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Russia | Climate Crisis & Fields of Possibility

Russia is at a crossroads: will it dominate global export markets, or deliver stability and climate solutions for rural areas? In the third and final installment in our Russia series, Alia Yakupova and Hannes Lorenzen explore the fields in which Russia is fighting the battle with the climate and biodiversity crises. […]

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New IAASTD+10 Book – Transforming Our Food Systems

A critical new book released today (24th September) by United Nations’ World Agriculture Report (IAASTD) members calls for an accelerated transformation of our food systems. The authors, including ARC2020’s Benny Haerlin, point to the need for a paradigm shift in the perception of the global food system, incorporating agroecology. Here we feature an op-ed by Katharine Earley.   […]

Latest from EU Member States

Swiss Study Backs Water Clean-Up

As part of Switzerland’s groundwork for its Clean Drinking Water Initiative, the Swiss federal government’s food and  environmental agency Agroscope has completed a second, detailed study on the environmental impact the clean drinking water initiative can achieve. Peter Crosskey found that Agroscope’s preliminary findings suggest that while the country could indeed reduce pesticide levels in its drinking water, the gains would be eroded by the current carbon footprint of imported foods. […]

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Milking The Planet: How Big Dairy Is Heating Up The Planet And Hollowing Rural Communities

Big Dairy’s greenhouse gas emissions are increasing, but the corporations responsible are not being held to account. Meanwhile consolidation in the dairy industry is squeezing smaller operators and hurting rural communities. It’s time to hold agribusiness accountable for its climate footprint, argues Shefali Sharma in a new report from the Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy. […]

Latest from EU Member States

UK | Coronavirus: Rationing Based on Health, Equity and Decency now Needed

Food security is no laughing matter at the best of times, but TIm Lang gasped when he first read the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) annual food civil contingencies infrastructure report in 2018. It is barely a page long (in public at least) and assures us everything is OK and that the food system is resilient and able to withstand shocks. As the coronvirus racks the nation and panic buying continues, this complacency is about to be tested. […]

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Nothing “mini” about U.S. Plan to Unravel Europe’s Precautionary Principle

The real goal of the United States and European Union’s so-called “mini-deal” on trade is unambiguous and goes to the heart of Europe’s way of life and approach to the rule of law. U.S. trade negotiators, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and American farm interests have all been crystal clear: the precautionary principle must go, and now is the time to finally axe it. […]

Latest from EU Member States

Wales | Joining the Real Food and Farming Conversation

The UK may have left the EU, but we will still maintain a focus on what’s happening there in food, farming and rural areas. In the spirit of cooperation, there will still be much to learn from each other. To this end, here’s a report from Wales on an event that’s emerged from the Oxford Real Farming Conference. […]

Swiss water
Latest from EU Member States

Shifting Subsidies in Switzerland – the Clean Drinking Water Initiative.

Switzerland is well known for holding referendums. A new one that’s coming up asks for a change in subsides to farmers, towards supporting more ecological priorities. If the Clean Drinking Water Initiative passes, payments will go to farmers who don’t use pesticides or antibiotics, and who carry lower livestock numbers  on their farms. Klaus Lans has more. […]