About: sustainable agriculture

EU institutions join forces to launch first annual organic day

The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission came together on Thursday (23 September) to celebrate the launch of an annual ‘EU organic day', designed to promote organic agriculture in efforts to bolster its production and consumption in the EU.

Germany’s pre-UN food summit talks criticised for ignoring ‘most marginalised’

In the run-up to the UN Food Systems Summit in September, Germany's agriculture ministry launched its preparatory process at a conference this week where politicians, agriculture and health experts exchanged their views on future food production. However, the dialogue was criticised for missing the voices of marginalised people. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Europe’s heat and drought crop losses tripled in 50 years: study

The severity of crop losses driven by heat waves and drought have tripled in the last fifty years in Europe, according to a study that highlights the vulnerability of food systems to climate change.

How American agriculture can work with the EU on food sustainability

We must build more resilient, sustainable global food systems that can feed an increasingly hungry world, or there will be dire consequences, warn Kip Tom and Ronald J. Gidwitz.

Feed additives ‘key tool’ in achieving farming sustainability goals, say stakeholders

Feed additives hold enormous potential for reducing the environmental impact of the farming sector, but are not getting the attention they deserve according to farming sector and feed industry stakeholders, who are calling for more focus on the role of feed additives in contributing to sustainability goals.

Women must be ‘at the heart of sustainability conversation’ in farming, says MEP

Women farmers must be at the forefront of the sustainable farming discussion, but they say there are still barriers in the way and a lack of support for their entry into the profession.

The European Food System: The transition towards sustainability and climate mitigation

Our society faces challenges more urgent than ever. The food sector is striving to transform the way that we produce, manage and consume food

Beekeeping: Way to boost biodiversity and halt rural decline in Spain

More and more city dwellers in Spain are looking for ecological and sustainable alternatives to city life, to reconnect with nature and escape from polluted urban environments and unhealthy crowded spaces, particularly in times of the coronavirus.

Agroecology in Poland: A thorny path for farmers

You can read this article in Croatian, Spanish, Polish, Bulgarian, and Romanian.  The aim of agroecology, according to the declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology, is to find ways to recover the food system destroyed by industrial agriculture. But...

Agrifood Brief: Brexit crunch time – no time to chew the fat

Welcome to EURACTIV's AgriFood Brief, your weekly update on all things Agriculture & Food in the EU.

Every drop counts: Exploring innovative solutions for Europe’s drought problem

A third consecutive year of drought shows that water scarcity is an increasingly frequent and widespread phenomenon in the EU, and one which holds enormous implications for the agricultural sector. EURACTIV spoke with Netafim, a specialist irrigation company, about the innovative solutions on offer to cope with this. 

Food security is no longer an issue in the EU, says Commissioner

Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius has cast doubt on the long-standing primacy of food security over environmental aspects in the current EU food system, suggesting that traditional concerns might give way to issues like climate change, sustainability, or biodiversity.

Fighting fire with fire: pest control by playing nature at its own game

Biological pesticides are rapidly gaining attention as a sustainable and viable environmentally friendly alternative to chemical pesticides. However, they are currently hampered by maladapted regulation.

Collaborative initiative aims to improve sustainability of EU dairy farming

Eight agricultural sector leaders have announced Farming for Generations, a global collaboration to support dairy farmers to adopt regenerative agricultural practices that preserve and renew our planet’s resources, respect animal welfare and ensure the long-term economic viability of farms for the next generation.

EU-wide approach to due diligence needed to regulate cacao sector, manufacturers and NGOs say

Some of the world’s biggest chocolate manufacturers have called on the EU to “strengthen human rights and environmental due diligence requirements of companies in global cocoa supply chains”

Climate change will dramatically devalue farmland in southern Europe, EU agency reveals

According to the EU Environment Agency, climate change could turn the entire EU agribusiness upside down, as crop productivity in the Mediterranean countries is expected to drop while northern and western regions may experience more suitable conditions for agriculture intensification.

Crunch time for factory farming in Europe

On 2 April, the European Parliament’s agriculture committee will have its say on the next seven years of the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP). Will MEPs choose family farms over factory farms?

Citizens are fed up with industrial agriculture

Europe's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was a big issue at this year's Green Week in Berlin. With all the billions of euros available, the agro-ecological transition is more than possible, especially if subsidies to agribusiness and factory farms were stopped, write Harriet Bradley and Trees Robijns.

Scientists call for radical change of diet to transform global food system

The global food system needs urgent reform, less meat consumption and more legumes, as three billion people worldwide are malnourished and food production is exceeding planetary boundaries, scientists have warned in a new report.

Land degradation threatens wellbeing of two-fifths of humanity, major report warns

Land degradation caused by human activities undermines the well-being of at least 3.2 billion people, costs more than 10% of annual global GDP in lost ecosystem services and endangers food security, warn a hundred experts from 45 countries in a three-year assessment report published yesterday (26 March).

Development through agriculture, the farmer’s way

Belgian farmer Remy Schiffeleers founded the association "Farmers Without Borders" 30 years ago, inviting young farmers from Benin, Senegal, Mali come to Belgium and learn how to produce goat cheese.

The hidden truth about migration: A looming farm crisis back home

Mass migration has become a major political challenge in Europe. While the media documents the perilous journeys that migrants undertake, the hardships and hopes of the rural areas from which many originate receive less attention, meaning the root causes of migration persist, writes Claudia Sadoff.