Czech Republic

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Letter From The Farm | Winter Health Czech for the Herd

February 16, 2024 Terezie Daňková

We’re with Czech farmer Terezie Daňková on Hoslovice ranch in South Bohemia for a wintertime ‘Czech-in’ on animal welfare. This is the season for the cattle, sheep and hardworking horses on the ranch to take a rest. As well as feeding the animals, Terezie gives them special care in the winter months before they return to pasture. Like the animals, pastures must be carefully managed, to allow them to play a role in efforts to mitigate the climate crisis. […]

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Digital Czech-in – The Cost of Too Many Portals

December 19, 2023 Terezie Daňková

Taxpayers have a right to demand value for money from agricultural subsidies. But does this merit placing farmers under continuous surveillance? Farmers can struggle to reap the benefits of new digital tools that add to rather than ease their workload. Czech farmer Terezie Daňková relates her experience with the demands of the new digital order, and proposes an intergenerational solution. […]

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Letter From The Farm | Half The Price Of Your Food Is Paid By The EU

January 13, 2021 Louise Kelleher

We hear again from Czech livestock farmer Josef who is disillusioned with the sector’s refusal to move with the times. He’s found he can do more ecological farming without the red tape of organic certification and senseless inspections. And although income supports were a huge help to him as a new entrant, he would be happy to see direct payments cut for established farmers. […]

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Czech Republic | Wrangling with the Next Generation

September 30, 2020 Louise Kelleher

Meet Czech farmer Terezie Daňková, who raises cattle and sheep on a 450 ha. ranch on mostly rented land in Southern Bohemia, with the help of her cowgirl daughter Barbora (20), her son Vojtěch (13), and a stable of horses. Louise Kelleher speaks to two generations of women farmers about the realities of rural life, the pull of the city, and what brings them back to the farm. […]

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Food Framing: Think Like An Eastern European

June 24, 2020 ARC

Must we choose between formal market and non-market economies? This is the longstanding Western narrative. But Eastern European food practices tell a different story. Co-author of a new paper that points to tried-and-tested alternatives to the West’s broken food systems, Bálint Balázs makes the case for looking East. […]

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Letter From The Farm | A Conscientious Objector to the Meat Industry

May 28, 2020 Louise Kelleher

Meet Josef, a Czech livestock farmer who is a conscientious objector to the meat industry. For ethical reasons he slaughters his animals on farm and sells the meat locally to friends and neighbours. On-farm slaughter is not legally possible for small farmers in the Czech Republic, where the only ways to kill a cow are via big processors, investing in your own on-farm facility – which is prohibitively expensive – or live exports. In order to speak freely about his activities, Josef (not his real name) chose to remain anonymous for this conversation with Louise Kelleher. […]

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Czech Republic | Keeping Farming & Food in the Family

May 4, 2020 Louise Kelleher

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, our creaking food systems have triggered a crisis within a crisis. Covid-19 has sounded the alarm on the planet’s unsustainable agricultural systems. Small-scale farms are vital links in the resilient local supply chains we need to build. But in the Czech Republic small farmers face challenges, and a six-week closure of farmers markets has hit hard. Louise Kelleher reports. […]

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Winning the Battle with the Agri-Giant Next Door

April 9, 2020 Louise Kelleher

Czech organic farmer Libor Kožnar has won his yearlong battle with Agrofert, the agribusiness empire operating next to his small holding. He lost the organic certification for his wheat due to fertiliser drift from an Agrofert sprayer. Agrofert is a multimillion euro conglomerate with ties to the Czech prime minister, currently under investigation in a conflict of interest case by the European Commission. […]

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Trouble With The Neighbours: Living Next Door to an Agri-Giant

February 9, 2020 Louise Kelleher

How do you get an organic farm off the ground with an agri-giant operating in the neighbouring field? Coming back to the land after a high flying career in New York City, Libor Kožnar expected the first year to be the hardest. What he didn’t expect was to find himself in a legal dispute with Agrofert, the sprawling agribusiness empire founded by the Czech prime minister. […]