Family farms’ support by legislative measures should be a crucial step for EU countries to ensure food security and a healthy environment in Europe. Therefore, the International conference - Increasing legislative support for family farms in the EU focuses on Family Farm Legislation and family farm policy at the EU member states’ level.

The question is though – how often do I get to choose between organic and conventionally grown produce here, in Riga, Latvia? Well, it turns out that if I am very motivated, I can find quite a wide variety of products, even locally produced ones except for example exotic fruits,...

A national association of cheese eaters and producers established to support the development of solidarity between urban and rural people, and to encourage the settlement of small farmers and artisans in rural Lithuania. Viva sol has started a farmers’ market in Vilnius, a box scheme, environmental training and activities to support...

Association of private farming of the Czech Republic organized an International Conference on family farms and Common Agricultural Policy of EU. The event was held in Brno on 4 - 6th of April 2016. 10 European countries attended the conference. Herewith volume 5. Presentation of Latvia

Due to the world economic crisis in 2008, the dairy sector had become unstable and the purchase price of dairy milk has considerably decreased. It was very essential to give a helping hand to farmers, which were struggling with bank payments and farm operating costs. Latvian Rural Advisory and Training...

Nearly 61% of EU young farmers consider the availability of land for purchase and 57% the availability of land for rent as the most difficult challenges they face, often due to issues such as land ownership laws, inheritance rules and land prices, according to a new external report published by...

A group of farmers, a university and an advisory centre in Latvia have set up a project called Herbivorous Project. Through the exchange of knowledge in the livestock sector between farmers and scientists, the project aims to promote a cost-effective and competitive method of livestock farming whilst improving quality and...

ALTER is implemented by a consortium of rural networks in Western Balkan countries and Turkey, encouraged and supported by Prepare – Partnership for Rural Europe. The goal of ALTER is to stimulate an enabling legal and financial environment for civil society, as well as to empower civil society to be effective...

A young Latvian entrepreneur, Krists Ēberliņš, was seeking ways to improve the competitiveness of his apiary. Specifically, he wanted to improve his production processes and at the same time diversify the range of products he could sell. EAFRD support enabled the young entrepreneur to buy new equipment and machinery. These included machinery...

The analysis of survey responses shows that young farmers have different expectations and needs, depending on the region in which they live, the agricultural sector in which they work (intensive, extensive), their level of education, their relation to the farm (owner of the farm or not) etc. This study revealed...

The sector of organic agriculture is continuously developing, involving more and more new enterprises, but the number of certified organic farms has stabilized, and in 2013 it reached 3473 farms. Lately, the areas of agricultural land used by organic farms show a stable growing trend. In 2013, similar to other...

The farm Kalna Dambrāni is located in Viesīte County, Viesīte Rural municipality. Farm owners Iveta Tīrumniece and Ivars Tīrumnieks manage a total of 600 ha land and their main activity is dairy farming. The farmland is part of the basin of river Lielupe. The farm Kalna Dambrāni was established in...

Between 2014 and 2020, the new CAP is going to invest more than EUR 2.5 billion in Latvia's farming sector and rural areas. Key political priorities have been defined at European level such as: jobs, sustainability, modernization, innovation and quality. In parallel, flexibility is given to Latvia to adapt both...

The farm Veckūkuri, located in the Strenči County, Jērcēni Rural Municipality, Cālīši, is managed by Ilvija Jakovina, her husband Jānis, and their sons Robins Jānis and Ričards Dāvis. The herd consists of 75 Holstein Black and white cows. The best yield from the highest-yielding cow is 12 000 kg. The...

Knowledge exchange has been achieved by allowing people to meet in several hundred forums. Major conferences and seminars have acted as meeting points for advisors, experts and decision makers, enabling vivid discussions on all dimensions of nutrients. Small-scale farmer-to-farmer meetings have also been important in enabling more detailed discussions about...

In the world, more than 80 per cent of farms are family farms – in total more than 500 million economic and social entities. In Europe 25 million people, 172 million hectares of agricultural land and 12 million farms are involved in EU agricultural production. A vast majority of these...

Family farm is a business that works not only for food production but also in other sectors, ensuring food security and community development. Household, which manages more than 100 hectares of land from the family farms become employers.

Latvian agriculture is characterized by a large number of small farms – 95% of the total number of farms (79 130 farms in total numbers) are with the standard output less than 25 thousand EUR (CSB, 2011). These farms employ 79% of the total agricultural labour force (in annual work...

The concept of “High Nature Value farming” developed in the early 1990s from a growing recognition that the conservation of biodiversity in Europe depends on the continuation of low-intensity farming systems across large areas of countryside (see Beaufoy et al., 1994; Bignal et al., 1994; Bignal & McCracken, 1996; 2000)....

12 million farms, 172 million hectares of agricultural land, 25 million people involved in agricultural production – these are some of the key data for the EU farming sector in 2010; but what about the situation of individual farms and how do things differ between Member States and as compared...