Recent updates Archives - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Genetic Engineering and Generative AI: An Explosive Mix

February 4, 2025 Benedikt Haerlin

The field of plant biotechnology is undergoing a profound transformation. The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is fundamentally reshaping the way genetic engineering is conducted. AI-driven genetic engineering may be vulnerable to well-known limitations of AI, such as the black box effect, hallucinations and data errors, raising concerns that plants with undesirable traits could be engineered and released into the environment. How should the EU respond? Benny Haerlin and Franziska Achterberg of Save our Seeds summarise findings of the organisation’s report When Chatbots Breed New Plant Varieties. […]

Putting an X through X – ARC2020’s Decision on Social Media Platforms

January 28, 2025 ARC

For years, ARC2020 has relied on X (formerly Twitter) to connect with partners, amplify voices in agroecology, and foster vital conversations about rural resilience and sustainable food systems. But the platform no longer serves as a conducive space for the kind of constructive engagement we strive for. Like many others, we have decided to leave the platform for good – and here’s why. […]

CAP Report Charts Choppy Waters of 2024, Frames 2025

January 23, 2025 Oliver Moore

With a new CAP proposal for post 2027 coming this year from the Commission, Oliver Moore presents a handy one-stop-shop report to bring you up to speed with where the Common Agricultural Policy is right now. […]

Who Is Actually Profiting Here? – Uniting for Common Good at #WHES25

January 17, 2025 ARC

On Saturday January 18th, demonstrators in Berlin will take to the streets to say: “We are fed up with agri-industry!”. Ahead of the 15th annual Wir haben es satt! demo, Claudia Schievelbein of the Bauernstimme and AbL, reflects on the Weaving Common Ground gathering held in Poland last November, transition fatigue in agriculture and the need for better understanding between rural and urban areas. […]

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! […]

Rural Gathering | From Common Ground to Common Action

December 20, 2024 ARC

During the short end of November days, the annual European Rural Gathering in Grzybów, Poland, co-organised by ARC2020 and a rich ecosystem of partners, marked another stop of our rural caravan from France to Germany to Poland. It was a meeting of heads, hearts and hands that opened doors of connection and possibility for future collaboration on rural resilience. […]

LEADER: Where It Came From, What’s Still In It

December 17, 2024 Robert Lukesch

As part of the transnational LEADER project “Our Common Future” in which LEADER networks came together to conceptualise the future of the LEADER approach, Robert Lukesch brings us a broad retrospective on the wider context from which LEADER emerged, the evolution along its trajectory through six budget periods, and some conclusive thoughts about its future destiny. […]

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. […]

Behind the Danish Green Tripartite – Democracy, Smallholders and the Rights of Rural People

November 27, 2024 ARC

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. […]

The Green Tripartite Agreement Locks in Industrial Ag and Biotech Solutionism

November 26, 2024 ARC

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). […]

Weaving Common Ground – European Triangle for Rural Action

November 25, 2024 ARC

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. […]

Navigating the Challenges of CAP Strategic Planning in the EU

November 24, 2024 ARC

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). […]

Political Deal reached on Denmark’s Green Tripartite – What’s in it and what’s not?

November 19, 2024 Asger Mindegaard

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. […]

European Parliament backs Weakened EU Deforestation Law amid Voting Chaos

November 14, 2024 Natasha Foote

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. […]

The Danish Green Tripartite Agreement Ignores a Necessary Transformation of EU Farming

November 14, 2024 Sybille Kyed

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. […]