Land policy is key to agroecological transition in F2F Strategy and CAP reform
In a report launched February 2021, the Nyéléni Europe and Central Asia Food Sovereignty Network and Innovative Land Strategies Partnership outline how land policies can support or hinder Europe’s transition to agroecology, a central component in the move towards more sustainable and equitable food systems and societies.
CSA and Cultivated Biodiversity: a Missed Rendezvous?
Find the main highlights from the report and the link to download the full report.
Let’s Celebrate CSA Day (and CSA Week) !
By the International Committee of URGENCI, 22 February 2021 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the name we give to a diversity of approaches that all aim to strengthen direct farmer-eater relationships. This includes sharing risks and benefits. This is the essence of CSA. International CSA Day, what is that? #CSADay was first launched in 2015... Read More
Roots of Resilience | 25/2/21, 14h-15h30 (CET, UTC+1 – Brussels)
In the context of the CAP reform and the Farm to Fork strategy, what challenges and opportunities does land policy offer for an agroecological transition in Europe?
Launching CSA in Ukraine and designing high-performance crop polycultures for CSA with vegetables and leafy greens
A free online farm conference in English will be organized on February 27th by the NGO “Permaculture in Ukraine” in collaboration with the “Visegrad and Beyond Permaculture Partnership”, The Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) e.V., The Department of Agriculture, South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences, and German CSA network SOLAWI.
Land Struggles and Land Policies in Central and Eastern Europe – 8 February 14.00 (CET)
Land Strat Webinar Season 2, Episode 3 | 08/2/21 14h-15h30 (CET, UTC+1 - Brussels)
Enacting Resilience: the Response of LSPA to the Covid-19 Crisis
“Enacting Resilience”: the report on the response of Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology (LSPA) to the Covid-19 Crisis has just been released. The team of grassroots actors, practitioners and researchers gathered by URGENCI wanted to gain a detailed understanding of how solidarity-based short supply chains and territorial food distribution systems support people’s access to food... Read More
Eden on Fire: there is Hope in Amazonia
Ariel Molina, an agroecologist and activist, the founder of the CSA Brasil network and a member of the International Committee of URGENCI, wrote a manifesto concerning the dramatic situation in Manaus, Amazonia, where he lives. It is a moving testimony that should be shared with the entire network. Find the full text of the declaration:... Read More
URGENCI @Oxford Real Farming Conference
The Oxford Real Farming Conference is kicking off today! URGENCI is excited to be part of this year's global online event. Find herean overview of the five sessions hosted by Urgenci. We hope to see you there!
Building National Coalitions for Land Policy Reform – 8 December 14.00 (CET)
Land Strat Webinar Season 2, Episode 1 | 08/12/20 14h-15h30 (CET, UTC+1 - Brussels)
URGENCI Bidding Round 2020
URGENCI is launching its membership bidding round 2020! Place your bid before 30 November, write to contact(at)urgenci.net
URGENCI is looking for a Learning Designer to join its team!
The growth of activities has led to URGENCI recruiting a Learning Designer to develop and coordinate its online learning activities together with other training needs. We are looking for a Learning Designer to: Design online learning activities for URGENCI’s education platform. Oversee our training and education methodology approach. Design learning curricula for various training programmes... Read More
Worldwide Survey on Solidarity Food Initiatives and Covid-19
URGENCI is undertaking a worldwide research on “The state of solidarity food initiatives in the time of Covid-19”. We want to gain a better picture about our movement’s contribution to more resilient and socially inclusive local food systems during crisis. You can help us gather and spread this information by answering the few questions of... Read More
“Local Land Actions: the Struggle for Land from the Ground up!”
Land Strat Webinar 2 is scheduled on Thursday 2nd of July, 14h (CEST).
YOUR LAND, MY LAND, OUR LAND
Nyéléni Food Sovereignty Movement in Europe and Central Asia releases Access to Land Handbook.
Learning from Covid-19? The European Commission’s Farm-to-Fork Policy sends a Positive Signal even though many Crucial Points are still Missing
Has the Commission succeeded in learning some lessons from the Coronavirus crisis? With the publication of its Farm-to-Fork Strategy and its Biodiversity Strategy today, the European Commission is sending a signal that shows greater awareness of the importance of resilient food systems and of the interconnections between human health, sustainable diets and the ecosystems win which we live. Sadly, however, many crucial points required for initiating true systemic change are still missing.
Webinar on SSE, Food Sovereignty and the Right to Food
The 3rd in the special series of RIPESS webinars covered the field of COVID-19, food sovereignty, solidarity economy and the right to food. The participants were Qiana Mickie, special policy consultant with Just Food in New York, Judith Hitchman, president of Urgenci International Community Supported Agriculture Network, and Marcus Hill, from the US Solidarity Economy Network as special guest. Sofia Monsalve, Secretary General of FIAN International was the very able moderator. The webinar was recorded. You can watch it online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lGhP7u0oQc&feature=emb_logo
SolidBase Hackathon Report is available
The full report from the SolidBase Hackathon, held in Freiburg in November 2019, is now available.
Joint letter on the importance and urgency of publishing the Farm to Fork strategy
Together with others, URGENCI, the international network of Local and Solidarity -based Partnerships for Agroecology, has asked European Union Commissioners and their teams to provide guidance and a clear perspective of the road forward, meeting citizens’ expectations across Europe, by publishing the #EUFarm2Fork by end of April 2020. The President of the International Committee of... Read More
Community Supported Agriculture is a Safe and Resilient Alternative to Industrial Agriculture in the Time of Covid-19
The international campaign we are all engaged in to reduce our tragic losses to the Covid-19 crisis is just a rehearsal for the big campaign that lies ahead – to preserve and build sustainable local and territorial food systems that connect producers and consumers and provide healthy, nutritious food for all.
Eating in the time of Covid-19
URGENCI is joining a group of organisations and research units collecting experience -based feedbacks on "Eating in the time of Covid-19".
Message of solidarity with Urgenci members around the world
The Covid19 virus is spreading fast at global level, and affecting all our lives, more in some countries than others.
This pandemic leads us to a certain number of collective reflections not just on our food systems, but also on the global political and economic system.
Solawi Spring Meeting
"Reaching the region" was the title and theme of the Solawi movement meeting that took place at the beginning of February. Around 120 people traveled to Freiburg from the whole of Germany to exchange ideas on how solidarity-based agriculture (Solawi) can grow beyond the niche position. The movement wants to make a contribution to the transformation of the agricultural system and social change.
URGENCI is happy to invite all CSA groups around the world to celebrate #InternationalCSADay!
For many thousands of farmers around the world, #InternationalCSADay can bring about real change: sign up and support your local farmer! Give CSA farms a solid base
New Year, New Decade and New Logo for URGENCI
We feel that collectively, this new era requires fresh energies and ever-greater cooperation between producers and consumers. And a new look.
National CSA Meeting in Norway
The most important event for CSAs in Norway is the national meeting organised by Organic Norway, coordinating the informal network of CSAs. In total 60 people were gathered for inspiration, updates, new knowledge and networking. In total 21 of the CSAs where represented, often with 2-3 persons from each CSA. Most Norwegian CSAs produce vegetables, but a few also have meat and dairy production. 4.300 shares were sold at Norwegian CSAs in 2018, with almost 9500 people eating from those shares.
SolidBase Research Report on the Financial Sustainability of CSA
Within the frame of the SolidBase project on the financial sustainability of Community -Supported Agriculture, a research was conducted among the CSA movement, through an online questionnaire answered by 116 groups in Europe, a consumer questionnaire filled in by more than 320 respondents, and in-depth interviews with more than 40 CSA farmers. The result for the research is now available: SolidBaseResearch
That happened one year ago: CSA Beyond Borders
What a better way to celebrate the anniversary than sharing the official report from #CSABeyondBorders?
Deck to Dish: Increasing the Visibility and the Resilience of the Community Supported Fisheries Movement
The Istanbul-based fishers cooperative Birlik, Local Catch, the USA Community Supported Fisheries network and the French small-scale fishers' platform Pleine Mer, URGENCI and TNI met on 18th and 19th October in Amsterdam to launch a joint CSF mapping, training and capacity building endeavour.
Access to Land and CSA: Struggles, Invention, Advocacy
Several members of URGENCI took part to the European Seminar on Access to Land, that was held 9th-13th September 2019 in Villarceaux, France. The seminar was organised as part of a European Union-funded project on Local Land Strategies. 90 participants from all corners of Europe from Ireland to Greece and from Spain to Ukraine had the opportunity to share their experience.
URGENCI Bidding Round 2019
Following the decision made during URGENCIi’s 2018 General Assembly to amend our membership fee scheme, we are excited to let you know that the 2019 membership fee is now launched, with the new bidding model.
SolidBase Hackathon in Freiburg 15-17 November
In Freiburg, Germany, there will be a special event 15-17 November 2019 in the frame of the SolidBase project. The goal is to address both the question of IT development and training for Community Supported Agriculture.
Community Supported Agriculture and Climate Change
How does the Social Solidarity Economy (SSE) contribute to the fight against global warming? Judith Hitchman, President of Urgenci, explains the role of Community Supported Agriculture and its benefits in mitigating our impact on the climate.
URGENCI Hub for LSPA Training Materials: One Place to Find Them All
"Our hub combines all the functionalities of a resource centre for CSA members, CSA farmers and CSA trainers", explains Zsofia Perenyi, URGENCI’s Special Expert on Education and one of the key persons behind the hub. "There are modular training curricula to follow, videos to watch, sample documents to be used in so-called "real life", webinars to attend or to listen to, mentors to interact with, practical booklets to print for yourself and many many more... ".
News from “How to financially plan your CSA” in Czech Republic
The second of the four test seminars foreseen in the European project "Solid Base – Financial Sustainability for Solidarity-Based Food System“ focused on how to plan CSAs financially. During this seminar, the discussion was on how we should be looking for new ways of supporting the financial self-sufficiency
of solidarity food systems, including Community –Supported Agriculture (CSA).
Zooming in on the Brussels Bubble
By Judith Hitchman, President of the International Committee It is notoriously difficult to carry out advocacy in Brussels without having a dedicated person based there. And for a network like URGENCI, this is an issue, as advocating for key policy issues such as agroecology and the importance of short food supply chains in the Farm... Read More