Europe

This paper in the Food Policy Journal identifies four common misconceptions regarding the nature and importance of farmer seed networks today. (1) Farmer seed networks are inefficient for seed dissemination. (2) Farmer seed networks are closed, conservative systems. (3) Farmer seed networks provide ready, egalitarian access to seed. (4) Farmer seed networks are destined to weaken and disappear. »

This report (PDF) from the European Commission shows that it is essential for Europe to move towards an integrated examination of a much broader landscape. By 2030 and beyond, food security will increasingly be considered as securing food supply in response to changing and growing global demand. »

This report (PDF) by CAAST-NET Plus presents the key findings from an analysis of research cooperation between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Two issues were investigated: first, the extent to which joint EU-SSA research cooperation has impacted on Africa-EU joint FNS priorities; and, second, the extent to which research outputs have been used in policy-making and »

This year´s annual State of Food Insecurity in the World report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation, takes stock of progress made towards achieving the internationally established Millennium Development Goal (MDG1) and World Food Summit hunger targets and reflects on what needs to be done, as we transition to the new post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. »

This paper by La Via Campesina and GRAIN is further exploring seed laws and legislative processes. They explore how seed laws make farmers’ seeds illegal and which types of seed laws are promoted by the industry. Furthermore, special attention is paid to the struggles of farmers with examples from Africa, America, Asia and Europe. »

At the Green week in Berlin a publication (PDF) was presented that explains how the EU’s common agricultural policy (CAP) meets the EU’s commitment to policy coherence for development, which aims to minimize problems for developing countries due to policies. The paper stresses that an effective policy coherence for development (PCD) agenda for food security »