Like last year (see the respective blog on the field trip and the rather amateuristic video clip I made of it) students attending the course Origin Food: a market for identity made a field trip to the Rhederoord estate to learn more about the passion for local food and actually taste excellent local cuisine. Jidi Xu, one of our enthousiast students made a ‘cool’, dynamic video clip of the field trip that will especially be appealling to young people, although I liked it very much too!
PUREFOOD Research Vacancy ‘Comparative analysis of urban food strategies’
The vacancy for a position as Early Stage Researcher (ESR) for the project ‘Comparative analysis of urban food strategies in European cities’ within the PUREFOOD research and training network has been re-opened. More information about PUREFOOD can be found below and on the PUREFOOD website (which is still under construction).
Job description
For this PUREFOOD project ‘Comparative analysis of urban food strategies in European cities’ we are looking for an Early Stage Researcher who is interested in the topics of urban food provisioning and the relations between food and policy domains as public health, education, environment, et cetera from a sociological, political science and/or planning perspective. The research will focus on how food policies are articulated and motivated in different European cities and what the consequences are for their implementation. This focus is inspired by the fact that more and more city governments are taking up food as a key policy area to enhance human and environmental urban health. The challenges of policy articulation and implementation are big. The articulation of food policy has so far been reliant on individual politicians and on a political level vulnerable to electoral shifts. Institutionalization of food policy in city governments has just started and different patterns of institutionalization are emerging with particular pitfalls and successes. This study will explore the preconditions, political processes, strategy articulation and implementations of urban food strategies in different European cities in comparative perspective to enhance the understanding of the conditions for successful urban food policy implementation. Continue reading
Intensive rural experience in the Italian Dolomites
In the impressive mountain area of the Italian Dolomites, province of Belluno, four female students from the Wageningen University spent the first two weeks of April. They participated in this year’s Intensive Program on Rural Development. The IP was about “the role of agriculture in territorial identity” of Belluno Province. To read more about their experiences, click on the links below.
– People in the IP – Suzanne de la Fonteijne
– Methods used during the IP – Lise Alix
– (Food)culture – Annemijn van der Schaar
– Role of Wageningers in the IP – Marina van Maanen
The agrarian mind
Not so well-known in Europe is Wendell Berry, farmer, teacher, poet, activist, ecologist. I came across his writing in Iowa in 2009 and I was deeply moved. His writing resonated. The agrarian mind. The feeling of depth of place, of connection to land, of mysteriousness of nature. Rhythm, cycles, seasons, belonging, acceptance; place and sense making. I found his poetry incredibly powerful. Indeed, to touch land and grow food is a vital energizing force for me. In a contribution to the book Fatal Harvest he wrote:
To the agrarian mind, which is the only mind capable of rebuilding the culture of healthy soils, water cycles, richness, and diversity. May it multiply in future generations so they can recoup what has been lost and create farms and economies that are sustainable, humane and beautiful.
With lots of pleasure, but barely making a living, I see the agrarian minds in this region who work hard to create this culture of healthy soils and healthy food. They are heralded as good examples of sustainable food production but are at the same time scraping for an income. Their effort not only nourishes people but also nourishes and rebuilds local resilience, an impact far beyond current prices. Book after book appears which critiques the current culture of profit and greed, the myth of self-regulating markets, the power concentration in the food industry and the urgency for sustainable alternatives. But the larger audience seems intoxicated by passiveness. As if food, land and the planet are not urgent matters to all of us. Who wakes up the agrarian minds?
Uitnodiging Studiedag Multifunctionele Landbouw
Op woensdag 15 juni a.s. organiseert de vakgroep Rurale Sociologie (samen met collega’s van Educatie- en Competentiestudies) een studiedag rond het thema multifunctionele landbouw. Deze bijeenkomst vormt de afsluiting van van het tweejarige onderzoeksproject ‘Dynamiek en Robuustheid van Multifunctionele Landbouw’.
De studiedag vindt plaats op Landgoed Heerlijkheid Mariënwaerdt en is bedoeld voor iedereen geïnteresseerd in en betrokken bij de huidige en toekomstige ontwikkelingen van multifunctionele landbouw in Nederland (ondernemers, onderzoekers, beleidsmakers, adviseurs etc.). Aan deelname zijn géén kosten verbonden.
Download hier de volledige uitnodiging. Voor meer informatie en aanmelding kijk ook op de website van het onderzoek ‘Dynamiek en Robuustheid van Multifunctionele Landbouw’.
Tot ziens op 15 juni a.s.!
Rural Sociology Wageningen University 