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Czech Republic | Fifty Years To Pay For A Farm

A rural European gathering is a special moment. A time for those working on the ground in different territories and regions to compare notes on common challenges at local level, and reflect on European solutions. Access to land is increasingly a barrier for aspiring farmers across Europe, even as an ageing generation of farmers often fails to find a successor. At our European gathering in Plessé in 2022, Czech farmer Terezie Daňková realised how pervasive this issue is in other EU member states. […]

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Luxembourg | A Good Gardener is a Teacher and Politician

A master gardener and co-founder of the SEED association for the preservation and use of the region’s traditional seed varieties, Frank Adams has long been involved in the legislative battle waged by seed savers to gain recognition for the necessity and specific nature of their work. Hannes Lorenzen spoke to Frank during a horticultural walk in the gardens of the Château d’Ansembourg, Luxembourg. […]

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Letter from Christiansen Farm – Breeding Time

Time waits for nobody – but it seems to travel quickly or slowly depending on circumstance. Organic breeding techniques have a different relationship to time and place than genetic engineering methods; other aspects of being in a market economy and of using specialised machinery have their own relationships to time too. Here, Hannes Lorenzen talks with organic plant breeders in Christiansen organic farm, up in Schleswig-Holstein, in the far north of Germany and what they do and why they do it.  […]

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Letter from the Farm | Wild Geese and Tamed Farming – is it All for the Birds?

Is farming for the birds? Like mountain farmers, some lowland farmers have trouble keeping economically afloat due to growing production costs, difficult market access, and the impact of climate change. Jan Gonne Thams is one of them. He lives on Pellworm island, in a remote and disadvantaged region of North Friesland, Germany.  There, the increasing numbers of protected wild Geese which arrive on Pellworm island have changed priorities of the young farmer. Now the farm shop is first and farming is secondary. In conversation with Hannes Lorenzen. […]

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Letter From A Future Farmer | Rethinking The Farm From The Ground Up

For Matthew Hayes, a flying visit to Groundswell 2024, the UK annual festival for regenerative agriculture, provides a brief period off the farm in mid-season, and a moment for reflection. There he visits his son Kristof, who is forging his own path in the regen ag space. It’s a solid grounding in shared values that led this farmer’s son to give agriculture another go – on his own terms. A father and son letter by Kristof and Matthew Hayes […]

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Germany | A Modern Subsistence Farm in a Postcard Landscape

Cycling through this beauty of soft hills, yellow-green meadows, scattered forests, small lakes, finely carpentered wooden houses, small villages with cows and horses grazing side by side, onion-crowned church-towers and cosy guest houses, you may believe that Upper Bavaria is one of those remaining paradise places where rural culture and small peasantry has survived. Letter from die Ötz farm by Hannes Lorenzen. […]

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Letter From The Farm | Strong Roots for a Surer Future

Investing in a small family farm is much more than an economic consideration: it can help to revitalise an entire village. In the Greek village of Trikorfo (Τρίκορφο), father and son Vasilis and Lukas Mylonas are two generations of olive farmers who are honouring their roots while looking to the future for their community. Hannes Lorenzen reports from his visit to the farm in May. […]

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Letter From The Farm | Cooking With The Lights Off – Ingredients of Rural Resilience

We’re back on Cortijo El Manzano in Campotéjar, rural Andalusia, with another letter from ARC2020’s Matteo Metta. This agroecological farm has been building resilience collectively since 1986. After his experience living and volunteering on the farm in February, Matteo reflects on what El Manzano can teach us about some key ingredients of rural resilience: housing, labour and energy […]

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Letter From The Farm | A Flamenco Approach to Rural Resilience

In February, ARC2020’s Matteo Metta visited and worked on El Manzano, a farm deeply rooted in the living history of rural Andalusia, so rich in nuances, contrasts, and emotions, as expressed in the notes of flamenco and words of poets like Federico García Lorca. Farms like El Manzano are yet another example of a rural bridge between sustainable agri and food systems. […]

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Letter From The Farm | Winter Health Czech for the Herd

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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Letter From The Farm | Wandering In Quest Of Balance

We’re back on Chiara Garini’s farm at the foot of the Italian Alps, where the forest garden is in beautiful shape in its fifth mushroom season. Running the farm is a constant balancing act. It’s the satisfaction of producing food that keeps Chiara going. Don’t miss our policy explainer at the end of this letter, where we examine the policy constraints that prevent Chiara and other small-scale farmers from diversifying their activites. […]