Groupe de Bruges has been engaged in involving the general public in the debate about more sustainable European agriculture, food and corresponding policies in the past years. Our new unique e-learning platform ‘Can EU CAP it?’ Project has been built on the objective to increase and disseminate the knowledge and discussion of the reformed CAP not only for academics and other... More

Solving global food problem is one of the main concerns of mankind today. Traditional approach to agriculture is simply not enough and there is a huge agri-tech revolution happening worldwide. Agrivi (www.agrivi.com), an award-winning startup from Croatia, is one of the key drivers of agtech revolution that is experiencing fast global acceptance of its innovative knowledge-based farm management software. Although it... More

In the lead up to the International Year of Soils 2015, Shamba Shape Up and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) organized on Monday 13th April, 2015 a one-hour Tweet Chat to discuss about the problems facing farmers with soil.  The discussion involved a wealth of young Kenyan farmers seeking advice for their soil related issues ranging from protecting their... More

Mariola Acosta and Marta Panco, representing the youth perspective as part of YPARD, attended the “Closing the Gender Gap in Farming Under Climate Change” event on March 19th, 2015. This blog, originally published on the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), summarizes some of the reflections on youth issues that arose during the event and during the interviews with... More

Rationale Agriculture plays a significant role in achieving global food and nutrition security, increasing economic growth, and attaining environmental sustainability. Representing close to 40% of the global workforce, agriculture is the world’s largest provider of jobs, employing over 1.3 billion people. The emerging global trends such as globalisation, increasing population, climate change and environmental impacts, technology advancement, new institutional arrangements, and... More

Belonging to a community is great; we all love social movements, especially online networks and connecting with peers all around the world! The pain is – yes, there is one - to remember all your passwords! There are two possible scenarios: You are still to join YPARD as a new user? Then, register by using the social media icon, on the top... More

Do you care about forests and climate change? Are you passionate about animals and plants? Would you stand up for your friends´future? This is your opportunity to contribute to the XIV World Forestry Congress (WFC) Youth Program, which will be held in Durban, South Africa from the 7th until the 11th of September, 2015. 2015 WFC - Youth on the Spotlight... More

Land is a crucial resource for poverty reduction, food security and rural development. Yet in many places, women’s rights to land tenure are still not recognized or respected. Frequently, for example, husbands control land that legally belongs to their wives, or women are blocked from access to land they inherit from relatives. In order to raise awareness on women's land rights and to celebrate International... More

The International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Shamba Shape Up have teamed up to host a 1 hour Twitter Q&A to discuss about the problems facing farmers with SOIL.  The Twitter Chat on “Helping Farmers Build Healthier Soils," which will be held on Monday 13th April 8am EST / 2pm GMT / 4pm EAT will be particularly relevant in the lead up to the... More

Drought-like situations in the Tharparker Region of Pakistan affected 1.5 million people living in over 22,000 square kilometres. The reported number of deaths in 2014 was 470. Unfortunately, the number of the children who died in the villages and private clinics couldn't be reported. There is enough food in the world to feed our growing population. The challenge comes from making... More

We are delighted to welcome our very first YPARD Country representative for Italy: Virginia Cravero. Virginia is a Biologist specialized in bio-technology and agrifood, as well as in the development of traditional and local food products. She is passionate about food and all issues related to it. “Since I was little I experienced that food carries such pleasure that it was impossible... More

We are delighted to welcome our very first YPARD Country representative for Togo: Germaine Gbete. Germaine is a 32 year-old agro-economist with a master degree in Agricultural Economics, Food Process and Environment. She is currently doing her PhD at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS).   She is an active member at several associations in Togo such as the Association for the Artistic and... More

Photo by Ollivier Girard/CIFOR   So you’re thinking of applying for the YPARD mentoring program? Here are some tips to help you with your application.  Read the question It’s surprising how many people give irrelevant answers to questions. If for example we ask you to describe someone who has been important in your life, this is not the time to tell... More

On February the 5th, Halima Mammadova, a very active member of YPARD-Azerbaijan, organized a seminar at the Ministry of Agriculture-Azerbaijan Research Institute of Crop Husbandry (ASRCH). The activity was mainly organized for the members of the Young Scientist Association (YSA) as well as for the young representatives of several agricultural institutes. For instance, the Azerbaijan Scientific Research Institute of Vegetable; Azerbaijan... More

Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) in Zambia is undertaking activities aimed at creating interest in and commitment to agricultural development among the youth, through information exchange, dialogue, networking and mentorship. We are looking for Successful Young Farmers (35 years and below) who can be our Role Models for Secondary School Students. These should be active farmers or main players along... More

Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) in Zambia is undertaking activities aimed at creating interest in and commitment to agricultural development among the youth, through information exchange, dialogue, networking and mentorship. The activity is about promoting agriculture among young people. We are looking for Stakeholders who are willing to collaborate with us in undertaking these activities. Some ways in which we... More

We´re delighted to welcome YPARD very first national representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mirjana Ribic. Mirjana finished the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Banja Luka in 2011, where she graduated in Agricultural Economics and Rural Development. She is currently completing her master’s thesis in the field of Rural Tourism at the Department of Rural Development. She´s focused on the... More

  I ask kids where their food comes from, and they say the supermarket. We have lost that feel which connects directly to the soil. Other than farming and gardening circles, soil gets very little love. We walk on it, but we don’t really want to see it in the house or on our shoes, however, soil is the foundation for food,... More

The Global Forum for Innovations in Agriculture is advertised by the organisers as ' the world's award winning sustianable agriculture event'.  There were indeed many innovative and interesting products on display, from vertical farming to glasses that enable farmers to see problems with their crops. But, was it really promoting sustainable agriculture? One major thing that was missing was a good number of... More

We are delighted to welcome Martina Graf as YPARD Partnerships Officer. Martina works as scientific collaborator within the topic of making agriculture more sustainable using a tool called RISE - Response Inducing Sustainability Evaluation. “I love travelling and so do I love travelling through the world of agriculture, both on national and international level. Since 15 years I can call agriculture an... More