farm policy Articles
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Moving on – European organic farming movements between political action and self-reflection
Organic farming movements in Europe are widely recognised as a positive force by market actors and civil society, as well as relevant actors in policy networks. At the same time, the organic movement is in a process of self-reflection, reconsidering its value basis. Taking account of both a policy network and a social movement perspective, this article seeks to understand political action of the ...
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Policy instruments in support of organic farming in Austria
This paper explores the connection between agricultural policy measures and the development of organic farming in Austria from 1991 onwards. First, past policy measures are reviewed. Then, various new policy strategies for the further development of the organic sector in Austria are elaborated and their potential impact discussed. The analysis suggests that the current direct policy measures ...
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Weekly Roundup of other biobased news
Reuters, “Genscape Says It Will Fight EPA Move to Boot It from Biofuels Program” University of Bath, “Scientists Make Plastic from Christmas Trees” Washington Examiner, “Energy, Farm Policy Collide in the New Congress” Growth Energy, “Poll: Trump Voters Overwhelmingly Support Ethanol” PETROSS, “Dual-Purpose Biofuel Crops Could Extend ...
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How farm policy used to work
In the period between the 1930s and 1992, farm bills generally instituted compensation policies that took the form of price supports. These policies were designed to manage the surplus production that resulted from centuries of developmental policies while allowing U.S. farmers the chance, with hard work and good management skills, to provide their family with a livelihood. Compensation policies ...
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Innovative farm policies and their impact in a French frontier zone: reviving old conflicts in Guadeloupe (FWI)?
Society now expects agriculture to fulfil new functions to improve quality of life. This requirement has been reinforced by recent crises. The 1999 French Agricultural Framework Law (LOA) formalised agricultural multifunctionality and included payments to farmers for new practices, which satisfy both social and environmental functions, in addition to economic ones. A voluntary territorial farm ...
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Organic agriculture as a new player in sustainable regional development? Case studies of rural areas in Eastern Germany
The paper analyses the possible effects of organic agriculture on sustainable regional development in peripheral Eastern German regions, drawing on results from two recent research projects taking two different but complementary perspectives on the organic sector. One project, 'Regional wealth reconsidered', analysed a broad variety of economic, ecological, social and cultural activities in the ...
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So what is the role of commodity programs? Can they even be justified?
No matter what our area of daily activity, it is natural and even necessary that we myopically focus on the problems and issues of the day. But it is also important to step back once in a while to consider how the situations of today fit into a longer-term context. Along that line, we are in the midst of a series of columns that goes beyond the agricultural issues and policy motivations of ...
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Conflicting farmers' objectives and environmental policies: the case of a Mediterranean farm
In dry land areas of the Mediterranean region, farmers' decisions are particularly difficult due to irregular rainfall. Yield risk, soil erosion and desertification are important problems. Decision-making behaviour of farmers is supposed to incorporate a particular concern in the adoption of strategies to decrease income variability, to conserve soil and to guarantee a comfortable level of ...
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Tillsonburg: From tobacco farming to building wind turbine blades
The story of Tillsonburg is probably close to the ideal example of what the Ontario government was looking for when it enacted the Green Energy Act in 2009. A small town of 16,000 people in southwestern Ontario, Tillsonburg’s history is famously celebrated in Stomping Tom Connor’s distinctive drawl when he sung about making seven dollars a day in the tobacco fields. Eventually ...
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Rethinking food production for a world of eight billion
The World Food Programme and the Chinese government jointlyannounced that food aid shipments to China would stop at the end of theyear. For a country where a generation ago hundreds of millions of peoplewere chronically hungry, this was a landmark achievement. Not only hasChina ended its dependence on food aid, but almost overnight it has becomethe world’s third largest food aid donor. The key ...
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Using coir as a growing susbstrate - sustainably and ethically
Manufactured from the inner husk of coconuts, coir is, but its very nature, produced in distant, and often developing, countries. This means that there is also an ethical slant to consider, as well as the question of shipping costs and carbon use. As retailers apply more pressure on their suppliers to focus on sustainability and ethics, these points are becoming increasingly important. Growers ...
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Agroecology Taps a Wellspring of Farming Knowledge
Agroecology shares family farmers' evolving knowledge — and should go mainstream, says Fernando R. Funes-Monzote. Over recent decades, formal research and extension, led by governments and big enterprises, have led to novel answers for emerging problems in agriculture. However, these have generally failed small-scale farmers — one fifth of the world's population. Every day, ...
By SciDev.Net
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Lessons learned from bovine spongiform encephalopathy for the future management of the Canadian cattle industry
Globally, Canada is only a minor beef producing country, and yet ranks fourth among countries exporting beef products. That fact alone shows considerable market vulnerability. When coupled with dependence on corporate-owned slaughter capacity and heavy reliance on only one export market (the USA), that vulnerability is magnified. Economic losses from BSE in Canada following the occurrence of the ...
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Ambitious green farming requirements can lead to higher environmental benefits, study shows
A new JRC study shows how the choices farmers make to adopt voluntary green practices are affected by how much they are already obliged to contribute to the environment. The behavioural science study finds that the more mandatory requirements placed on farmers, the less likely they are to make additional voluntary contributions. However, if the mandatory requirements are ambitious enough, the ...
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Wholesale arable change leads to tight slug control
"Eight years into implementing a zero-till policy across the farm, we’re seeing improved yields of 10 tonnes per hectare for our first year wheat, and five tonnes per hectare on winter beans. We’ve also noticed that we continue to see year-on-year improvements to soil structure and crop yields. “The winter beans have been extremely valuable in the rotation to ensure nitrogen ...
By Certis UK
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