Eco ruralis

City: Cluj-Napoca

Country: Romania

Eco Ruralis is an association that supports traditional peasant farming in Romania.

Its was founded in April of 2009 in Cluj-Napoca by small farmers from several regions of the country. It is a grassroots association made up of small farmers who practice organic and traditional farming based on environmentally-conscious principles.

Eco Ruralis stands for farmers’ rights to practice non-industrialized sustainable agriculture. This includes the right to use, multiply and distribute traditional seeds, the pursuit of strict biosafety regulations (without genetically-modified organisims); the preservation of food sovereignty in Romania; and respect for consumer health.

They support agroecology and promote small-scale family farming as the dominant, preferable method of agriculture in Romania. They aid the capacity of peasants to collectively defend themselves against unfair and unequal actions taken by corporations and governments. They wish to actively support a movement of young farmers that will preserve traditional farming practices and assert their control over food production and land rights.

Scale of intervention : National

Keywords: food souvereignty, land access, agroecology, family farming, peasant farming, biodiversity conservation, community land trust, landgrabbing, seeds saving, GMOs / Genetically Modified Organisms, traditional knowledge, ecosystem friendly methods, small farm, agricultural policy, land policy, rural policy, CAP - Common Agricultural Policy, justice, wwoofing (voluntary work in farms)

Places: Romania

Actors: farmer, countrymen’s organization, small-scale farmer

Methods: campaigning, experience exchange, advocacy, raising awareness, information diffusion

Documents:

Your land, My land, Our land : grassroots strategies to preserve farmland and access to land for peasant farming and agroecology