Seminars and conferences

Semi-subsistence Farming in the EU" Seminar
Sibiu, Romania 13-15 October 2010

The small farm debate has taken on special significance with the last two enlargements of 2004 and 2007, more than tripling the number of subsistence and semi-subsistence farmers to 11 million in the EU-27. As testimony to mounting interest in this area, some 140 people attended a seminar entitled ‘Semi-subsistence farming in the EU: current situation and future prospects’, in Sibiu, Romania, on 13-15 Oct , 2010.

Brief Summary

The principal aim of the seminar was to assess the current situation and policies directed towards semi-subsistence farms across the EU. “These farmers face particular challenges, as a considerable amount of their production is for self-consumption and so they are often not integrated into agricultural and/or product markets,” said Sophia Davidova, Reader in European Agricultural Policy, University of Kent, who wrote the main background paper for the event. The seminar focused on the on-going debate about the role of small and semi-subsistence farms as providers of food to poor households, suppliers of environmental services, contributors to the diversification of the rural economy and guardians of cultural traditions in rural areas. Speaking at the seminar Mr. Dacian Ciolos, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, praised the value of these farms and stressed that the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013 will support both the diversity and the performance of European agriculture. Referring to the second Pillar of the CAP, he noted that rural development programmes will give more importance to the transfer of know-how, training programmes and the mobilisation of local initiatives. Mr Ciolos also said he envisaged the creation of packages of measures that respond to the specific needs of small farmers or farmers in mountain areas. “I am convinced that as long as small farms are in a position to market their production and contribute to maintaining landscapes and the vitality of rural areas, they must be supported,” he said.