époque où on voyageait davantage, il a eu la chance de passer du temps sous les tropiques, où il a aidé des ONG irlandaises de commerce équitable – au Ghana, au Kenya, au Mali, en Inde et au Salvador – à raconter leur histoire.
Il se peut que ces jours-là reviennent. Pour son compte Oliver continuera de préférer naviguer en Europe par bateau, puis en train. Après tout, la France n’est qu’à une nuit de navigation. En attendant, il y a toujours de nombreuses possibilités de bénévolat dans la communauté dans les campagnes du centre de l’Irlande.
Talamh Beo, a new organisation in Ireland that “represents the interests and defends the livelihoods of people producing food, fuel and fibre using sustainable methods of production” has its first public meeting March 9th in the west of Ireland. So who are they and what do they want to do? […]
Like most EU Member States, Ireland periodically develops an action plan for its organic sector. There, a team of stakeholders, drawn from the conventional and organic sectors, as well as representatives of the Irish state’s Department of Agriculture, have developed the Organic Action Plan for Ireland, 2019-2025. Ireland has among the very lowest number of organic farmers, and organic land area, in European organics. So what difference will this plan make? […]
The rules imposed on conventional agriculture, in some significant cases, make organic and conventional more alike. However organic is also spawning more radical alternatives, alternatives like biological or regenerative farming, which seem to have all the movement momentum, while eschewing certification – throwing out the biodynamic baby with the bureaucratic bathwater? […]
Beets, Beats and Better Bites with tasty treats, DJ tracks and dozens of tractors rumbling through the streets! What it’s the annual Wir Haben Es Satt (#WHES19) mobilization in Berlin. What’s happening – and why? […]
Our agtech series – agtechtakeback – saw a troubling story of corporate takeover and of disempowered, indebted farmers. But we also encountered empowering and inspiring examples of farmers embracing the best, most appropriate, of technologies to grow agroecologically. […]
After years of debates and wrangling, provisional agreement has been reached between European Parliament and Council to place limits on cadmium in fertilizers. The agreement places a 60 mg/kg limit on the toxin and carcinogen, to apply three years after entry into force of the new rules – most likely in 2022. […]
Global trade (WTO) rules on competitiveness and a sequence of EU treaties mean that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is supposed to be more environmentally sustainable than it was. Now, with increased powers, the European Parliament’s environment committee has an opportunity to show some muscle. But will it flex those pecs? […]
Cancer is an emotive topic, so when a team of French researchers say a higher frequency of organic food consumption was associated with a reduced risk of cancer people will inevitably take note – and try to take apart the study. Meanwhile, Roundup, a tool of conventional farming and land management is in the dock – and loosing – over it relationship with cancer. Oliver Moore reports, adding some broader and historical context. […]
The starkness of the IPCC’s most recent climate change warnings – of 12 year window before runaway impacts – has focused the minds of many. What role – if any – for livestock in this brave new herd? […]
The position of farmers and other suppliers in the agri-food chain received a boost on Monday, when the Agriculture Committee in the European Parliament approved new draft rules against unfair trading practices (UTPs). The text was approved in by 38 votes in favour to four votes against, with two abstentions. […]
Imagine there was a soil amendment that could be produced from waste biomass and could do the following: draw down carbon, increase soil fertility in acidic soils, increase yield and productivity – especially for the poorest farmers with the worst soil, reduce nutrient run off, improve water retention in soil, while also protecting against soil borne diseases? Say hello to biochar…. […]
What’s going on with the new EU and US trade plans? Will it be TTIP on steroids? Is it to be zero tariffs, a bonfire of the regulations, or is it all much ado about nothing? […]
North west Europe is not known for its soaring temperatures. Yet, this summer, even Ireland has seen a prolonged drought, with almost no rain for weeks, a similar forecast for the weeks ahead, and temperatures reaching 30 degrees in this more typically temperate place. How are horticulturalists on the yellow-singed emerald isle coping? […]
The Environment committee in the European Parliament has been given a greater say in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This includes the right to bring “amendments” (proposals) direct to the Plenary of the European parliament. […]
A recommendation for “Shared Competence” has been made by an arbitration committee in the European Parliament. So what will the decision-makers do later in the week? […]
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