Agroecology Europe Association’s Post

It was a wonderful experience to be part of the X Congreso Internacional de Agroecologia, Agroecologias do mundo: unidas para enfrentar as crises globais, in Viseu, Portugal.🇵🇹 Connecting with the global #agroecology community of activists, #farmers, organisers, #researchers, teachers, and civil servants, there is so much motivation to empower social movements and change public policies to promote ecological agricultural production. It is time to scale agroecological experiences: 🍅 Politicise consumption 🛤 Halt the accumulation of capital by corporations, speculations, and #landgrabbing ⛏ Share technology, tools, machinery, and knowledge for the #commons 💸 Tax industrial products 👩🌾 Strengthen the #autonomy of small and family farms 🏞 Focus on access and protection to #land 🏛 Implement public policies that ensure the rentability of small-scale production 🎓 Attract #youth back to #rural areas by accessible #education, credit, and land 🌱 Pass on agricultural and ecological knowledge to #young generations to preserve connections to the territories and thus #identify and #culture For that, us as the movement need to better organise and communicate: plan, prioritise, and strategise to mainstream an alternative #foodsystem model that rests on 🐓 Healthy #food 🐑 Small-scale production 👨🌾 The #dignity and wellbeing of growers 🌾Indigenous #seeds and varieties of plants and animals 🌎 Let’s build the world we want to live in! 🌐 La red global ayuda a la lucha local. Join in: https://lnkd.in/ef-NvSBj Thank you for the great organisation to the Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, especially Inês Costa Pereira, and to the invitation to Carla Sarrouy Kay, Oxford Real Farming Conference/Real Farming Trust.

Joint Press Release | Slow Food & Agroecology Europe Association: Urging Greater Ambition in EU Agriculture 🌱 The #StrategicDialogue on the Future of Agriculture, initiated by President Ursula von der Leyen and concluding after 7 months of in-depth discussions, has brought together diverse stakeholders to tackle the pressing challenges of our time— #climatechange, #biodiversity loss, and the decline of the #farmingpopulation. Marta Messa (Slow Food) and Lili Balogh (Agroecology Europe) participated alongside 27 other farming and food sector representatives in a dialogue that focused on finding consensus and driving sustainable change. Unlike typical advisory groups, this dialogue emphasized collaboration and consensus building. The report provides key recommendations, from sustainable farming practices such as #organicagriculture and #agroecology to financing the transition, that are essential for building a sustainable, just, and inclusive food system in Europe and worldwide 🌍 As Agroecology Europe and Slow Food, we remain committed to working with our allies, partner organisations, and the European Commission to turn these recommendations into concrete actions. Let’s push the #agroecological transition forward! 🌾 #Agroecology #SlowFood #Sustainability #EUFoodSystem #GreenDeal #FoodJustice #FutureofAgriculture #SustainableAgriculture 🔗 Read the full press release here: https://bit.ly/4gcA0Na Read the full Report here: https://bit.ly/3XvIgAv

🎙 Join our webinar with the Centre for Living Agroecology and Food Systems (ISARA Lyon) presenting insights into #agroecology in #Europe and #Chile to highlight the differences, similarities, and challenges of #food production and #foodsystems and contextual agroecological solutions. 🇪🇺Alexander Wezel will give an overview about European initiatives, cases, examples, and programmes relating to #agroecology in Practice, #Science, Movement, #LivingLabs, and #Education and Training. The overview is based on the #mapping of agroecology in Europe in 33 countries by the Agroecology for Europe (AE4EU) project. 🇨🇱Andrés Muñoz Sáez will examine recent educational programmes in agroecology in #Chile, especially the goals of the Chilean agroecological society, and examine the most recent government efforts on scaling agroecological family #farming systems. Registration: https://lnkd.in/dpzaPxK9

Have you met the Board of Agroecology Europe yet? We are lucky to have the most distinguished experts, scholars, advocates, activists, researchers, and practitioners setting the #strategic direction of AEEU. In June 2024, we held an in-person Board meeting in Brussels to plan ahead, reflect on our successes and challenges, and pin down priorities and how to achieve them. We are excited to come back from the summer to represent and empower diverse #foodsystem actors to promote agroecology in #Europe and to facilitate the agroecological #transition by integrating science, practice, and movement. What you can expect from us: 🌐 Organise online members meetings to bring together diverse expertise and co-create knowledge 🇪🇺Keep close contact with #EU policymakers to put #agroecology high on the #policy agenda 👩🌾 Engage on the ground with #farmers, civil society, and consumer associations 🌍 Work closely with our allies such as the Agroecology Coalition and the EU Food Policy Coalition 💪 Empower #youth in their strategic role in the transformation of #food and #farming systems Meet our Board Members: https://lnkd.in/dua9BWPf

🌻 Empowering #youth in building agroecological projects 🇵🇹What we learned from the participatory #workshop in #Portugal hosted by Lugar da Terra on 25 May 2024, focused on no-till market gardening and #syntropic #agroforestry systems: 🕯 #Innovation and adaptability that small-scale diversified systems, such as vegetable production systems, provide is critical. 🎬 Success of projects hinges on continuously reinventing the products offered and the #marketing strategies employed. 🍀 #Diversity in crops and practices is essential to building #resilience. 🌈 Engaging #consumers in understanding the value of agroecological farming is critical to overcoming market challenges. 📖 Education can bridge the gap between the costs of #sustainable practices and consumer expectations. 🎞 Watch the video, read the report, and learn more about AEEU #participatory youth workshops on #agroecology here: https://lnkd.in/gtT8rBdM

Meet AEEU Board Members Cristina Laurenti and Stéphane Bellon at the Agroecology Science Days by the University of Lausanne on 3-4 October! The conference provides a platform for discussion and exchange around concrete examples of systems supported by the principles of #agroecology, on both a small and large scale. It brings together the scientific community, local stakeholders, #farmers, consumers, development agents, as well as decision-makers in governance bodies and international experts. The players involved in transforming #foodsystems are exploring different solutions on a global scale to combat the overexploitation of natural resources by drawing on biological and cultural #diversity. To define community roadmaps, whether urban or rural, the transition to agroecology and the political decisions that support it are influenced by crucial themes and principles. To have an impact, these must be shared, understood and catalyzed within civil society, represented by consumers and social movements, as well as in #scientific and political governance bodies. Some aspects of agroecology, such as biological control of crop predators, the use of weather alerts to trigger biopesticide treatments, and the use of organic compost to #regenerate #soils, can be applied systematically in areas with a variety of environmental conditions. However, because of the influence of many natural factors on the #health of plants and animals, adjustments on a local scale, such as districts, departments, valleys or mountain ranges, are necessary to guarantee agro-ecological production of greater quantity and quality than conventional #farming. Consumers themselves play a crucial role through their purchasing decisions, as do changes in the scale of #food processing and distribution. The social issues behind consumer choices, fundamental rights and public #ethics are also at stake in the agroecological #transition of food systems.

📢 Organise an event during the European Action Days for Good Food Good Farming in October! Throughout the month, groups across Europe organise local events and become part of a broad European movement at the same time! #GoodFoodGoodFarming 🌾Over the last 6 years, thousands of citizens and hundreds of organisations called on politicians with creative on- or offline actions. This year, we prepare to raise our voices again! There is much at stake: farmers' livelihoods, #nature, and #food as we know it. It's time for action. 👩🌾The #EU spends 55 billion euros on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) every year, which accounts for one-third of the EU budget! The #CAP is the EU’s main instrument for #agricultural subsidies and support, using an area-based payment system: the bigger the #farm, the bigger the subsidy. As a result, 80% of CAP money goes to 20% of #farms in Europe, allowing large industrial farms to increase their profits while small and medium-scale farms are in alarming decline. 🇪🇺In 2025, we have a window of opportunity to influence how money is distributed within the EU: the Council of the European Union must negotiate the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the European Commission will propose a text for the next CAP (post-27). Negotiations on these proposals start now, so it is our time to let national and EU decision-makers know: We want change! Stop favoring industrial farming giants and ensure enough funds for a just #agroecological transition. https://lnkd.in/dvDvrFEJ