Month: July 2020
EU invests €350m in first domestic battery gigafactory
Rinnovati gli organi associativi ANEV. Simone Togni eletto presidente all’umanità
Per una PAC a emissioni zero, Kyoto Club presenta il progetto CNC
Beyond tourism: investing in local communities to protect Africa’s wild spaces
Osservazioni ed emendamenti al DL Semplificazioni “Misure urgenti per la semplificazione e l’innovazione digitale”
Sostenibilità: FS Italiane al secondo posto della classifica Integrated Governance Index (IGI)
Farm to fork: EU wants to slash pesticide use by 50% and boost organic farming
The EU is looking to slash pesticide use and boost organic farming with its aptly titled "farm to fork" strategy.
The announcement it was launched with a slight delay, due to coronavirus, but the European Commission says the current crisis makes the policy all the more pressing.
The European Commission says this will contribute to an environmentally sustainable economy as envisaged in the European Green Deal.
In order to make the strategy become reality, the Commission suggests: "In addition to Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) measures, such as eco-schemes, investments and advisory services, and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) measures, the Commission will put forward an Action Plan on organic farming."
It's an issue organic farmers have dealing with for years, and the old Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) was based on subsidies, that didn't necessarily benefit smaller, organic farms.
The World of Organic Agriculture
2018 was another record year for global organic agriculture. According to the latest FiBL survey on organic agriculture worldwide, organic farmland increased by 2.0 million hectares, and organic retail sales also continued to grow, reaching another all-time high, as shown by the data from 186 countries (data as of the end 2018). The 21st edition of the study “The World of Organic Agriculture” published by FiBL and IFOAM – Organics International shows a continuation of the positive trend seen in the past years. The Global Organic Market continues to grow worldwide and has passed the 100 billion US Dollar mark.
Read more – read the study "The World of Organic Agriculture"
How organic farming became an alternative to Poaching!
He was approached by Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), a social enterprise that trains and supports farmers in the Eastern Province of Zambia, on sustainable agricultural practices.
With a high number of elephants and other game dying from illegal poaching, COMACO decided to train the once poachers to farm organically, while providing market for their produce.
In this way, the income they got from poaching is replaced by that from organic farming. This secures farmers’ livelihoods and ensures food security, while protecting wildlife and the ecosystem.
This is achieved by offering farming skills to the thousands of small-scale farmers who live and depend on the land and natural resources in this area. In this way farmers begin to practice climate-resilient farming methods that promote biodiversity and decrease the use of destructive practices like poaching, pesticide use and deforestation.
The work has paid off! COMACO has increased the number of farmers they work with to over 180,000 and the number of elephants in the Luangwa valley has also increased.