Multifunctional Agriculture miniconference

On Thursday 8 October 2009 we are organizing a miniconference about multifunctional agriculture (recently also announced in Dutch). This event is part of a two year research project entitled ‘Dynamics and Robustness of Multifunctional Agriculture’ and is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality. Aim of this conference is to examine what we can learn from experiences in other countries to enhance the development of multifunctional agriculture in the Netherlands. Four speakers will talk about (aspects of) multifunctional agriculture in different countries: Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil and China.

Mariënwaerdt (source: http://www.marienwaerdt.nl/)

The miniconference will be held at Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt and participation is free of charge. All presentations as well as the discussion will be in English. If you are interested to participate, please apply by sending an e-mail to corine.diepeveen@wur.nl. You can also use this e-mail address for any queries about the miniconference.

Dynamics and Robustness of Multifunctional Agriculture – Lessons from Abroad *Thursday 8 October 2009* Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt, De Hooge Schuur, ‘t Klooster 5 in Beesd
12.30 – 13.00	Welcome and coffee/tea
13.00 – 13.05	Conference opening by the chairman	Krijn Poppe – Chief Science Officer Agro-chains and fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality
13.05 – 13.15	The multifunctional conference setting – a short introduction to Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt	Frans van Verschuer – Owner of Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt
13.15 – 13.30	Dynamics and robustness of multifunctional agriculture – introducing the project and presentation of the first results	Han Wiskerke – project coordinator and Professor of Rural Sociology, Wageningen University
13.30 – 14.00	Multifunctional agriculture in Italy – the rural district approach in Tuscany	Gianluca Brunori – Professor of Agricultural Economics, Pisa University, Italy
14.00 – 14.30	Multifunctional agriculture in the UK – the role of the state and the public sector	Roberta Sonnino – Lecturer in Environmental Policy & Planning, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
14.30 – 15.00	Multifunctional agriculture in Norway – the relation between multifunctional agriculture and sustainable rural community development	Katrina Rønningen – Senior Researcher at the Centre for Rural Research, Trondheim, Norway
15.00 – 15.30	Coffee/tea break
15.30 – 16.00	Agrarian and rural development dynamics across the globe – comparing Europe, China and Brazil	Jan Douwe van der Ploeg – Professor of Transition Studies, Wageningen University
16.00 – 16.55	Debate: inspiring lessons for multifunctional agriculture in the Netherlands
16.55 – 17.00	Conference closing by the chairman
17.00	Drinks