Agricultural and Rural Convention - ARC2020

Spain | Participatory Water Governance – A New Model for Regional CAP Implementation?

In a time of environmental regulation backsliding in agriculture, how can grassroots, participatory processes enable farmers, environmentalists, and other local stakeholders to effectively shape ...
Agricultural and Rural Convention - ARC2020

The Trojan Horse of Simplification

On the back of yet another green light for a fresh batch of ‘simplification’ plans, ARC2020’s Natasha Foote explores how deep ...
Agricultural and Rural Convention - ARC2020

France | Not Perfect, But Possible – Seeing is Believing at Institut de Tramayes

In the run-up to this November’s Rural Resilience Gathering, we took a trip to the Institut de Tramayes: a centre for learning by doing, that seeks to counteract the fragmentation of intellectual ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

Commission’s Recommendations to CAP Strategic Plans: Glitters or Gold?

While the co-legislators and the trilogue negotiations at EU level continue to derail the future CAP away from the necessary reforms, in December 2020, the European Commission issued EU-wide and 27 ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

The EU is Mulling a Seismic Budgetary Shift – What Would This Mean for Agri and Rural Areas?

The EU powers-that-be are currently in the midst of big talks on the EU’s €1.2 billion budget, known in EU-speak as the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). And as usual, where there’s big bucks, ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

The Policy Paradoxes of Underutilised Crops

Seed saving of the Cloughjordan Onion – a new variety developed by Cloughjordan Community Farm, Ireland, to suit the soil and climate of that part of Ireland Why do nearly 50% of our calories come ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

Future-Proof Food Systems in Europe – A Call for Action from Marburg

Farmers across Europe have taken to the streets. They protest volatile incomes, rising costs, unfair pricing and buying practices, unfair competition from imports and free trade agreements, regulatory ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

CAP Reform | No Change of System Apparent

Can a cash-strapped EU afford to lock itself into a dysfunctional agricultural policy? In the wake of the new positions on CAP reform agreed by the Council and European Parliament last week, Sebastian ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

Czech CAP Strategic Plan – Redistributive Payments and the Counter-Productive Tension Between Small and Big

A well designed redistributive payment is an essential tool to reduce inequalities among CAP beneficiaries and farming systems. But as is often the case, the best design strongly depends on national ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

Seeds of Europe – Centering Small Producers’ Voices in Seed Law Reform

The EU’s seed marketing legislation is one of the main causes of a significant decline in cultivated diversity. Traditional and indigenous varieties are being eradicated due to stringent regulations ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

Rural Europe Takes Action – Food System Lessons from Marburg

From left: Hannes Lorenzen (ARC2020); Ann-Marie Weber, Almut Busch and Merle Drusenbaum (kollektiv von MORGEN); and Marcus Nürnberger (AbL), pictured in a farmyard in southern Marburg-Biedenkopf in ...
Europe's Milk Crisis

France | Democratising Food Policy – Tweaking The Financial Toolbox

In bottom-up movements towards a more socio-ecological countryside, food is a key driver of territorial dynamics. This was a finding of our research on the ground in phase 1 of the Rural Resilience ...