Latest from EU Member States

Feeding Ourselves 2023 – Diversified Diversification in Action

It’s good to be specific. It’s also good to be diverse. To be mixed and sometimes messy, to embed in a multiverse, a pluriverse, of things and people, of places and actions, of enabling infrastructure and strategic purpose. When it comes to making vibrant rural spaces, within our social and planetary boundaries, while living well, together…there’s a lot to be said for diversity – in its many, myriad forms. Welcome to Feeding Ourselves 2023 – a diversity love story. Words by Oliver Moore.  […]

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Responsible Digital Agroecology – from Farm to Fork

How can innovations in digital agriculture ensure inclusion and equity for all actors in the value chain? What are the examples of digital innovations in agriculture that have already or will have a real impact on farmers’ work, quality of life and on sustainability? And how can we develop the relevant policies to foster the development of digital technologies and services that would ensure inclusion and equity for all actors in the value chain? Here, Véronique Bellon Maurel addresses these questions, […]

Latest from EU Member States

Four Takeaways From our Rural Resilience Gathering in North West France 

A recent rural resilience gathering in the Loire-Atlantique, France saw farmers, cooks, elected officials, analysts, rural activists, volunteers and more meet to work on the future of the socio-ecological transition. Organised by ARC’s team on the ground in France via the Nos Campagne en Resilience team, and other partners such as the region’s Cooks Alliance, many fruitful talks and experiences were had. So what unfolded? Oliver Moore has some personal observations on his time there. […]

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Ukraine | Green Road of Ecovillages, Six Months into War

The Green Road of Ecovillages is a network of ecological communities and permaculture centers that give shelter to refugees from Ukraine. Some of the displaced people are still in Ukraine, others are outside Ukraine. The Green Road has developed organically on the ground and with with international, mutual aid support, in particular from Denmark and the Netherlands. After our initial article, here we check in on new challenges and how they are being dealt with. By Anastasiya Volkova of GEN Ukraine. […]

Latest from Brussels

Future of Europe at European Rural Parliament – Sufficiency, Integrated Policy, & Rural Action

At the European Rural Parliament, ongoing in Kielce, Poland, the Future of Europe takes centre stage today. ARC2020 president Hannes Lorenzen hosted a panel on this topic, with Marion Eckardt (ELARD), Katrina Idu (Forum Synergies) Normunds Popens (European Commission), Radim Sršeň European Committee of the Regions, Goran Šoster (PREPARE) and Toma Šutić (European Commission). […]

Latest from key partners

On Meaningful Diversity: Reflecting on 75 years of Rural Sociology at Wageningen University

75 years have passed since Evert Willem Hofstee was appointed to the position of Professor at Wageningen University, which marks the beginning of rural sociology as a discipline and as a university department. What are the key features and how has it developed from 1946 to present? Prof. Dr. Han Wiskerke reflects on the 75th anniversary of what is now called Rural Sociology Group. […]

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UK | Truth Waits In All Things

What’s next for our countrysides? Before we even begin to consider re-scaling the rural, we must slow down and work in deep collaboration and coproduction – with all. This requires deep listening to the voices on the ground. But also trusting farmers and artists, who are skilled at working alongside and within communities, human and nonhuman. Otherwise we will continue to do the countryside a disservice, argues Kate Genever. […]

Latest from EU Member States

Denmark | Re-Scaling the Rural

ARC2020’s Louise Kelleher and Matteo Metta were among the speakers at “AlterRurality 6: Re-Scaling the Rural”, a conference held last month in a small Danish coastal village. The interdisciplinary conference aimed to initiate a critical investigation of past, current, and what may become future concepts and interpretations of rural life. Report. […]

Latest from key partners

Reversing Rule and Exception – Transformative New Integrated Policy for Rural Agri & Food presented in European Parliament 

A book filled with “extraordinary examples of ongoing transformations of our rural world” was launched in the European Parliament this week. Key political stakeholders – including European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, Isabel Estrada Carvalhais, and Dacian Ciolos – agreed on the need to start to build a process to explore and develop ideas contained therein- including a radical new Regulation. So what are these ideas? […]