Latest from EU Member States Archives - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Letter From The Farm | Community Farming in Ireland

April 25, 2025 Oliver Moore

On Cloughjordan Community Farm it takes a village to grow 50 sorts of vegetables. The member-owned farm produces high quality, nutritionally dense veggies using agroecological methods. Community is central to the farm’s work, from its CSA scheme to volunteering, and most recently a big effort to plant 2,000 trees for syntropic farming. Letter from the farm by Oliver Moore. […]

Letter From The Farm | Seven Years In: Realising Our Agroecological Vision

April 11, 2025 Chiara Garini

We are back after a long time on Chiara Garini’s farm at the foot of the Italian Alps. Seven years ago, Chiara and her partner started from scratch with a lot of dreams. Now they have a fully operational farm business. While proud of realising their vision, rather than resting on their laurels, they are now looking to sustain the necessary growth. […]

Letter From The Farm | All In A Day’s Tree Planting

April 4, 2025 Martino Newcombe

We’re back with Martino Newcombe in the West of Ireland, where he reflects on a winter’s day of planting a shelter belt of native tree species. Not on his farm, but on that of his neighbour, a retired farmer, with the help of another neighbour – echoing the traditional Irish practice of helping each other out that is known as “meitheal”. As a wildlife corridor connects flora and fauna, local networks of knowledge and skills spawn opportunities to build resilience. Martino shares the insights of a day’s work. […]

Portugal | Regenerative Heritage Grains – From Soil To Bread

April 2, 2025 Adèle Pautrat

Where to find heritage grains likely to thrive in a Portuguese climate and soil conditions? José da Camara Ruas tells us about his farming project in the Alentejo region in south Portugal, and his journey through diversification—from ancient grains and species mixtures to agroforestry and the introduction of animals. By Adèle Pautrat for the Seeds4All project. […]

Poland And Denmark Have An Opportunity To Shape EU Agriculture, If Only They Seize It

April 1, 2025 ARC

The Commission has published “A Vision for Agriculture and Food”, where it scales back the green ambitions of the Farm-to-Fork strategy, passing the buck to Member States to implement sufficient measures to meet EU climate goals. However, the future of EU agriculture will also be shaped by negotiations on several crucial files—including a new budget, a 2040 climate target and CAP reform. The 2025 Polish and Danish EU presidencies will help to set the pace and scope of agricultural policies for years to come. Op-ed by Simone Højte, Emmanuel Molding Nielsen, Adrianna Wrona and Johannes Flatz. […]

Letter From A Future Farmer | Living Alternatives

March 28, 2025 Jessica Girardi

Can principles of local action, mutual aid and intergenerational cohesion help to revive rural areas? Jessica Girardi immersed herself in this question during a month-long Forum Synergies scholarship hosted by the Porto di Terra collective in Sicily in August-September 2024. She found living proof that rural areas can be dynamic, progressive and experimental. Letter by Jessica Girardi. […]

Eco-schemes – Running to stand still?

March 6, 2025 Oliver Moore

Introduced under CAP 2023-2027, eco-schemes aim to promote biodiversity, climate resilience and environmental sustainability EU farming. Yet, a report by NABU and Birdlife finds their potential remains largely untapped due to persistent challenges in design, funding and implementation. Oliver Moore breaks down key insights of the report. […]

The Food Sovereignty Scandal Made in France

March 5, 2025 ARC

France has more than enough land to feed its inhabitants. Yet almost half of French farmland serves the global export trade. Food sovereignty will remain a pipe dream as long as the absurd globalised food system continues to hold sway, says a new report by Terre de Liens. The Rural Resilience project reports from the launch event in Paris. […]

How Has The CAP’s Green Architecture Changed Around Europe?

February 24, 2025 ARC

The CAP has shapeshifted significantly thanks to a series of exemptions and, crucially, a fundamental change in its regulation in 2024. But how have these changes impacted the green architecture of the policy? Here we present a collaborative article on the changes, in particular for the ‘good agricultural and environmental conditionalities’ on peatland and wetlands (GAEC 2) and on space for nature (GAEC 8). National environmental and agricultural coalitions from around Europe – from Poland, Ireland, Czechia, France, Italy, Spain and Bulgaria – have all fed their insights into this article. […]

From Protests & Polarisation to Weaving Common Ground – A Year of Rural Resilience

February 5, 2025 ARC

We invite you to retrace with us the Rural Resilience project journey in 2024. Together we look back on a year that took us from rage and rollbacks to a European triangle of rural action. […]

WHES | “We Must Continue” – Determined Farmers & Friends Will March On

January 30, 2025 Claudia Schievelbein

As Germany’s election season plays out, agriculture and environmental issues are notably absent from campaign agendas. Nonetheless, at Berlin’s annual Wir haben es satt protest, farmers and activists marched – without the usual tractors – demanding a food system that protects the climate, nature, animal welfare and rural communities. Hours earlier, the alliance held a final meeting with outgoing Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir. Claudia Schievelbein reports. […]

Hand in Hand for the Future of Farming – Call For Courage at #WHES25

January 24, 2025 ARC

At this year’s Wir haben es satt! Demonstration in Berlin, thousands of farmers, activists and consumers gathered in front of the Reichstag to demand bold action on agri-food policy, urging the next government to deliver fair prices, support for agroecological farming and decisive climate action ahead of a pivotal federal election. […]

From Local Roots to Global Vision: ARC2020 President Welcomes 2025

January 13, 2025 Hannes Lorenzen

From rural resilience to democratic revival, ARC2025 charts a transformative path for Europe. At first glance it may sound just like a wishful dream. But in fact it is an invitation to take action. Europe will be challenged this year by those who do not want to see it united and strong. But old nationalism and new geopolitical confrontations from East and West will also stimulate our civic courage. We see so many pioneering local initiatives leading the way across Europe setting up new farming and food systems: Farmers, local businesses and leaders of change, including researchers and forward-thinking politicians. Have a dream! It helps against sleepwalking into a nightmare. Taking action with others will make the dream, however big, a reality! […]

Letter From The Farm | The West of Ireland Never ‘Dewilded’

December 20, 2024 Martino Newcombe

Martino Newcombe runs a small farm in Co. Galway in the west of Ireland. Biodiversity is a central focus of his work. He practices conservation grazing on marshy terrain with Kerry cattle, a hardy ancient Irish dairy breed. In his stewardship of the land he is careful to heed the inherent understanding of deep ecology passed down from previous generations. In this first letter from his farm, Martino explains that you don’t have to be a cow to tell milk from cream. […]

BTV’s Cost: A Farmer Caught Between the Virus and the System

November 27, 2024 Marie Halicki

Marie Halicki, a newly established farmer in the French Alps shares with ARC2020 her fight against the BTV in 2024. […]