Access Agriculture Panorama No. 14 - September 2021 Newsletter

This monthly e-newsletter gives a bird’s eye view of all the exciting updates from Access Agriculture, a world-leading organisation for quality agricultural training videos in international and local languages, working across the Global South. The links to different language versions are given below each section.

Many people are familiar with pruning trees, but on a recent course organised by the association of ecological gardeners (VELT) in Bocholt, Limburg, Belgium, I learned another important trick to shape trees and harvest more fruit. By training trees, you make branches grow in the direction you want. That sounds...

In Belgium we have an expression: “all Belgians are born with a brick in their stomach”, meaning that all citizens aspire to build their own house someday. But when bricks are literally eaten, something has gone seriously wrong.  

Les GASAP (groupe d’achats solidaires de l’agriculture paysanne) proposent de la vente directe, sans intermédiaire, qui permet un lien direct et solidaire avec des fermes locales qui travaillent pour une agriculture « agroécologique », pourvoyeuse d’emplois dans nos régions. C’est bien plus qu’un panier de légumes bio, c’est une véritable alternative alimentaire. Frères des AMAP françaises, les GASAP sont une initiative citoyenne...

Regulations to curb the indiscriminate and dangerous use of pesticides on seed and in fields must go hand in hand with other measures, such as promoting hedgerows that fulfil important ecological functions for birds and pollinators. Also, environmentally-friendly alternatives could be further investigated and promoted. Green, innovative technologies, such as...

Globally an estimated 20 to 60 million hectares of land in developing countries are acquired by foreign companies and investors. This so-called “land grabbing” has taken place for various reasons. The most obvious one is the hunger for maximising profit. The devastating effects on deforestation for the expansion of biofuels,...

The campaign #17Reasons2Coop aims at promoting agri-food and forest cooperatives as a critical tool to design tomorrow’s agriculture. Since the beginning of their existence and at each stage of their growth, by responding to farmers’ needs, agri-cooperatives have been pursuing the objective of social, economic and environmental sustainability. Sustainability is...

A LinkedIn Op-ed on the potential of the hemp sector and its benefits for enviornment and bioeconomy.

Welcome to the final newsletter from the Farm-Success project!Since you last heard from us we have been carrying out the final adjustments, tests, and translations to our online training platform. We have also held several multiplier events across Europe in which young farmers and other stakeholders have discussed the importance of succession processes...

Italian MEP Paolo De Castro and Copa-Cogeca Secretary General Pekka Pesonen sit down for an important exchange of views on the future of the Common Agriculture Policy and the EU budget.

COPA launched the fifth edition of the Innovation Award for Women Farmers entitled “Innovative solutions for farming sustainability”. With this initiative Copa wishes to highlight the innovative activities and projects carried out by women involved in farming and/or forestry throughout the EU. The projects presented by these women demonstrate their ability...

A set of key messages on the EU's Common Agriculture Policy and its benefits for farmers and agri-cooperatives.

The EU AgriResearch Conference is dedicated to scientists, farmers, rural communities, industry, advisors, policy-makers, citizens and NGO representatives who wish to learn about EU agriculture and rural R&I activities and achievements and to have their say on how to shape the future of agriculture R&I after 2020. The conference will...

Press Release following Copa and Cogeca's meeting during which our members have agreed on the common position on the future of food and farming

Reflections from Copa and Cogeca Working Party on Fruit and Vegetables on the future of the community aid scheme for the producer organizations in the sector  

A meeting in Nieuwpoort, Belgium on September 1st, organized by Belgian inshore fisherman Jan De Jonghe and attended by a variety of commercial fishermen from the UK, Belgium and Holland as well as staff from the Low Impact Fishers of Europe Platform [LIFE] and researchers from the Marine Institute, highlighted the...

The yearly review of Copa Cogeca Secretariat work for 2017. You can scroll through the document and check the various topics that interest you. For all the main position papers, events etc we have included links to various documents and websites.  

Low growth, volatile energy prices, environmental concerns, rising expectations from consumers – these are some of the complex challenges the crop production industry is facing today, along with diminishing production profit margins for farmers. To grow the food Europe and the world needs, crop production systems need innovative solutions to...

Waterford Institute of Technology’s Telecommunications, Software and Systems Group (TSSG) with their SFI CONNECT partners are holding a workshop with major leaders in policy, industry and academia to explore and discuss “Europe’s Opportunity in Digital Agriculture”. Speaking on the day will be EU Agricultural & Rural Development Commissioner Phil Hogan...