Tag Archives: alliance
RO PAC Alliance: Draft law concerning The Sale Of Farmland To Foreigners Is Land Expropriation
Monday, November 4, 2013 The RO PAC Alliances argues that the draft law concerning trade in farmland with foreigners suggested by the Agriculture Ministry is tantamount to land expropriation as trade is done mainly for real estate and energy purposes and in favour of European land speculators. ‘Foreigners already own in Romania, through registered companies, between 1 and 1.2 million hectares of land, but I have not seen any foreigner working the land so far. It is again the Romanian farmers who work the land and the foreigners cash in the subsidies coming from the EU. The output of these areas is not even included in the farm circuit, but most is spent on energy cultures. We want the subsidies to be awarded to support food production and to compensate for the losses of farmers who produce food instead of power. The over 1 million hectares already owned by foreigners are in documents, but I suspect some land has been bought without the transactions having been recorded, particularly in the south part of the country and in Moldavia, where there has been no land registry in place. After the law is implemented, the real disaster in the land market of Romania will come to light,’ says RO PAC Chairman Claudiu Franc, also chairman of the Federation of Romanian Cattle Farmers. He argues that the draft law concerning the sale of farm land should be discussed and analysed again and only drawn up after a serious consolation with those actually knowing the matter. Franc mentions the example of Poland, which limits the sale of land 100 km away from the national border, and the example of France, where the landowner is not allowed to do what he wants with the land because the land belongs to the national heritage. ‘Poland has limited the buying of land by foreigners within a radius of 100 km off the national border, arguing that this would be tantamount to a warless occupation of the country. In France, they say the land is the property of the French citizens but it belongs to the national heritage and means something to the French State, therefore not everything goes when it comes to land. Romania should require similar things so that it may be able to ensure food safety and security for the Romanian citizens,’ said Franc. The Confederation of Romania’s Peasant Associations (CATAR) and the RO PAC Alliance on Thursday organised at the Indagra agriculture and food trade fair in Bucharest a conference on a new agrarian paradigm in Romania. The RO PAC Alliance, of which CATAR is a member, represents the largest Romanian agricultural organisations, federations, confederations, leagues and forums that have developed their own version of a national rural development programme for 2014-2020. Continue reading
Dry Farming Grows in West; Alltech, Kentucky State Form Sustainable Agriculture Alliance
September 3, 2013 Drought conditions and hot summer months are pushing many California farmers toward dry farming — and producing more flavorful produce , NPR reports. Happy Boy Farms sales director Jen Lynne says chefs and wholesalers from around the US are increasingly placing orders for the company’s dry-farmed tomatoes, grown near Santa Cruz. She tells NPR that she could sell hundreds of 14-pound cases a day if her 10-acre tomato field could meet the demand. Lynne says dry farming will become a vital sustainable agriculture practice as water becomes less abundant in the future. Whole Foods Market in Sebastopol says customers want dry-farmed tomatoes, NPR reports. However, according to Northern California farmer Stan Devoto, turning off the water does reduce yields. His dry-farmed trees produce 12 to 15 tons of apples per acre per year compared to his irrigated trees, which produce 40 to 50 tons, NPR says. Sonoma Valley winery Old Hill Ranch says dry farming wine grapes produces only slightly lower harvest yields. Winemaker Will Bucklin tells NPR that the grapes are smaller, which means a lower juice-to-skin ratio. Meanwhile, farmers in the Texas Panhandle, squeezed for water by a three-year drought and a declining Ogallalla Aquifer, are experimenting with planting corn without watering the ground first. They are planting later in the season so they can tap the summer rain and switching to pivot sprinklers for more efficient, affordable watering. In other farming news, Nicholasville, Ky.-based animal nutrition company Alltech and Kentucky State University have formed a joint research alliance to develop sustainable farming techniques and modern farming models. Alltech will invest $75,000 per year toward research at KSU and will also provide support for KSU graduate students’ research and for demonstrations in agriculture, food sciences, sustainable systems and related fields. Alltech chief scientific officer Dr. Karl Dawson says the farming alliance aims to position Central Kentucky at the forefront of sustainable agriculture and aquaculture and will have global implications. The Alltech-KSU Sustainable Farming Alliance will operate from the KSU campus and has been established for an initial period of three years. Environmental hazards such as climate change and water scarcity could wipe out as much as $8 trillion in agriculture assets each year, according to a study published last month by the University of Oxford’s Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. Photo Credit: Happy Boy Farms Continue reading
