Welcome!

Welcome to the first newsletter of the Access to Land Network. We are very proud to announce that our new website is now live!

www.accesstoland.eu

This is the first European-wide website on access to land for agroecological farming.

You’ll find analyses of the land situation in various countries, case studies, reports, policy, events and more. We hope this newsletter will give you an insight into what's on our website.

About us

We are an informal network of European organisations working on issues around access to land for sustainable agro-ecological farming.

We want to raise awareness, build support, knowledge and skills and develop policy recommendations. Over the next two years we will explore themes including the role of local authorities, the needs of new entrants to farming, different types of land tenure and stewardship, the viability of small farms, and the role of community supported agriculture in land access.

Mapping Access to land

A key part of our work is to map who is doing what across Europe and we have produced a directory on our website of organisations working on access to land.
Please do add your organisation.

Events

Oxford Real Farming Conference

As part of the Access to Land Network, the UK based Oxford Farming Conference in January 2016 will feature a range of workshops exploring access to land as well as holding the premier of our new film: Land for our food, with speakers from the film. This annual conference is highly recommended, providing a platform for new ideas and radical debate on food and farming. Many of the Access to land network members will be contributing to workshops and discussions. Find out more.

World Forum on Access to Land

Next year, from 31 March to 2 April 2016 organisations and individuals will gather in Valencia, Spain to discuss access to land on a global stage. The planned World Forum on Access to Land will debate the major issues linked to unequal access to land and natural resources. Regional discussion phase is now calling for inputs to compile regional diagnostic tools. A conference on Access to land in Europe will take place in Brussels on 16 November. Find out more here, including how to participate.

You can find more reports, events, and projects that are working on access to land in Europe, on our website:

www.accesstoland.eu

If you come across relevant news, reports, or other resources on access to land, please do let us know.

In the meantime you can follow us on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtag #accesstoland:

#accesstoland

https://instagram.com/explore/tags/accesstoland/

This newsletter is produced as part of an Erasmus+ partnership involving the following organisations:

AIAB Lazio, Italy
EcoRuralis, Romania
Regionalwert AG, Germany
Rurbans – Escola de Pastors de Catalunya, Spain
Soil Association, UK
Terre de liens, France (coordinator)
Terre-en-vue, Belgium
The Real Farming Trust, UK
Xarxa de custodia del territori, Spain

All views expressed in this newsletter are solely those of the authors. Erasmus+ and European Commission are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained here.

Who are we?

Terre de liens, France

Much of our work is inspired by the French organisation, Terre de liens, which has raised over €44million from members and investors. It now holds over 120 organic and biodynamic farms. Central to its principals is the idea of the ‘de-commodification’ of farmland. Read more.

Eco Ruralis, Romania

Eco Ruralis actively campaigns to protect the rights and traditional practices of peasants and family farmers, particularly against the actions of large scale agri-business and institutional corruption.Their new fact-finding report raises awareness of landgrabbing in Romania. Read more.

Terre en Vue, Belgium

Securing access to land in French speaking Belgium, Terre en Vue has raised almost €1 million and has close to thousand shareholders. Using this citizen finance it buys land to rent on a long term basis to agroecological projects.
Read more.

We will introduce more members of the network in our next newsletter, or you can read more on our website

New resources

New film coming soon:
Land for our food
This summer, Peter Volz of Regionalwert AG, from Germany took to the road with Gavin Bridger, a new farmer from the UK and filmmaker Julio Molina, to find out about access to land across Europe. Their journey has been captured in a new film Our Land for our food which will premier in the UK in January 2016. You can see photos from the trip on Instagram.

New report: Extent of landgrabbing in the EU

Commissioned by the European Parliament, this study by the Transnational Institute (TNI) finds worrying evidence that farmland grabbing is well under-way in the EU today. The report places European land grabbing within the context of wider issues around land concentration and ownership. Read more

Forward

Copyright © 2015 Soil Association (on behalf of the Access to Land network), All rights reserved.

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