Organic agriculture is practiced in 172 countries, and 43.7 million hectares of agricultural land are managed organically by approximately 2.3 million farmers. The global sales of organic food and drink reached 80 billion US dollars in 2014. The 17th edition of The World of Organic Agriculture, published by the Research Institute...

August 9 is International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. This year’s theme is Indigenous Peoples and Education to highlight the importance of education and preserving indigenous knowledge.   Around the world, many indigenous people cannot access the basic right to education. Their traditional methods of teaching, learning, and cultivating food are...

International finance institutions and member state export credit agencies continue to invest in projects outside the EU involving cruel farm animal confinement systems banned in the EU. Better joined-up thinking is needed with regard to investment policy and animal welfare, writes Joanna Swabe.

Eight small-scale Timorese farmers (four men and four women) from four municipalities explain their experiences in testing and adopting conservation agriculture in Timor-Leste. 

Une fois n’est pas coutume, la France est en pointe en Europe dans le développement de circuits courts, qui associent agriculteurs et consommateurs pour des produits de qualité vendus au prix le plus juste pour chacun. L’agriculture biologique poursuit également son essor : 21 nouvelles fermes en bio se créent ou...

Whereas yield increases are considered central in modernised agriculture, they can be seen as just one element of impact in peasant family farming. In assessing their farms, peasants depart from the specificities of their farm, the ecosystem in which it is embedded, and the community, markets and family dynamics in which...

Farmers face great difficulties with drying their seeds because seed absorbs moisture from the soil. As a result, seed quality deteriorates, and no-one can expect good yields by using poor quality seed. In this video you can see how farmers of Maria village solved this problem. Now they are no...

This paper describes the recent emergence of alternative food networks in China in the context of widespread food quality concerns. Drawing on interviews and public blog posts, we illustrate how participants in these networks are moving beyond instrumental market relations and developing the collective agency necessary to participate in shaping...

The Near East and North Africa (NENA) region has limited forest resources with limited potential for timber production. However, NENA forests has huge potential for the production of a wide range of NonWood Forest Products (NWFPs) and the utilization of NWFPs by local communities for food, fodder, medicine and income...

Under the terms of an agreement, FAO will work with Ukraine to help the country improve its business climate, develop the agri-food production chain, facilitate access to markets, improve food security, carry out land reform, better manage natural resources and cope with climate change. The “FAO Country Programming Framework for Ukraine...

The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina, has outlined a roadmap towards the transformation of agriculture in Africa. The President laid emphasis on combating malnutrition in children, turning African farmlands into major suppliers of food for export and putting funds at the disposal of local banks to...

The significance and value of local and traditional farmers’ knowledge on improving agricultural practices is gaining more and more recognition. Participatory Guarantee Systems have been shown to hold great potential, to encourage knowledge sharing between farmers, and thus contribute to nurturing farmers’ knowledge.

Unpublished field trials by pesticide manufacturers show their products cause serious harm to honeybees at high levels, leading to calls from senior scientists for the companies to end the secrecy which cloaks much of their research.

In the coastal savanna of West Africa, farmers explain how a mucuna cover crop helped to revive their highly degraded soil, and suppress the noxious weeds Striga and Imperata. They show how to grow it to benefit your maize and cassava, and why discussing land tenure in your community really...

Nos dias 13 e 14 de dezembro começa a Oficina de Capacitação para a feira Biofach, que acontece em fevereiro de 2017 na Alemanha. O evento acontece em Brasília e os agricultores familiares que levarão os produtos para o evento receberão orientação para alavancar as vendas. Além de técnicos da Secretaria Especial de...

Entering Poland to European Union which resulted in accepting The Common Agricultural Policy caused a variety of changes in polish villages and countries. Previous problems of rural areas like fragmentation and low efficiency of farms, bad financial situation of inhabitants, high rate of unemployment, relatively low educational level and lack...

The POSEI scheme in the EU outermost regions* is vital to address their particular agricultural challenges, notably in bridging the difference in costs and prices relative to mainland Europe and in maintaining agricultural production, according to a new report published today. Looking at the scheme from 2006-2014 – at a cost...

La producción porcina ecológica permite la obtención de productos de alta calidad mediante la utilización de técnicas que respetan ampliamente el medio ambiente y el bienestar animal, y puede ser una alternativa viable para ganaderos que ven comprometido su futuro en el mercado convencional. Además, estas técnicas pueden ser interesantes...

ustUrbanFoods “Integrated sustainability assessment of social and technological innovations towards urban food systems” is a Marie Skolodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) individual fellowship. The project has a duration of 24 months and is funded by the European Commission. SustUrbanFoods aims to develop an interdisciplinary methodological framework to assess the sustainability of urban...

To make sure civil society has a voice at the upcoming FAO Regional Conference for Europe, a special civil society consultation will take place on 2-3 May in Antalya, Turkey, immediately before the Conference. Participating civil society organizations will discuss cooperation with FAO’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, results...