Category Archives: Research

Research

From production-oriented farming towards multifunctional entrepreneurship – PhD-thesis Pieter Seuneke

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Multifunctional agriculture

 

On the 9th of May, I (Pieter Seuneke) will defend my PhD-thesis entitled:

From production-oriented farming towards multifunctional entrepreneurship: exploring the underlying learning process

Context

My thesis focusses on the many European and Dutch farming families which, urged by the environmental, social and economic crisis in agriculture, have diversified their conventional production-oriented farming activities by developing new non-farming businesses on their existing farms. Currently, there are many farmers who are involved in agro-tourism, nature and landscape management, processing and selling of farm products and, more recently in The Netherlands, professional (child)care and on-farm education. The development of such new business activities by these farmers represents a shift away from conventional production-oriented farming towards a more ‘multifunctional’ farming model in which the role of agriculture goes beyond mass food production.

Focus

Based on four different studies, all drawing on the empirical work done in the context of the Dutch research project ‘Dynamics and Robustness of Multifunctional Agriculture’ (carried out by the Rural Sociology Group from 2009 to 2011), I unravel the learning process which is considered as underlying the switch towards multifunctionality and multifunctional entrepreneurship. In other words: the process by which farmers (men, women and their families) re-invent themselves as ‘multifunctional entrepreneurs’, gain the necessary knowledge, skills and networks ‘to do multifunctionality’ as well as finding their way on the multifunctional pathway. Apart from its contribution to theory – by bringing this complex learning process to light – my work ultimately supports practitioners (teachers, trainers, advisers) in fostering this, for today’s and tomorrow’s agriculture and rural areas, valuable form of agricultural entrepreneurship.

Supervision

During my PhD, I have been supervised by Prof. Han Wiskerke (professor of Rural Sociology at Wageningen University) and Dr Thomas Lans (ass. prof. Education and Competence Studies, Wageningen University).

The defence

My defence will take place on Friday the 9th of May, at 13.30, in the Aula of Wageningen University. The event is open to those who are interested and can also be followed/seen back on WURtv.

Contact

For more information: pieter.seuneke@wur.nl

PUREFOOD conference teaser – The many benefits of local food

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On May 14 and 15 2014 the PUREFOOD conference entitled “Take action? Collaborative action for more sustainable food systems” will take place in Utrecht (The Netherlands). The morning of the first day (Wednesday May 14) will take place in the Central Museum of Utrecht and consists of three inspirational presentations followed by a reflection by keynote listener Professor Tim Lang and discussions in workshops. In the afternoon there will be three excursions to urban and peri-urban agriculture and food initiatives in and around Utrecht.

The second day of the conference (Thursday May 15) will take place in DeFabrique in Utrecht. This second day is a joint event of PUREFOOD and the Day of Urban Farming, with a keynote speech by Claus Meyer (founder of the New Nordic Cuisine movement and co-owner of restaurant Noma in Copenhagen, which is considered to be the world’s best restaurant) and a wide variety of parallel workshops. For more information see the conference program.

As a teaser for the PUREFOOD conference Creative Beards has made a short animation movie addressing the main issues that have been studied in PUREFOOD.

Theoretical approaches to the ecologisation of agrifood systems – European Society of Rural Sociology 2014 Summerschool

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Transitions towards more sustainable agrifood systems and rural landscapes are at the core of societal demands, technological but also social innovations and renewed public policies at various scales. In rural sociology they are addressed through different theoretical frameworks and the main objective of the ESRS PhD Summer School this year, is to discuss these competing and sometimes articulated frameworks and thereby to help the PhD students to clarify their own theoretical choices and to position them in relation to other theoretical frameworks that are used in rural sociology. For students who are rather at the beginning of their PhD, the aim will be to help them organize their state of the art and clarify their problematisation, while for students who are more advanced, it would rather be a discussion of their results in the light of existing literature and/or possibly the preparation of a future article. All the participants should have an interest in the theoretical frameworks that will be structuring the discussion, i.e. mainly Socio-Ecological Systems/Resilience theories, Food Regime Theory, Transition Theories, Actor Network Theory, and Social Studies of Science and Knowledge. Continue reading →

“Sugar in Dutch foods throughout the years” – MSc-thesis possibility with Rural Sociology and Food Technology

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Sugar in Dutch foods throughout the years: proposal for a Rural Sociology Master’s Thesis supervised by dr Jessica Duncan of the Rural Sociology Group and dr ir Ralf Hartemink of the Food Technology Group of Wageningen University.

Note: the research question is proposed by Knowledge Centre for Sugar & Nutrition (Kenniscentrum suiker & voeding). They will review the thesis and potentially use findings to develop a fact sheet on the history of sugar use in the Netherlands.

Research context and problem:

Today, it is not uncommon to read warning of the impacts of increasing amounts of sugars being added foods and drinks and thus increasing sugar intake by consumers. But is this the case in the Netherlands? Are Dutch people using more sugar in their cooking? Are they consuming more sugar in ready-made products? Has the sugar content in these products increased over the years? If so, by how much and why? In order to establish an overview of trends in sugar use in some typical Dutch products the researcher will:

  1. Research and map sugar trends in foods and drinks throughout the years (both domestic cooking and industrially prepared foods);
  2. Research the functionalities of sugar in a variety of products in the context of the trends.
  3. Analyse the  social and technological drivers and implications of the trends

Continue reading →

Stedelijke herstructurering via onderhandeling

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Next to the many agricultural and food related researchers and PhD candidates, I sometimes feel a little bit odd within the Rural Sociology group. During my PhD research I study land transactions between governments and private landowners. The link to food is present, but not so obvious. Yet, land is a basic resource for food production. If you look at it that way, my research might be less ‘odd’ as it seems at first sight. Via my employer ‘Kadaster’ I write a monthly blog on urban renewal, that I would like to share with you. I think that some of the issues that I find during my research have similarities with issues during food research. Unfortunately for the non-Dutch readers, the blog is in Dutch.

Onderhandelen komt voor in alle tijden en culturen. We onderhandelen over de prijs van ons huis, de verdeling van de taken in het huishouden (doe jij de boodschappen, dan begin ik alvast met koken), onze arbeidsvoorwaarden en nog veel meer. Door te onderhandelen kunnen partijen met verschillende belangen tot een gezamenlijke overeenkomst komen. Maar we zijn het onderhandelen in Nederland de laatste jaren ook steeds verder verleerd. In veel oosterse landen is het nog heel gewoon om over de prijs van je dagelijkse boodschappen te onderhandelen. Wij hebben gewoon prijskaartjes. En mogen we een keer onderhandelen over bijvoorbeeld de prijs van een woning, dan laat menigeen dat liever aan een expert over.

Met regels en richtlijnen hebben we een samenleving gecreëerd waarin onderhandelen steeds minder nodig is. Vaak is dit maar goed ook. Ik moet er niet aan denken om dagelijks te moeten onderhandelen over de snelheid die ik op de weg mag rijden, of over de prijs van een brood. Maar met alle regels en richtlijnen die we in de loop der tijd hebben ontwikkeld is de flexibiliteit die aanwezig is tijdens een onderhandeling ook verdwenen. Want regels zijn regels, en daar hebben we ons dus aan te houden.

Een van de problemen bij stedelijke herstructurering is dan ook dat gebrek aan flexibiliteit en samenwerking. Onderhandelen zit niet in onze planningscultuur en systeem. De overheid is gewend een plan te ontwikkelen, daar eventueel de mening van de inwoners over te vragen, het op basis hiervan waar mogelijk wat aan te passen, om vervolgens het plan te gaan realiseren. Regelgeving is er voor vrijwel elke stap in het proces. Een nieuw plan moet bijvoorbeeld zes weken ter inzage liggen. En dan zijn we vervolgens verbaasd als dat hele proces moeizaam gaat of langer duurt dan gepland. Het belang en de mogelijkheden van onderhandeling zijn in dit proces schromelijk onderschat. We zouden inwoners en eigenaren als samenwerkingspartners moet zien, in plaats van als lastige burgers die moeten participeren. En ons echt verdiepen in hun belangen; met ze in gesprek gaan, luisteren en onderhandelen. Ik ben ervan overtuigd dat je daar veel meer mee kunt bereiken dan met een starre planprocedure volgens de wettelijke kaders. Die kun je altijd nog gebruiken als je er echt niet samen uitkomt.

Alle eerdere blogs zijn te vinden op: http://www.binnenlandsbestuur.nl/ruimte-en-milieu/partners/kadaster/sanne-holtslag-broekhof.9175800.lynkx