It’s a little known fact outside the growing community: peat is ubiquitous in producing the fruits and vegetables we eat. Organic and conventional systems alike rely on peat for plant propagation. This is a climate and biodiversity disaster, and alternatives have so far been thin on the ground. How is the horticulture industry dealing with the peat conundrum? Oliver Moore reports. […]
Why is it so important to open the farm gates to the community? Vegetable grower Vincent explains how he and his colleagues want their market garden, to be a site of coming together as well as a site of production. Vincent also opens up about the challenges of labour – for him as an unlikely ‘boss’, and for the workers who must be incredibly motivated to overcome the tough working conditions. Part 2 of a conversation with Valérie Geslin. […]
Vincent, Julie and their three employees run a small market garden in North-West France. Producing 45 vegetables, the team at La Ferme de Pitoué has learnt over the years the limits of diversification. In their garden, over coffee in the sunshine and a chorus of birdsong, Vincent tells us how they manage to stay true to their values on the farm. Part 1 of a conversation with Valérie Geslin. […]
Work less, age better. Instead of more money, choosing to bring in more farmers. For Stéphane and his associates on their six-hectare horticulture farm, GAEC Le Jardin des Pierres Bleues, every choice is calculated to yield the best outcomes for people and planet. Part 2 of a conversation with Valérie Geslin. […]
Stéphane loves numbers, and it’s a formula for the success of the six-hectare horticulture farm, GAEC Le Jardin des Pierres Bleues, that he runs together with three associates and one employee in Vay, north-west France. By his calculation, everyone gets to earn a dignified living, true to their principles and to nature. Free of debt, and free of CAP subsidies… In conversation with Valérie Geslin. […]
Isabella Lang has been working on her friends’ farm in the Austrian Alps since the spring. After four years in the Brussels bubble, she was keen to get her hands back in the soil. It’s been several months of hard work, long days, amazing food, and a healthy pace of life. In this first letter Isabella introduces us to the farm. Meet the new peasants. […]
Covid19 has seen extraordinary measures to keep sectors of the economy afloat. In some cases, however there are winners and losers when money moves around – and consequences for producers other EU member states trying to compete with massive bailouts. Igor Olech has more. […]
Low cost labour intensive vegetable production has been under strain in recent weeks. Tens of thousands of seasonal workers have moved from east to west – as they do each year. This year is not, however, a typical year. Covid19 has added new dimensions, while also shining a spotlight on an otherwise hidden army of harvesters. But is harvesting the white gold more valuable than the health of Romanian farm workers? […]
North west Europe is not known for its soaring temperatures. Yet, this summer, even Ireland has seen a prolonged drought, with almost no rain for weeks, a similar forecast for the weeks ahead, and temperatures reaching 30 degrees in this more typically temperate place. How are horticulturalists on the yellow-singed emerald isle coping? […]
On the first day on June, Guy Singh-Watson handed over almost ¾ of the business- known primarily for its organic veg box deliveries in the UK – to its employees. So why did this especially committed individual do this – and reject tens of millions of pounds in the process? And what does this mean for food system democracy? […]
Here Frank Armstrong ponders how different the rural west of Ireland was – and can be again – through the medium of food production. Family excursions, a mid century self-help co-op movement, which used horticulture as a vehicle for change, and the future of food production all feature. […]
In part two of this exclusive three parter on Spain’s internal CAP debate, Marta Zygadlo delves deeper into the substance of the position adopted by Spain with regard to the European Commission’s CAP consultation, focusing here on financing. […]
Climate Change Adaptation via Horticultural Integration: Meet Ehtiopian urban gardener Fetewei Tarekegn and his west African refugee team. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention
You are currently viewing a placeholder content from amChart. To access the actual content, click the button below. Please note that doing so will share data with third-party providers.
More Information