For the second consecutive year, Toekomstboeren, FIAN Netherlands, Otherwise, TNI and ILEIA organised a training weekend, an inspiring exchange of alternatives to our current food system. This year, twenty-three participants from different walks of life and nationalities came together on Saturday the 11th of June

 to learn and exchange ideas about how to put food … Read more

On June 15th, 2016, ILEIA, Boerengroep, Louis Bolk Instituut, Bioversity International and ASEED organised a panel discussion where experts shared their perspectives on the implementation of access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. Farmers, especially women, have been the custodians of the world’s biodiversity through saving, using, exchanging and selling seed and propagating material. The … Read more

In May 2016, ILEIA facilitated a four day Learning Exchange, organised by the Agroecology Fund (AEF) and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA). About 70 people from six continents met for four days on an agroecological training centre near Masaka, in central Uganda. The Learning Exchange aimed to share lessons on what people … Read more

A thousand people working on fair and sustainable food systems The second ‘Voedsel Anders’ (Food Otherwise) conference in Wageningen, the Netherlands, brought together 1000 people working on fair and sustainable food systems. The conference was a big success with many inspiring keynote speakers and over 60 workshops about practical and political ways to make the … Read more

A new publication offers insights about how to build an international knowledge community on agrobiodiversity, drawing on the experience of the Agricultural Biodiversity Community. Knowledge about agricultural biodiversity is among the most valuable assets held by family farmers, and moreover it is key for food security and food sovereignty. Recognising the need for greater knowledge … Read more

A new multimedia publication explores the meaning and politics of agroecology from social movement perspectives. They are produced by the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience of Coventry University and ILEIA. ‘We see Agroecology as a key form of resistance to an economic system that puts profit before life. […] Our diverse forms of smallholder … Read more

On 26 June, in the framework of the United Nations International Year of Soils, the Celebrate Soil, Celebrate Life! congress in Amsterdam aimed to raise public awareness of the central importance of living soil. Positively, the call for a paradigm shift was loud. But more concrete solutions could have been offered. The event was organised … Read more

Like in many other parts of the world, the Netherlands is a country with two realities. On the one hand, for decades policies have been pushing for further industrialisation of agriculture and food. Many farmers find themselves squeezed between the demands of suppliers and supermarkets, and a large number of Dutch farmers have closed business … Read more

FIAN, ILEIA, Otherwise, TNI, Toekomstboeren and the Wageningen University Rural Sociology Chairgroup organised the training weekend ‘Activating for Food Sovereignty: from our Daily Lives to Global Change’, an inspiring exchange on alternatives to our current food system. Buitenverwachting is a small organic family near Leiden. For two days, it was the backdrop for an intensive training weekend on … Read more

March 2015: At the end of February, around 300 peasants, fisherfolk, pastoralists, indigenous people and consumer group representatives from all continents gathered in the town of Sélingué in Mali with the aim to articulate their vision of agroecology. More photos: The Nyéléni Forum on Agroecology, 2015 (Flickr.com) These groups of small scale food producers called … Read more