Category Archives: Research

Research

DERREG Policy Seminar in Brussels

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Last Thursday March 31, a Policy Seminar had place to discuss the relevancy of the results from the EU-funded reserach project DERREG for EU-policies.  Although the project and the work is not yet completed, emerging outcomes and policy recommendations were presented by the project coordinator prof. Michael Woods and the four coordinators of the respective workpackages on Rural business networks, Rural migration patterns, Sustainable development and Rural regional learning. The emerging outcomes and recommendations are also capitalised in the European Policy Brief published at the DERREG website.

WU is coordinator of Workpackage 4. We focussed on how public support and faciliation of joint learning and innovation in grassroots (place-based) development activities can be best arranged. We have explored, mapped and analysed various such arrangements in six case study areas. See the example of the map of the ‘governance of joint learning and innovation’ in the Westerkwartier below.

Map of the governance of joint learning and innovation in the Westerkwartier (NL)

These arrangements and the support or faciliation given was evaluated by the beneficiaries (see earlier posts on case-study area Westerkwartier, Alytus, Dresden and Comarca de Verin).

Although we will extend our analysis and specifically elaborate more on ‘promising or good practices’ revealed, Wiebke Wellbrock and I presented the main findings and policy recommendations (see our presentation).

Key to our findings is that the effectiveness of support policies depends on well working operational interfaces between public policies, grassroots development initiatives and (knowledge) facilities to support joint learning and innovation. These interfaces get shaped in agreements between various public and private partners but it are operational agents or agencies fulfilling various intermediary task and roles connecting different ‘worlds’ that make them work (well).

Rural regional learning in the Comarca de Verín, Galicia, Spain

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Within the European research project DERREG, we are investigating how public policy can best be arranged to stimulate capacity building within development initiatives operating at grassroots level in rural areas across the European Union.

To find out how public policy interventions can best be arranged, we and our research partners have spoken to various stakeholders in different rural regions across the European Union to find out how they intend to support and facilitate learning and innovation and- most importantly- how the support and facilitation agreed upon is actually provided to the grassroots development initiatives. To find out what is working well and what isn’t working well yet, we have spoken to a number of grassroots development initiators in the participating DERREG case study areas and ask them to evaluate the current support and facilitation received.

To be able to compare the results obtained in the different case study areas, I have travelled to Alytus County, Lithuania in October and Oberlausitz, Germany in December of 2010. In January of this year, I was able to visit our colleague Lola Dominguez Garcia of  Universidade de Vigo in the Comarca de Verín in the South-West of Galicia, Spain. In this blog, we intend to share our experiences. Continue reading →

Working group at 24th ESRS congress in Chania, Greece 22-25 August 2011: Call for papers

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Imre Kovách ( Institute for Political Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest), Petra Derkzen and I are organising a working group on “the governance of semi-subsistent food and farming strategies in the countryside and city- a compartive perspective” at the 24th ESRS congress in Chania (Greece) from 22-25 of August 2011. We would like to invite all interested researchers to submit their papers dealing with empirical or theoretical reflections on the driving forces, structure and mechanisms of semisubsistence food and farming strategies in the countryside and-or cities, both within developed and developing countries. Abstracts may be submitted  to Imre Kovach (ikovach@mtapti.hu) AND chania2011@agr.unipi.it until the 30th of April 2011.  For a more detailed description of the workshop please read further…

Courtesy of European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism

Continue reading →

Altijd al eens willen modderworstelen, of toch liever een boeren barbecue?

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De Taskforce Multifunctionele Landbouw heeft een studieprijs uitgeschreven voor leerlingen en studenten van het MBO, HBO en Universiteit:

Gaat jouw studieonderwerp over Multifunctionele landbouw? Doe mee met de Studieprijs Multifunctionele Landbouw en win, met vrienden en vriendinnen, een geheel verzorgde VIP-dag bij De Boerinn. Je mag zelf een dag samenstellen, met bijvoorbeeld polderchallenge, klompengolf of kaasmaken en barbecue.

Je moet het studieproject hebben afgerond tussen 1 januari 2010 en 15 april 2011, of ervoor kiezen volgend jaar mee te doen. Kies dan een opdracht-, project-, stage- of scriptie-onderwerp uit de multifunctionele landbouw. Wil je meer weten over de spelregels of je aanmelden? Kijk op http://www.multifunctionelelandbouw.nl/studieprijs

Wat is multifunctionele landbouw? Dit omvat agarische bedrijven die naast hun veehouderij-, akkerbouw- of tuinbouwbedrijf andere activiteiten uitoefenen, gekoppeld aan het primaire landbouwbedrijf. Deze activiteiten zijn zorglandbouw, recreatie, agrarische kinderopvang, boerderijeducatie, agrarisch natuur- en landschapsbeheer en/of de productie en verkoop van streekproducten. Een onderwerp zou dus kunnen zijn: het maken van een ontwerp voor een minicamping of de gevolgen van de bezuinigingen in het zorgstelsel voor zorgboerderijen. Maar (juist) ook andere ideeën zijn welkom!

The traditional fresh markets; don’t forget them!

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By Cleo van Rijk

For my MSc thesis I researched the food chains of the traditional markets in the province of Noord-Brabant in the south of the Netherlands. Hardly any research has been done on the food chains of traditional markets in the Netherlands. Therefore I have researched the fresh markets of the four biggest cities in Noord-Brabant: ’s-Hertogenbosch, Breda, Tilburg en Eindhoven. This has led to very interesting results.

Market in city of BredaDespite the alternative movement, the distinction between conventional and alternative is not so clear (Kirwan et al, publication forthcoming; Sonnino & Marsden, 2006). Therefore it is important to research aspects of both alternative as conventional food supply chains (FSCs). The main part of the food system is conventional, which means it is important to also look at the potential for sustainable possibilities within conventional FSC. AFNs like farmers’ markets have been researched often, however there is hardly any research done on the role of local food and short food supply chains (SFSCs) within supermarkets and traditional markets as part of the conventional FSC. Especially the traditional markets are forgotten. In addition, the traditional markets, as an important source of fresh food in the Netherlands, are under pressure. Many Dutch organizations are looking for solutions for the future of the markets, as they have much difficulty by keeping up with the changes in society. A focus on sustainable food could mean a solution. Supermarkets are powerful organizations which already are trying to win the consumer preferences by selling organic and labeled typical products. While there has been done nothing to look at the potential of the fresh markets as a tool for sustainable development, because the food supply chain of the traditional markets is hardly known. This is why it is important to get insight into the situation of traditional markets.

The goal of this research is to make clear how the food supply chain of four traditional Dutch markets look like and to research the potential of the fresh markets as a part of a local and regional food network. The main research question is: How does the food chain of the traditional fresh markets of the four biggest cities of Brabant look like and in how far is there potential for a larger regional embeddedness?

The share of regional food in the FSC of the fresh markets is larger than expected, namely 13 of the 27 interviewees in fruits and vegetables has a part of their products from their own garden or directly from a farmer. When one also counts the part of the clock auction, then this is 18 of the 27 interviewees. But still the biggest share comes from the wholesalers (59% of the total), so products that come from everywhere. The share of regional food in fruits and vegetables is very differently per city. Cheese is not specifically regional bought. However there is a growing share of organic cheese at the markets. The poulterers sell Dutch chicken, that come from intensive animal husbandry, and is directly bought from the slaughterhouses to be processed by themselves. They also have a growing share of organic meat, but it is still very small. In the hunting-season they also sell game, which comes from local hunters. The fish is mainly bought at wholesalers. Most of the market traders in fish do not pay attention to the MSC-label, but some of them do pay attention to the mating season of the fish, to maintain sustainable development.

The FSCs of the fresh markets of Brabant are not completely conventional and not completely alternative. This research also shows that the distinction is not so clear. The fresh markets have alternative aspects like local products, regional products, important social relations and little waste of food. These aspects however, are not visible to consumers and other parties, because market traders are not aware of it. The alternative aspects are mainly enhanced due to consumers preferences, quality preferences and the underlying traditions of the way of working of the market traders. Also trust plays an important role.

The fresh markets are embedded, especially in socially and cultural aspects, but also in territorial and ecological embeddedness. The fresh markets offer much potential for the enhancement of the embeddedness, but this is not visible in the present discussion on the regionalization of food supply chains. Click here for the thesis in Dutch