On 27 – 30 November, the Rural Resilience Gathering 2025 will take place in Plessé, France, co-organised by ARC2020 and elected representatives of Plessé together with a whole host of partners active in agroecology, access to land, food sovereignty and rural justice across Europe. If you are interested in taking part in the Gathering, express your interest via the form linked below.
As part of our journey to collectively imagine what rural transformation can look like, ARC’s Rural Resilience project co-hosts yearly gatherings together with local partners. These gatherings are an opportunity to cultivate meaningful partnerships between actors engaged in agroecological transition in their territories, engage with local and regional politicians and tap into the European conversations shaping the future of rural areas.
The Rural Resilience caravan started its journey in Plessé in 2022, before travelling onwards to Marburg, Germany (2023) and then to Grzybów, Poland (2024).
The current political moment raises many questions for the future of Europe’s rural areas. Too often politically ignored and facing economic challenges, rural Europe is now caught in growing ideological tensions. The rise of far-right forces is reshaping the debate, seemingly capturing an ever-increasing share of local votes, triggering conflicts of interest, and dominating political discourse.
A new element further darkens the picture. The CAP as we know it risks a profound transformation: the recent proposal by the European Commission aims to integrate it into a broad cohesion fund, where rural development (Pillar II) and regions could lose the financial means to carry out their economic, territorial, social, and maritime projects and programmes. A framework so vast and flexible in its spending risks diluting both structure and priorities. What place, then, will be given to rural territories or to programmes for long-term infrastructure? Without infrastructure dedicated to rural development, managed at local and regional levels, rural actors could well end up the main losers of this reform.
How many farmers will have to abandon their farms? How many territories will see their residents drift away? How far will the loss of trust in democratic institutions go? As Europe’s political balance shifts, it is more urgent than ever to raise the voices of rural communities and defend the priorities that nourish our land, our communities, and our future.
Find the final programme here:
Rural Resilience Gathering 2025 Programme
Knowing rural Europe sits at such a decisive crossroads, it is a fitting moment to regroup in Plessé, the pioneering village in Loire-Atlantique that has created its own Local Agricultural and Food Policy (PAAC) and is now laying the foundations of a new educational hub to bolster the peasant spirit.
ARC2020, local elected representatives and partners from across Europe invite participants of this year’s gathering to visit inspiring initiatives, analyse the political and economic challenges of today, and to lay the foundations for a Université Paysanne (peasant university).
The Université Paysanne will be a space of learning rooted in the territory. A space for collective imagination to resist the collapse of agricultural and ecological systems, but also to cultivate the commons that can make a resilient future possible.
From November 27-30, over three days of field visits, workshops, and strategic sessions, participants from the locality, across France, and throughout Europe — farmers, researchers, activists, citizens, artists, artisans, chefs, local authorities and more — will come together to co-create knowledge and move towards collective action.
Our discussions will focus on real challenges rural areas are tackling: how to ensure fair prices for farmers, how to restore dignity to agricultural professions, how to secure livelihoods and strengthen collective resilience. We will also focus on key issues such as access to land, seed sovereignty, bioregionalism, strategic rural infrastructures, and forms of organisation for sustained political action.
The Rural Resilience Gathering 2025 is taking place in cooperation with Porticus and the Paris office of the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.
The Rural Resilience project is supported by Porticus.
More
Sustainable Food Systems cannot be postponed! – From the Marburg Gathering
Cultivating The Future Together – ARC’s Rural Resilience Gathering in France
Marburg Gathering | Building Bridges for Future-Proof Food Systems
European Rural Parliament 2025 — Rural Community Solutions to Global Challenges
Letter From The Farm | Neighbours, Not Numbers: How Local Feeds Us All
Letter From The Farm | How a Young Lithuanian Farmer Blends Science, Soil & Community
The Rise of a New Grain Alliance – Germany’s Free Bakers Sow the Seeds of Change
