Ukraine Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Agricultural and Rural Convention

Ukraine | Connecting Rural Borderlands in the Carpathians

March 28, 2022 ARC

The Carpathian Civil Society Platform is gathering energy for change in the borderlands that connect Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland. These remote mountainous areas have similar characteristics and face similar challenges, such as increasing poverty and social exclusion. With war moving closer to Western Ukraine, the platform’s work to connect civil society actors in the Carpathian mountains has taken on a renewed significance. Report by Sándor Köles, Chair of Carpathian Foundation-Hungary. […]

EU Institutions – Productivity Now, Environment Maybe Later

March 25, 2022 Oliver Moore

With war in Ukraine, the EU institutions made a concerted effort to shore up its highly exposed agri-industrial food system this week. Emergency money and ecologically protected lands are to be used for food security – as expressed through animal feed and mineral fertilizer supply. Along the way, delays and derailings to greener transition have occurred in pesticides regulation, in environmental elements of CAP, and more. So is the EU Green Deal becoming pie in the sky? Oliver Moore and Ashley Parsons report. […]

Ukraine | Wheat, War and History

March 24, 2022 Marianne Landzettel

The breadbasket of Europe, Ukraine became famous for Turkey Red Wheat, a variety with good milling and baking qualities that does well in harsh winters. But Ukrainian farmers not only grew the grain that fed so many in Europe, the seeds became the life insurance of those fleeing the Russian empire in the 19th century. And that’s how Turkey Red Wheat came to the US where it is still grown today. […]

Food Security: Are the CAP Strategic Plans up to the Task?

March 22, 2022 Mathieu Willard

Soaring grain prices, alongside gas, oil, fertilizers and pesticides, have sparked an unexpected debate on food production in the EU. A dependent and completely overexposed agricultural system has brought with it fear of food insecurity. In this article, we explore the tools that the commission is using to assess the potential of CAP Strategic Plans in reaching food security and propose our own analyses. […]

Food Security Communication – some key aspects

March 22, 2022 ARC

A key EU Commission Food Security Communication has been circulating, which outlines some emergency measures the EU Commission proposes to in part deal with the food crises stemming from the war in Ukraine. The document, entitled “Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food systems” is due for formal release tomorrow (Wednesday 23rd). So what’s in it? […]

A Food, Feed and Fertilizer Crises | Ukraine

March 20, 2022 Stuart Meikle

The agri-food system is very exposed – and was even before the war in Ukraine and its implications. Nitrogen fertilizer has been the bedrock of how farming happens, and its availability has led to a very specific type of food production to flourish. Decisions must be made – about feeding people, about feeding pigs, about how a grass-based system can really function sustainably. Op-Ed from Stuart Meikle. […]

A Loud Lobby for a Silent Spring

March 18, 2022 Hans van Scharen

It has emerged that the SUR – Sustainable Use of Pesticides Regulation – may not be announced next week, as initially planned. Rather, on Monday 21st a decision will be made to postpose or not. This is just one example of how the EU Farm to Fork strategy is in a perfect storm: the agribusiness lobby against sustainable policies is now reinforced by war in Ukraine. Op-ed by Nina Holland, researcher at Corporate Europe Observatory. Hans van Scharen, press officer at Corporate Europe Observatory. […]

War in Ukraine – Food Fight in the EU

March 14, 2022 ARC

The war in Ukraine is destabilising food security in Europe. The solution is not to dismantle the Farm to Fork strategy but to act on it faster. Here’s how the scenario is playing out and what’s at stake. […]

War in Ukraine and World Food – What options does the international community have?

March 14, 2022 ARC

Sebastian Lakner assesses the current, rapidly changing situation of agri-food trade and policies. How is the war impacting on agri-food supplies, and what are the responses at EU and national level? This opinion piece is an English language update of an earlier German post on the agricultural economist’s blog. […]

More Food less Feed – Agriculture and the War on Ukraine

March 7, 2022 ARC

An appalling war on Ukraine has manifold impacts. The direct human cost is immense and incalculable. The impacts on the world’s agri-food trade and commodity systems will be huge. The 4 F’s – fuel, feed, fertilizer and of course food are all heavily implicated. So what to do? Will Europe suspend progress on rerouting the food system towards more resilience, by doubling down into the worst aspects of these 4 F’s? Or can some aspects of a deeper iteration of food sovereignty emerge? […]

Where Soya has Scale – Ukraine, Big Ag and Land Concentration

March 2, 2020 Hans Wetzels

The FAO expects former Soviet countries like Ukraine to play an important role in feeding the world the coming decades. But questions remain about who will benefit from the oncoming agricultural gold rush. […]

Ukraine | Small-Scale Farms Will Persist and Develop in Parallel to large-Scale Industrial Agriculture

January 15, 2019 Natalia Mamonova

The dynamics of small and large scale farms in post-Soviet countries is fascinating. Natalia Mamonova unpacks some of the complexities and intracties in this interview. […]

Quietness & Adaptability – Ukrainian Peasants’ Responses to Land Grabbing & Agribusiness Expansion

July 11, 2018 Natalia Mamonova

Natalia Mamonova examines Ukrainian peasants’ responses to land grabs and agribusiness expansion. It discusses the post-Soviet context, forms of incorporation of the rural population in land deals, the lack of rural protests and mobilization, and the prospects for small-scale agriculture in the country. […]

Donau Soja | Helping Make the EU’s Soybeans Sustainable?

June 28, 2018 Hans Wetzels

Where does Europe get its soybeans – South America, Ukraine, within the EU itself? Hans Wietzels talks sustainable soybean with Oksana Prosolenko of the Donau Soja Organisation she directs in Ukraine. […]