Introducing our next debate series – rural dialogues. What is the state of play for rural Europe? Are rural places still lagging behind – forgotten, disadvantaged and in need of extra supports? Or is there a rural renaissance of sorts occurring, from smart villages to innovation hubs? Tell us what you know and let’s get talking! […]
How does some research find organic to be better for fighting climate change, and other research finds the opposite? An explainer. […]
Its Earth Day Monday 22nd and to celebrate we’ve selected our twenty favourite, most appropriate, most thought-provoking and compelling reads to get in the mood. From rewilding to climate change, pesticides bans to the role of livestock in climate-friendly farming, and a gripping personal account of front line action in the Paris COP 21 climate change talks….it’s all here! […]
Today, April 17th, marks the annual International Day for Peasant Struggle. We’ve handpicked some of our top stories from recent years to give you an insight into the struggles facing European land workers and the resistance movements which respond to these. […]
The food security of the British population and its following generations cannot be simplified into a policy founded on the erroneous principle that the global market will always provide. It is vital for the food security of the British people that a sizeable proportion of the nation’s food comes from accessible and reliable sources operating regenerative food systems. Chapter 1 by Stuart Meikle. […]
Publications by ARC2020 […]
With insect Armageddon and biodiversity collapse making the headlines, pesticides are public enemy No. 1. Scientists are now naming and shaming pesticides as a key driver of biodiversity loss. Even the European Parliament has caught the bug. MEPs insist that the new CAP must do more to shrug off our dependency on agrochemicals. Meanwhile farmers are showing that – with the right supports – instead of scapegoats for biodiversity loss, they can be part of the solution. […]
The European Parliament last week called on member states to step up enforcement of existing rules on protecting livestock during transport. MEPs are urging member states to ramp up spot checks, use tracking technology to monitor compliance, and apply tougher penalties for offenders. Transport times should be cut, but the preference is to phase out live exports altogether in favour of local slaughtering. And when animals are transported to non-EU countries, EU standards should be applied. […]
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? […]
In all likelihood, the UK will leave the European Union. In place of the CAP, it has drafted a new Agriculture Bill which is passing through parliament at the moment. What does this bill look like? What are the implications? What further amendments are needed? Vicki Hird talks us through the details. […]
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. […]
The Czech chicken industry is under the wing of a Godfather. The same man is also milking the domestic dairy sector and has the nation’s encased meats all sewn up. Or at least that was the case until he became Prime Minister. Now, with a confidential European Commission report concluding Andrej Babiš has a conflict of interest between his business and his political position, are his chickens coming home to roost? […]
A UK supermarket chain’s anti-palm oil advert has been banned, it’s focus habitat destruction caused by deforestation deemed too political for public television. Stuart Meikle reports on the past and present global obsession with palm oil and whether a plea to changing Western food habits is really the way forward. […]
Protein plants and the animals and humans that eat them are in the news this week, as the European Commission and a range of farming and environmental NGOs publish reports and opinions on the matter. A number of organisations reacted positively, but with caveats. So what were the concerns? […]
More than 300 participants from 40 countries gathered for the 7th international CSA Symposium. The theme of this Symposium was “Beyond Borders” and indeed the movement is working to transgress political, social and economic borders, from Lesvos to China, the US to Palestine. By Natalie Markiefka tell us about it. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention