The Interreg IVC Territorial Co-operation Programme has published an analysis of its rural development achievements, drawing out lessons learned for national and European policy.
The report showcases nine Interreg rural development projects, highlighting innovative approaches, common challenges and solutions, and issues of effectiveness and sustainability.
The ARC2020 Conference ‘Good Food Good Farming’ further developed the organisation’s draft roadmap document making a call for action to “strengthen a broad alliance for good food, good farming and a living countryside”.
The roadmap calls for “solutions for future food and farming which are closer to citizens and to nature” and based on a greater appreciation of common values, common goods and common spaces.
A detailed inventory of agricultural knowledge and information systems (AKIS) and advisory organisations from EU Member States is available online as a result of the PRO AKIS research project.
The country-by-country inventory is a great resource providing a unique EU-wide overview of relevant AKIS organisations and actors, including basic and applied agricultural research institutes and universities, advisory services, and other actors influencing research priorities and practical decision making on farms, such as cooperatives, supply services, and farmers’ organisations.
A new publication by EIP-AGRI on Creating diverse forests with multiple benefits presents innovative approaches to forest management to ensure the many functions of healthy sustainable forests.
It explores aspects including diversification as a way to create alternative sources of income, methods to restore the ecological functions of forests and innovative land management of small forest plots.
A report financed by the European Commission presents a review and analysis of different methods for evaluating investment support measures in Rural Development Programmes.
Investment support measures in RDPs aim at increasing productivity within the agricultural and forest sector and to diversify production in non-agricultural activities. The report written by independent experts from Metis, WIFO and aeidl examines six methods for assessing the impact of such measures to support physical investments.
The European Commission has published the 2014 edition of its Statistical Book on Agriculture, forestry and fishery data.
Produced by Eurostat, the publication provides data per Member State in seven sections covering subjects such as agricultural production, agricultural prices, agriculture and the environment, and forestry resources.
It also provides aggregated EU data such as the finding that “in 2014, crops represented just over half (52%) of the total agricultural output of the EU.”
The publication includes a specific focus on family farming in the EU and an analysis of changes in farm holdings over time.
The Commission launched its long-anticipated Energy Union package on 25 February 2015, including a ‘Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy’.
Maroš Šefčovič, European Commission Vice-President responsible for the Energy Union said: "Today, we launch the most ambitious European energy project since the Coal and Steel Community. A project that will integrate our 28 European energy markets into one Energy Union.”
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stated that “This is about Europe acting together, for the long term. I want the energy that underpins our economy to be resilient, reliable, secure and growingly renewable and sustainable."
A new series of animated videos have showcased good practices in applying agroecological approaches to farming in various EU Member States. The videos aim to contribute to improving how agri-food performs in Europe.
The videos have been released jointly by ARC2020, Friends of the Earth Europe and IFOAM EU. See also the new brochure from ARC 2020: Transitioning Towards Agroecology: Using the CAP to build new food systems.
An independent External study financed by the European Commission has found that the costs of complying with EU legislation in the fields of environment, animal welfare and food safety are not a key restriction on the competitiveness of Europe’s farms.
The report concludes that, “Compared to the total production costs, compliance costs for analysed EU legislation in the eight sectors and the 12 EU Member States are low. Differences in production costs between EU farms and farms in third countries seem to be mainly driven by productivity, land and labour costs and feed price.”