An organically farmed Europe can feed a growing population a healthy diet
The ‘Ten Years for Agroecology in Europe’ report models a future where farming in Europe can respond to climate change, phase out pesticides and maintain vital biodiversity, whilst providing a sufficient and healthy diet for a growing population.
• feed the European population healthily • maintain the export capacity • reduce Europe’s global food footprint • result in a 40 percent reduction in agricultural greenhouse gas emissions • help to restore biodiversity and to protect natural resources
A transition to a fully agroecological Europe will require dietary change, particularly a shift towards ‘less and better meat’, with diets reorientated around plant-based proteins and higher welfare grass-fed livestock.
The Government must support the transition through The Agriculture Bill by establishing agroecology as the underlying principle of farming in England, rewarding farmers for employing agroecological systems such as organic.
Farmers – especially those already pioneering agroecological farming, from conservation agriculture to agroforestry and organic – should be given a seat at the table in the debate around land-use, climate change and biodiversity.
Biodiversity impacts, imported emissions, and the need to reduce or eliminate pesticide and fertiliser use, should be given greater weighting in the next Climate Change Committee land-use report. The UK’s response to climate change must be coherent with broader ecological objectives.
Watch Helen Browning, Soil Association CEO, talk about agroecology
Helen talks about how agroecology could drive improvements to human and environmental health at a European Level.
TYFA is based on the assumption that, in order to address biodiversity and climate change issues, a transformation of European patterns of production and consumption is inevitableIDDRI, TYFA Report
AuthorsTen Years for Agroecology in Europe was written by IDDRI, a French, independent policy research institute in collaboration with consultancy firm AScA and a council of researchers. Soil Association has worked with the authors to bring the English translation of this ground-breaking research to the UK.Download full report
Retired, living in the Scottish Borders after living most of my life in cities in England. I can now indulge my interest in all aspects of living close to nature in a wild landscape. I live on what was once the Iapetus Ocean which took millions of years to travel from the Southern Hemisphere to here in the Northern Hemisphere. That set me thinking and questioning and seeking answers.
In 1998 I co-wrote Millennium Countdown (US)/ A Business Guide to the Year 2000 (UK) see https://www.abebooks.co.uk/products/isbn/9780749427917
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