Climate Change Archives - Page 3 of 9 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Carbon Starvation – A Crisis Of Our Time?

September 8, 2021 Stuart Meikle

Are we beginning to see carbon – the fundamental building block of all life – as a pollutant? Instead of demonising carbon as a cause of climate breakdown, we need to restore balance in the natural carbon cycle that has been disrupted by the use of artificial fertilisers. In advance of his upcoming series on farming within planetary boundaries, Stuart Meikle offers a primer on the complex role of carbon in our soils. […]

CAP and Climate – What Exactly did Auditors Find?

July 6, 2021 Oliver Moore

€100 billion of CAP funds attributed to climate action had “little impact” on greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according the European Court of Auditors, in a report released 21st June. Here we unpack in detail where and how CAP is failing on climate, and what the auditors recommend. Part one of two – part two will critically assess the report, with a particular focus on organic farming. By Oliver Moore. […]

Climate Crisis | EU Agriculture Needs Systemic Solutions, Not New GM Technology

April 14, 2021 ARC

As the debate around genetically-modified “super crops” heats up, tried-and-tested solutions to tackling the climate crisis are in danger of being left out in the cold. Any deregulation of new GMOs threatens to undermine diverse and self-determined approaches to seed and food production that enhance biodiversity and soil health, and strengthen the resilience of entire agro-ecosystems, argues Stefanie Hundsdorfer. […]

Cut The Crap, Withdraw The CAP!

April 13, 2021 ARC

Climate striker Sommer Ackerman became active in protests for a better CAP in October 2020. She combines activism at EU level in the WithdrawTheCAP campaign with activism at national level to make agri-food policy change in Finland. […]

Time for US and EU to Regulate Factory Farms’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions

April 12, 2021 Ben Lilliston

The factory farm system used by global agribusiness firms is a major source of the greenhouse gas methane. Ben Lilliston and Shefali Sharma of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) highlight that the push for appropriate regulation of factory farms’ methane emissions in the U.S. should coincide with EU efforts to regulate these emissions. […]

A Soil Scientist’s Perspective – Carbon Farming, CO2 Certification & Carbon Sequestration in Soil

April 2, 2021 Andrea Beste

Carbon farming is a new buzz word, hotly debated in the EU Commission, in European Ministries and Chambers of Agriculture, and the subject of numerous projects and movements. It is in fact proposed as an ecoscheme by the Commission. So far, however, there is no binding definition of “carbon farming” and there seem to be many different understandings of the term. What most approaches have in common is the objective of storing carbon in the soil in some way. Soil Scientist Dr. Andrea Beste unpacks some important points for this contested approach to soil and land management. […]

Letter From The Farm | Welcome To The Herdade

March 24, 2021 Freixo do Meio Users Cooperative

Welcome to Herdade do Freixo do Meio, a 600-hectare community farm in Alentejo, Portugal. Run by a cooperative, the farm prides itself on agroecological food production that is local, responsible and conscious. Alfredo Sendim explains how the farm is building resilience through a collective approach. […]

Precision Farming – or “The Emperor’s New Clothes”?

February 7, 2021 Andrea Beste

The European Commission recently identified precision farming as a possible agricultural practice that eco-schemes could support in the post-2022 Common Agricultural Policy. In this analysis Dr Andrea Beste examines the potential of precision farming to provide environmental services for climate and species protection. […]

Germany | Traditional Wine-Making Feeling The Heat of Climate Change

January 22, 2021 Kyle Morrison

Although known for its beer, Germany has a long history of viticulture dating back to the Roman era. Wine markets have always been shaped by changing climate conditions such as the little ice age. The new climate reality is forcing many wine regions in Germany and across Europe to make large-scale adaptations to keep the winemaking tradition alive. Kyle Morrison reports. […]

New IAASTD+10 Book – Transforming Our Food Systems

September 24, 2020 ARC

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. […]

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

July 6, 2020 Shefali Sharma

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. […]

Why Language Matters To Shape The Future Of Agriculture

June 15, 2020 Ans Rossy

Why don’t we talk about doing good instead of doing less harm? Because we are facing a crisis of imagination, writes Ans Rossy. To move away from our society’s current paradigm of power and influence, we will need inspiring new narratives. Agroecology can help us envision a future that’s about sharing and cooperation. […]

The Myth of Climate Smart Agriculture – Why Less Bad Isn’t Good

June 1, 2020 Andrea Beste

The “modern” intensive agricultural system does the climate more harm than good. That’s a fact, no matter how much Big Data or precision farming you throw at it. We need to look outside that system for solutions. In this excerpt from an evidence-based study commissioned by Martin Häusling MEP, Dr Andrea Beste and Dr Anita Idel question the climate potential of precision agriculture and the demonization of cattle, and make the case for grazing animals, organic farming, agroforestry and permaculture. […]

Reforesting Portugal: Taking Communites From Extraction to Regeneration

May 29, 2020 Antonieta Lopes

From the ashes of Portugal’s devastating wildfires in 2017 rose Reflorestar Portugal, a national network for forest and ecosystem regeneration. In this interview for ARC2020, Susana Guimarães, coordinator of Reflorestar Portugal, speaks to Antonieta Lopes about empowering local communities to be guardians of the forest, moving from an extractive to a regenerative economy, and letting go of what has proven to be of no use to us. […]

The CAP and Climate Ambition – Myth vs Reality

March 10, 2020 Joost de Jong

CAP supposedly is climate ambitious, but it fails to really deliver. So what could be done differently? Joost de Jong of the Dutch Transition Coalition of Food Systems gives us some suggestions. […]