The decreasing share of young people in agriculture and as a consequence, the upcoming issue of securing food production for future generations, is a topic that slowly moves up the agenda of organizations and governments worldwide. While there is a decrease of young work force in agricultural production, there is also a decrease of young people engaging in agricultural research. Need... More

“In the past decades, organic agriculture was often reacting late to changes in contemporary agriculture and developments were often only visible to farmers as adaptations of the guidelines” says Robert Obrist, Head of the Section of Education and Extension at FiBL (Research Institute for Organic Agriculture) in Frick, Switzerland. He leads our group on the 25th of August through the area... More

Thank you YPARD! - Action Plans and new skills for the future By Johanna Gysin and Martina Graf The last week of the 26th International Leadership Workshop for Rural Youth has been coined by a very busy and highly concentrated atmosphere among the participants and facilitators of the seminar. In the first week we learnt all about team building, about motivation... More

By Johanna Gysin Maimouna Diakite, 47, lives together with her husband and her children in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Maimouna studied accounting and finances in Bamako and did later on further education in the field of teaching and education. She works as accountant for UNICEF Mali in Bamako. Since Maimouna felt that rural areas are in danger to get deserted... More

Visit to the Mayr's in Erding, Germany “Our farm is a medium to small farm, compared to the others in the area” says Clemens Mayr, a farmer from Erding, Germany, while pointing to the distant fields on his farm. This surprises his guests from Mali, Madagascar and Switzerland; a farm of 60 hectares is considered a large farm in the visitors’... More

Blog post co-authored by Johanna Gysin, Martina Graf Herrsching a.A., Germany Under the motto “Prepare for action” the 26th International Leadership Workshop for Rural Youth is held this year from the 15th of July to the 2nd of August in the House of Bavarian Agriculture in Herrsching am Ammersee in Germany. More than 50 participants from 33 countries and 5 different... More

YPARD Switzerland, Event 26.06.2013 “This is all about having fun together”, says Bastiaan Frich, initiator of the Permaculture-Community Garden Landhof Project in Basel while our small group of interested people is following him through the Landhof garden. On a run-down concrete parking ground he planned and builds together with Dominique Oser the Landhof garden in the middle of a series of... More

During two days a team of three motivated YPARD promoters (Martina Graf, the European Coordinator, Johanna Gysin, Swiss representative and Rahel Wyss, a committed YPARD member) spend their lunch break in front of the HAFL – canteen and spread the word about YPARD among students but also among lecturers, researchers and other employees of the college. The event was a success;... More