Growing together

The way that food is produced, consumed, and distributed is a major issue facing Europe – and one that directly impacts the lives of young people across the continent. Yet, the voice of young people is not often heard when our food system is being discussed.

Young Friends of the Earth Europe is part of the pan-European ‘Growing Together’ project, which provides a voice for young people, particularly those from rural areas, to engage with crucial debates on the future of food production, and the wider debates on the future of Europe.

‘Growing Together’ is led by Friends of the Earth groups in Ireland, Malta, Denmark, Estonia and Cyprus, with over 150 activities planned by 2020 which will empower at least 3,000 young people from rural communities into active political debate on the future of our food system and Europe more generally.

News

Sustainable city tours in Denmark

08/03/2020

Through 10 Sustainable City Tours, Ungdom NOAH and NOAH will take more than 300 young people through a journey of food. We will ask them: who really feeds us? examining the food chain of both conventional big scale farming and regenerative, small scale farming. We will break through long-lived myths about the food system and present the young audience with new and more resource-conscious ways to create food for everyone.

Young Austrian activists join huge food sovereignty protest

25/01/2020

40 youth activists from Global 2000/Friends of the Earth Austria joined German’s 25,000 people at Germany’s biggest demonstration for sustainable agriculture.

Know your food workshops in Malta

10/12/2019

Over the last couple of weeks, Friends of the Earth Malta ran a series of “Know Your Food” workshops in collaboration with a young farmer, Emanuela from the Veg Box. About 20 urban citizens participated in five sessions that focused on different topics. This was a space for young people to meet, discuss food systems and food sovereignty while meeting different farmers and apiculturists along the way. Participants learned about how food is grown, how to plan a garden, preparing and preserving food, and understanding seasonality.

The future is rural

30/10/2019

Young Friends of the Earth Ireland hosted the ‘Future is Rural’ fair – a fun and family-friendly event, showcasing innovators in sustainable food and farming.

Resources

Pathways to food sovereignty in Ireland

24/03/2021

In this publication, Young Friends of the Earth Ireland explore options to transition the Irish food system towards a sustainable model based on food sovereignty.

More resources from Growing Together

24/03/2021

As part of the Growing Together project, our partner organisations produced a whole range of materials for connecting urban and rural youth, and building food sovereignty. You can find some of the outlines for workshops we ran during the project here, …

Joint youth declaration on food sovereignty

17/12/2020

We worked with urban and rural young people from across Europe to put together a joint vision for the future of our food and farming system based on food sovereignty.