‘Should agricultural subsidies go to labour not land?’ This question was up for discussion at a meeting hosted by ARC2020 in Summer 2021. Area based payments are absolutely central to the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) yet they have a range of negative impacts and act as a barrier to progressive change. […]
To mark the publication of the Meat Atlas 2021, we are republishing a selection of our favourite articles. In this one, Peter Birke brings attention to poor labour conditions in the global meat industry. The pandemic has put a spotlight on this issue, but it is by no means new. EU food trade unions call for a bloc-wide response. […]
Over 100 organisations including trade unions, NGOs, and organisations representing small farmers have signed an open letter highlighting the need for social conditionality in the next CAP. Unsurprisingly the major farming organisations in Europe have not signed the letter. But how are labour standards on smaller farms at the ecological end of the spectrum? The picture isn’t always rosy, as Brendán Ó Conchúir find out, though there are some tentative solutions emerging. […]
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has adopted an opinion on agroecology suggesting a comprehensive set of measures to foster agroecology in the EU. The opinion highlights problems with European agriculture, including global warming, soil degradation, biodiversity destruction, as well as needs – protecting natural resources, reducing GHG emissions, fostering biodiversity and moving from extraction to circularity. […]
In the Netherlands cheap food comes at a high cost to migrant workers from Central and Eastern Europe, especially in the labour-intensive horticulture sector. EU enlargement has opened the door to an erosion of labour rights guarantees, report Karin Astrid Siegmann and Tyler Williams. […]
Covid-19 outbreaks in meat factories worldwide are revealing different responses for the exposed workers – and make the case for an EU wide standard for meat factory workers. Alison Brogan highlights recent developments in Germany and Ireland. […]
While the exploitation of agri-food sector workers is a longstanding food system issue, the emergence of slaughterhouses across Europe and the US as coronavirus hotspots has brought renewed urgency and heightened awareness to issues relating to the conditions to which meat-plant workers are exposed. Alison Brogan rounds up the Covid19 news on this topic from the US, Ireland and Germany. […]
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? […]
The Covid-19 pandemic has put our food systems to the test, exposing the vulnerabilities of an unsustainable status quo. In a communiqué released on Tuesday, IPES-Food slams shortsighted solutions to the crisis. Calling for a paradigm shift to agroecological farming, it says now is the time to transform the seeds of change into the foundations of a resilient new food system. Industrial food systems are being peddled as solutions when in fact they are the problem. Louise Kelleher reports. […]
European Coordination of Via Campesina’s call to join the#StayHomeButNotSilent call to action on April 17 to commemorate the International Day of Peasant Struggle, reiterates the fundamental role of peasants in feeding people, even in the most difficult times. It takes a crisis for alternative food systems to emerge. Is our food system, dominated by trade ideology instead of human rights, ready to face pandemics? […]
Agricultural production is on track for this year, and the EU is self-sufficient in most areas. Despite the challenges of the coronavirus crisis we have little reason to worry about food supply in the EU. This was Sebastian Lakner’s tentative conclusion in part 1 of his review of the available data. But his findings come with some major caveats. Trade in commodities must continue to flow to guarantee food supply in the context of the EU’s interconnected agribusiness model. Here in part 2 Sebastian Lakner examines another critical factor: labour and seasonal migrant workers. […]
Cancer is an emotive topic, so when a team of French researchers say a higher frequency of organic food consumption was associated with a reduced risk of cancer people will inevitably take note – and try to take apart the study. Meanwhile, Roundup, a tool of conventional farming and land management is in the dock – and loosing – over it relationship with cancer. Oliver Moore reports, adding some broader and historical context. […]
How will border and mobility restrictions as well as the drafting of new trade deals under the current Brexit plan impact UK food and farming? In this final entry, Sharon Treat explores the potential risks of the Brexit deal. […]
Agroecology is about more than just affordable, ecological techniques – meet Olga Alcaraz, one of the women leading the movement forward. […]
Agricultural and Rural Convention