Category Archives: Food

Looking at organic+ activities and their perception by consumers in the rural web

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Before I start writing about organic+ activities and consumers I would like to introduce myself.

My name is Corinna Feldmann and I study Organic Agriculture in my second year. I just finished my master thesis: ‘What does the consumer take up? – A case study on communication in the rural web around the dairy in Andeer’.

Everything started in late spring of 2009, when I decided that I would like to do my research on consumers and their opinion on producer’s activities which go beyond the minimum standards of organic regulations. So, I found my way to the Rural Sociology Group and met Bettina Bock. Doing some investigations on the internet I came across the first report of the EU Core Organic Project on Consumer Farmer Partnerships which deals with the identification of communication arguments used by small-scale farmers and producers who engage in organic+ activities. Thereupon I got into contact with the research institute for biological farming (FiBL) in Switzerland who is one of the partners in this EU project. In May I wrote my research proposal with the help of Heidrun Moschitz and Flurina Schneider from FiBL and Bettina Bock. The core of my research was to find out what aspects of the communication arguments consumers perceive as important. Continue reading →

Sustainable Food Systems Education and Engagement in Detroit

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Recently, in the process of writing an international research proposal, I had an email exchange with Dr. Kami Pothukuchi, Associate Professor in Urban Planning at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences of Wayne State University. Dr. Pothukuchi is, together with Prof. Jerry Kaufman, one of the founders of food planning in the USA. She was the first to write about food as a stranger to the planning field in 2000 and is one of the authors of “Community and Regional Food Planning: A Policy Guide of the American Planning Association“. This policy guide was a major source of inspiration for organizing the first European Sustainable Food Conference under auspices of the AESOP.

In our email exchange Dr. Pothukuchi informed me that she has recently become director of SEED Wayne. SEED is the acronym for Sustainable food systems Education and Engagement in Detroit. 

SEED Wayne is dedicated to building sustainable food systems on the campus of Wayne State University and in Detroit communities. SEED Wayne works in partnership with community-based organizations promoting food security, urban agriculture, farm-to-institution, and food and fitness planning and policy development. SEED Wayne embraces core university functions in teaching, research, engagement and operations. 

I think SEED Wayne is a perfect example of the role a university can and should play in enhancing sustainable food systems as well as in creating a learning-by-doing environment for students in which close collaboration with local communities is an intrinsic part of university teaching and research. For those interested in SEED Wayne download the brochure or simply browse SEED Wayne’s website.

Brochure over stadslandbouw van Wageningen UR

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Binnen Wageningen UR krijgt stadslandbouw steeds meer aandacht en profiel. In een recente brochure  wordt vanuit Wageningen UR een visie gegeven op het concept stadslandbouw, de betekenis voor de stad, de bijdrage van stadslandbouw aan duurzaamheid en de belangrijkste uitdagingen. Ook beschrijft de brochure een flink aantal lopende en al afgesloten projecten op het gebied van stadslandbouw. Zie voor meer informatie een bericht op de WUR-website (www.syscope.wur.nl)  over onderzoek naar systeeminnovatie die moeten bijdragen aan transtie naar duurzame landbouw en vitaal platteland.

Zoals uit eerdere blogs al is gebleken profileert Rurale Sociologie zich ook op het terrein van stadslandbouw. Zo komt Jan Willem van der Schans (Jan-Willem.vanderschans@wur.nl), werkzaam bij het LEI en mede-initiatiefnemer van Eetbaar Rotterdam, met ingang van 1 december onze groep versterken.

1 Billion Hungry

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One billion people live in chronic hunger. In the time it takes to watch this video, two children will die of hunger. If this situation is unacceptable to you, sign on http://www.1billionhungry.org

The Food and Farming Transition: Toward a Post Carbon Food System

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More and more scientists are pointing to the fact that the end of the cheap oil era will require us to fundamentally change the prevailing current food and agricultural system; a system that has become addicted to and dependent on fossil fuels. This week I came across a report entitled “The Food and Farming Transition: Toward a Post Carbon Food System” published by the Post Carbon Institute earlier this year.  Although the report focuses on the United States, its contents applies to many other parts of the world as well. In this well accessible and readable report the authors not only point to the key vulnerabilities of a food system resting on an unstable foundation of massive fossil fuel inputs but also to the seeds of transition toward a post carbon food system:

The seeds of the new food system have already been planted. America’s farmers have been reducing their energy use for decades. They are using less fertilizer and pesticide. The number of organic farms, farmers’ markets, and CSA operations is growing rapidly. More people are thinking about where their food comes from.

These are important building blocks, but much remains to be done. Our new food system will require more farmers, smaller and more diversified farms, less processed and packaged food, and less long-distance hauling of food. Governments, communities, businesses, and families each have important parts to play in reinventing a food system that functions with limited renewable energy resources to feed our population for the long term.