Recent updates Archives - Agricultural and Rural Convention

What happens when our seeds go silent?

June 16, 2026 Natasha Foote

As EU lawmakers prepare to rewrite rules governing the production, exchange and sale of seeds, two opposing worlds collide. In one, seeds are intellectual property, carefully regulated and protected as engines of innovation. In the other, they are living commons, saved, exchanged and adapted by farmers across generations. To dig into the seedy underbelly of the agrifood world, ARC2020’s Natasha Foote travelled between two major seed gatherings held just days (but worlds) apart, each offering a radically different vision of the future. […]

The EU’s PFAS Pesticide Blind Spot

June 10, 2026 Natasha Foote

The PFAS panic has seen us eye everything from non-stick pans to takeaway packaging with suspicion. But what if one of the most direct routes of exposure to these ‘forever chemicals’ is not in the kitchen cupboard, but on our plates? Here ARC2020’s Natasha Foote lifts the lid on PFAS pesticides and how new pesticide plans in the EU’s regulatory pipeline could open doors to ‘forever chemicals’ that can’t be closed. […]

A Revolution in Europe’s Public Plate? The future of food policy is delicious

June 1, 2026 Ashley Parsons

What would you do with €2.5 trillion? This is the amount the EU spends every year on public procurement. With the rules that shape this spending up for revision, there is a multi-trillion euro opportunity to serve better food in schools, hospitals, prisons and care homes – while simultaneously supporting farmers and nourishing local economies. Ashley Parsons reports. […]

Germany | Legal win for a collective land purchase makes a couple’s farming dream come true

May 29, 2026 ARC

What began as a small French-fries stand and a desire to grow their own potatoes brought two young farmers into the heart of one of Europe’s most pressing agricultural challenges: access to land. Since founding their organic farm near Münster, David Büchler and Sarah Hoffmann have followed a path familiar to many new entrants, marked by long searches and uncertain opportunities. But a collective purchase model made long-term security possible, after a legal case that finally culminated in a win. By Christine Etienne. […]

What’s Food Sovereignty got to do with it? The New Geopolitics of Food

May 14, 2026 Oliver Moore

Resilient, self-reliant food systems. This is what a major new IPES-Food report puts forward as a way to deal with food price volatility driven by increasing geopolitical tensions. We recognise here many of the ingredients for Rural Resilience that we have identified in our project, including fair livelihoods for farmers and access to food for all. It’s a new and very ‘now’ pathway for governments to advance a food sovereignty approach. Oliver Moore digs in. […]

Inside Brussels’ Eleventh-Hour Battle Over New GMOs

April 22, 2026 Natasha Foote

In a few short weeks, the European Parliament will have the power to open Europe’s farmgates and plates to new genetic technologies, without the guardrails of labelling, monitoring, or liability. But in Brussels, an eleventh-hour battle is brewing. So is this game, set and match? Or is there still something to play for? Natasha Foote brings you the latest from Brussels. […]

CAP | EU Watchdog Gears Up To Fight For Fairness in Future Farming Policy

March 20, 2026 Natasha Foote

The EU’s watchdog is ready for the fight over fairness in the EU’s future farming policy just as NGOs launch another round of legal scrutiny over the Commission’s conduct in the handling of the next Common Agricultural Policy. […]

EU’s Simplification Saga Set to Continue Despite Legal Warnings

March 2, 2026 Natasha Foote

Lawyers have declared it unlawful. The EU’s watchdog has found maladministration. And yet it’s full steam ahead for the EU’s simplification train – or ‘omnibus’, to be more precise. As one simplification chapter closes, another opens. What is going on, and what does this mean going forward? Natasha Foote brings you the latest in the legal wrangle around the EU’s simplification saga. […]

Why Mercosur hits a nerve in rural Poland – for farmers and the environment

February 17, 2026 Igor Tomasz Olech

One month after its signing by Mrs von der Leyen, the EU-Mercosur agreement remains contentious, with the European Parliament scrutinising its legality. In Poland – one of a handful of Member States that voted against the deal – it remains a lightning rod for farmers’ grievances. And it’s not just farmers who are unfairly expected to absorb risks: new research co-authored by Igor Olech for Poland’s Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics spotlights structural loopholes in Mercosur’s sustainability architecture. Igor Olech reports from Poland. […]

Mercosur will make European farmers more vulnerable to international capital & commodities flows

January 19, 2026 Hannes Lorenzen

With the signing of the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement this weekend, a spectre of the past comes back to haunt Europe’s farmers. But there is still a political window to save their future. Op-ed by ARC2020 President Hannes Lorenzen, published in Le Monde on Saturday 17 January 2026. […]

What kind of fight makes sense in 2026?

January 13, 2026 Hannes Lorenzen

It’s easy to be overwhelmed. As we prepare to ride the wave of multiple crises, going into 2026 we are minding our mental health at ARC2020, and diving into this topic with rural actors and communities. A New Year’s message from ARC2020 president Hannes Lorenzen. […]

Rural Resilience Gathering | Knowledge is the Power to Shape our Rural Futures Together

December 19, 2025 Louise Kelleher

We congregated on the last weekend in November, together with participants from 12 European countries and beyond, for our Rural Resilience Gathering 2025. We took home new perspectives, tools and best practices, a richer vision of the mosaic of rural Europe – and a full tank of hope: that we can shape our agroecological future in our communities. Report by Louise Kelleher and Pauline Petit. […]

What hope on the horizon? From Farm to Fork to a grand bargain in 2026

December 19, 2025 ARC

As the tractors roll back into the streets of Brussels and London, it feels an opportune moment to reflect on the state of food, farming and the environment across Europe, and to contemplate — at a time of division and anger — whether there might still be scope through deep listening and meaningful negotiation to strike a ‘grand bargain’ across Europe in which farmers and the environment both truly flourish. Op-ed by Edward Davey. […]

Op-Ed | Pesticide lobby use farmers’ protests as cover for slashing EU safety regulations

December 18, 2025 ARC

It’s getting increasingly harder for the pesticide lobby to argue against the science showing harm to people and ecosystems of its toxic products. ‘Luckily’ it has an ace up its sleeve: farmers’ frustrations/anger. Corporate lobby group Croplife Europe appears to be opportunistically planning to use farmers’ protests on the 18th of December in Brussels, in order to create political momentum to further slash EU safety rules for its products. Op-ed by Nina Holland of Corporate Europe Observatory. […]

EU Deal on GMO Deregulation: Hiding GMO Food While Claiming Patent Rights

December 16, 2025 Franziska Achterberg

On 4 December, EU negotiators reached an agreement to deregulate plants engineered with new genomic techniques. In this op-ed, Franziska Achterberg of Save Our Seeds argues that the deal dismantles key elements of EU GMO law for a broad category of genetically modified plants rebranded as “conventional-like” and granted patent rights. While the agreement still awaits final approval, Achterberg sets out why it should be rejected. […]