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This open access online course was developed by the FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU), in collaboration with the FAO Virtual Learning Centers. It provides an introduction to Green Agriculture from theory to implementation.

In his Opinion Editorial, Morten Hartvigsen, Land Tenure Officer at FAO’s Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, explores a pressing but often overlooked challenge: fragmented farmland and inefficient farm structures that are holding back rural development and sustainable agriculture.  

To identify and discuss obstacles and opportunities of rural youth in Europe and Central Asia, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened the second Regional Rural Youth Forum in Budapest, Hungary. Starting today, youth representatives, decision makers, young farmers, civil society, and others) from 22 countries of the region will hear examples of successful support to rural youth, as well as look at the issues they are facing and solutions.

Are you a researcher, startup, youth innovator, or community-led group with a breakthrough idea or solution in green agriculture and sustainable agrifood systems in a changing climate?

Showcase your work at the Green Science and Innovation Marketplace in the framework of the Global Forum on Green Agriculture and 2nd Regional Science and Innovation Week for Europe and Central Asia will be organized from 9th to 11th September 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. This event will also mark FAO's 80th anniversary, celebrating eight decades of commitment to achieving food security, improving nutrition, and fostering sustainable agriculture worldwide!

In many countries of the Europe and Central Asia region, the majority of smallholder farmers own fragmented land parcels that are difficult to farm efficiently, hampering economic growth and sustainable production.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) this week held a two-day workshop for experts, representatives of universities and other partners from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Türkiye to teach them more about the approach and share best practices. As a platform for presenting achievements, sharing lessons learned and strengthening regional collaboration on the future of IPM, the workshop set the ambitious goal of encouraging long-term commitment to IPM strategies across the region.

Today on World Bee Day, we all have an opportunity – whether we work for governments, organizations or civil society or are concerned private citizens – to promote actions that will protect and enhance pollinators and their habitats, improve their abundance and diversity, and support the sustainable development of beekeeping.

Plants provide essential resources to life on Earth. Agrifood systems and food cultures in Europe and Central Asia are heavily dependent on plants – a dependence which relies on those plants being healthy and thriving. Protecting plant health under the holistic One Health approach can help countries of the region boost economic development, reduce rural poverty, support biodiversity, and improve nutrition. Therefore, this year’s International Day of Plant Health, celebrated globally on 12 May, focuses on plants as a critical pillar within One Health.

FAO,together with the Ministry of Ecology, Environmental Protection and Climate Change and with funding from the European Union, is implementing the project “Technical Assistance for Sound Management of Hazardous Chemicals in Uzbekistan.” 

Research shows the potential of a sustainable and circular bioeconomy to transform agrifood systems in the region and throughout the world