The CAP aims to address (regulate, support) the totality of EU agricultural activity and agricultural land. Agricultural land must fall into one of only three categories named by the policy, i.e. permanent crops; arable and permanent pasture (permanent grassland in the definition proposed in the reformed CAP Regulations, see Section...

This note discusses the definitions, challenges and future prospects of family farming in the EU. Some challenges, such as market volatility and climate change, are general for all EU farm structures, but some are specific to family farmers: their smallness, lack of power within the food chain, and intergenerational farm succession. However, family farming...

La presente publicación es un esfuerzo de Heifer Ecuador para evidenciar la importancia de la agricultura campesina familiar, y de la agroecología en el Ecuador. En los cinco capítulos que conforman este trabajo, el lector viaja por las distintas encrucijadas que conforman el agro ecuatoriano, desde la perspectiva de los...

Small farms have always been a cornerstone of agriculture in the EU. They play a significant role in supporting rural employment, contributing to territorial development. They are important for production, particularly in the form of local specialist products and provide important social, cultural and environmental services.  The last enlargements in 2004...

Agriculture in the South-eastern European countries (SEEs) is very diverse in terms of natural and structural conditions, development status, and the manifold production potentials. It carries prominent historical and social components and great economic importance to rural development. There are noticeable structural and technological deficiencies. Another significant factor is the...

The future alignment of the Albania’s agriculture and rural development policy with the CAP requires a new vision for policymaking as well as a new approach to the design of policy measures, similar to the transformation carried by the new Member States before accession. In this context, understanding the diversity and...

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is characterized by a complex government structure as a result of the General Framework Agreement for BiH, signed in late 1995 in Dayton. Under the agreement, BiH is a state consisting of two entities; namely the Federation of BiH (FBiH) and Republic of Srpska (RS), as...

Even though Croatia is a small country (56 594 km2 ), it has very diverse topography; from Mediterranean, through Central European, mountainous and flat, to coastal and continental. It ranks as one of the top five European countries with regard to biodiversity, with some parts being among the richest areas...

A long-term objective of the Kosovo Government is integration to the EU. In 2010, Kosovo established the Ministry of European Integration (MEI), which plays a key role in coordinating and implementing reforms for EU accession. After the European Commission appraised that Kosovo had met the short-term priorities identified in the...

In Austria, grassland accounts for more than 50 percent of agricultural land and is mainly located in mountainous regions. Consequently, 70 percent of all Austrian dairy farms, producing two thirds of all milk, are located in these areas. In the Alpine regions, organic farming has traditionally been very important and...

In the EU, the peasant family agriculture is the major component of agricultural production, but it remains difficult to give an exact definition. A clear reference - not exclusive and must be applied in a specific way in each country - is the economic and territorial dimension of a farm....

Farms throughout Asia are predominantly small and family-based. In the past, small farms in tropical Asia achieved significant improvement in the yield of cereal crops, such as rice and wheat, which is dubbed the Green Revolution. As a result, grain production increased much faster than population growth, thereby contributing to...

Las montañas proporcionan diversos servicios ambientales como agua, energía, suelo y biodiversidad y son de vital importancia no solo para las poblaciones locales sino también para los ecosistemas y las poblaciones que se encuentran a menor altitud. Por consiguiente, el impacto del cambio climático en los ecosistemas de montaña está afectando a grandes zonas geográficas...

Respondiendo a la necesidad de resaltar la importancia del desarrollo rural del país, la Red de Agroindustria Rural del Perú (Redar Perú) expuso cinco casos de éxito en nuestro país, iniciativas que a su vez viene apoyando con capacitaciones. La Dra. Sonia Salas Domínguez, presidenta de esta organización, fue la encargada...

Livestock production is the most important agricultural branch in terms of value, in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia & Macedonia

The countries of the Southeastern European (SEE) region pronounced their intention to move towards integration with the European Union (EU) in order to create a stable, united, and more prosperous region. The EU integration process should foster political stability and socio-economic and sustainable development in the region. The SEE candidate...

In November 2013, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) fielded an agriculture programme development mission to Jordan with the objectives of updating and expanding its “Agricultural Livelihoods and Food Security Impact Assessment and Response Plan for the Syria Crisis in the Neighbouring Countries of Egypt, Iraq,...

The five independent republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan cover a vast territory in Central Asia, almost 4 million hectares, which is just a little smaller than the whole of Western Europe. Very different ecoregions are represented in this territory: grassland plains (steppes), riparian forests (tugai), boreal forests...

In Malawi, where most of the population relies on agriculture and is considered “small farmers”, better characterizing the diversity of agricultural holdings and the drivers of their transformation is key to inform policy makers and design programs better fitted to the diverse needs and capacities. The World Agriculture Watch (WAW)...

Governments and international agencies frequently boast that small farmers control the largest share of the world's agricultural land. Inaugurating 2014 as the International Year of Family Farming, José Graziano da Silva, Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), sang the praises of family farmers but didn't...