Category Archives: RSO-student

Voedselvisie “Ede, de proeftuin voor Food”

Posted on by

Door Lara Sibbing, MSc-student Organic Agriculture (contact: lara.sibbing@wur.nl)

Voedselvisie EdeTijdens mijn stage bij de gemeente Ede heb ik bijgedragen aan het opstellen van een beleidsvisie rond voedsel. Dit heeft geresulteerd de notitie ‘Ede, de Proeftuin voor Food’ die in het voorjaar aan het college van B&W is aangeboden.De voedselvisie van Ede is te downloaden van de webpagina Ede kiest voor Food waar ook een korte toelichting wordt gegeven.

Met deze visie, die voortborduurt op de toekomstvisie Ede 2025, laat de gemeente Ede zien waar zij op in wil zetten op foodgebied: proeftuin voor Food worden door Ede en Edenaren, bedrijven en organisaties te stimuleren en te inspireren op drie hoofdthema’s: (1) Innovatieve bedrijvigheid in de regio, (2) Sociaal & Gezond en (3) Onderwijs & werkgelegenheid. De nieuwe gemeenteraad zal zich binnenkort over de voedselvisie buigen. Op dit moment wordt er hard gewerkt om samen met Edenaren een strategie op te stellen om de doelstellingen uit de visie te bereiken.

Les Indomptables : An ethnography of niche novelty production in Walloon Agriculture (MSc-thesis)

Posted on by

By Vincent Delobel, MSc Regional Development & Innovation Wageningen University

My ancestors from both sides have been farming for ages. Peasants have continuously held this as ancestral as salutary art of nourishing “débrouillardise” (lit. problem-solving creativity) for ages; they have fed others in the plain as in the mountain, under dictatorship as under “democracy”. However, farmer newspapers today say we may disappear soon; ‘eternal’ peasant population rushes to the bottom.

Are we really going to disappear? How and why did we get to this situation? What is going on in farms today? What are farmers’ plans and projects? What futures do these projects lead to? This is in short the structure of my MSc-thesis ‘Les Indomptables : An ethnography of niche novelty production in Walloon Agriculture’. This alarming observation motivated me to go and see on farms in order to better see, understand phenomena going on in the reality of farms, and to reflect deeper on underlying issues. Thus, I phoned a few cousins and other colleagues and told them I was interested in their “inventivité” (inventiveness), their own way of doing things; I asked them to go and work with them in their own farm, in their daily activities -whatever it would be- to understand why and how they are looking to change their routines, i.e. for novelties.

Continue reading →

Puur & Eerlijk zonder zegeltjes – Topkoks over voedsel en koken

Posted on by

Door MSc-student Guido Verheul

Puur en Eerlijk zonder zegeltjes Koken staat volop in de belangstelling. De afgelopen jaren zijn kookprogramma’s op televisie als paddenstoelen uit de grond geschoten en onlangs is er zelfs een ‘kookkanaal’ opgericht waar men 24 uur per dag terecht kan voor lekkere recepten of documentaires over voedsel. Ook topkoks worden gelauwerd om hun kookkunsten in televisieprogramma’s, boeken, tijdschriften, kranten en andere media, wat hun mening maatschappelijk bezien erg relevant maakt. Ik heb daarom besloten om voor mijn MSc-thesis deze topkoks te interviewen. In ‘Puur en Eerlijk zonder zegeltjes; een analyse van de claim op ‘kwaliteitsvoedel’ van Nederlandse topkoks‘ doe ik verslag van mijn bevindingen. Continue reading →

Re-making of place in Maramures, Romania – MSc-thesis reserach

Posted on by

By Anthonet Baijense, MSc-student International Development Studies (Research Master Variant).

Currently, I stay in Romania were I will spend my summer to learn the language, visit friends, do some traveling and last, but most importantly: to gather data for my master thesis. I am pleased to write once and a while about my experiences and research here and I hope you enjoy to read it!

Some students visited Romania last February as part of the Intensive Programme, and wrote some blogs with their reflections: e.g. on Traditional food. It was very nice to read about your experiences! Indeed, the Romanian saying goes that ‘my favorite vegetable is meat’ and for a vegetable freak as me, it was a change of diet! Amazing what people here eat for breakfast! It took me some time to get adapted! I stay in the North of Romania, in the district called the Maramureş, which is on the border with Ukraine. Because traveling around here is –let’s just say- complicated, my research focuses mainly on one village: Poienile Izei (see photo’s).

Let me now introduce you to my research as well. If you go on Google to find some pictures of the area where I stay, you will gain the impression that the Maramureş is indeed –as often described- a rural area overflowing of traditions and with a traditional style of life and architecture.

Continue reading →

Learning about the role of agriculture and natural resources in sustainable rural development – student’s reflection (1)

Posted on by

Together with four students of Wageningen University, I recently spend two weeks in Kaunas, Lithuania to represent Wageningen University, and the Rural Sociology Group, at this years’ ‘Intensive Programme’ on rural development. In the following series of posts, the participating students reflect on the programme and share their experiences.

By Malou Heidekamp (student Master International Development Studies):

The last two weeks of April I got the opportunity to participate in an Intensive Program (IP) in Lithuania. It is a yearly study program of two weeks to bring students from over whole Europe together to discuss a topic. This year theme was: “Role of Agriculture and Natural Resources in Sustainable Development”. The program consisted of presentations, field excursions in smaller and larger groups, social evenings, group work in international setting and country presentations. In total there were about 40 participants and 20 tutors, a mixed group from different universities, countries and cultures.

Continue reading →