Victory Gardens revisited – the Obama Foodscape

Posted on September 4, 2009 by Han Wiskerke

US World War II era poster promoting Victory Gardens

Victory Gardens, also known as ‘war gardens’ or ‘food gardens for defense’ were fruit, vegetable and herb gardens planted in backyards and on rooftops in the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia during World War II. They were considered to be an important means to reduce the costs for vegetables needed by the US War Department to feed the troops and to safeguard food security. One of the advocates of the Victory Garden was Eleanor Roosevelt, US first lady from 1933 to 1945, who also planted a Victory Garden at the White House. The Victory Gardens were a great success: the 20 million Victory Gardens in the US produced up to 40% of all vegetables that were consumed in the US.

After World War II the number of Victory Gardens rapidly decreased as most citizens believed that food shortages would be over soon. However, in recent years there is a campaign to re-establish Victory Gardens. Not to reduce the price of vegetables needed to feed US troops, but primarily from the perspective of food sovereignty; as a means to escape the growing dependence of consumers on the food stuffs provided by the food processing industries and retailers. At the same time gardening is also considered to be an important instrument in greening cities, in growing sustainable communities and in educating children about food and healthy eating (see e.g. our recent blogs about urban agriculture and nourishing the city).

For such a movement to become a success it is always helpful to have a leading figure as an icon. It seems that the USA’s new first family, in particular first lady Michelle Obama, is taking on this role. For the first time since the Roosevelt days, the White House once again as a garden. This beautiful short movie gives a good impression of the White House kitchen garden and the rationale behind it.

However, there is more to food and the Obama’s than the White House kitchen garden only. Recently President Obama announced that he wants to set up a White House farmers market to support local farmers and as an example of creating new connections between cities and its surrounding countryside. Interested to be informed about the Obama Foodscape, have a look at the Obama Foodorama weblog.

Urban Agriculture / Stadslandbouw

Posted on September 3, 2009 by Petra Derkzen

Growing food in urban gardens and allotments has a long history. In the Netherlands, allotment gardens are a marginal but natural part of the city’s infrastructure. Other European countries have their own history in urban gardening too, such as many Eastern European countries. Also in the US, urban gardening is a long standing practice.

However, in the Netherlands as well as in the US, urban gardening is moving from the fringe into the heart of a debate about health and sustainability. The manifestations look similar. For example, the Alemany Farm in San Francisco which started on a vacant lot (see story) or the Red Hook urban farm (see earlier blog). Also in Rotterdam, Proefpark de Punt started on a vacant lot and also this initiative met skeptics of urban planners and city leaders until it had proven itself.

Reading the articles and websites of initiatives related to Urban Agriculture in the US and its counterpart ‘Stadslandbouw’ in the Netherlands, there seems a striking difference too. In the US, the food production aspect of the gardening is taken far more serious as an option for providing people a significant portion of their daily food. Growing food in urban gardens is about access to fresh food. Not in the last place for those who do not have easy and affordable access.

In the Netherlands, this notion is not absent of course. But the language around the initiatives starts from a broader notion of the need for ‘green space’ for the health of the urban citizen. A green environment, education about nature and food, recreation possibilities in accessible green spaces, the improvement of mental health and social cohesion by means of gardening. These notions can also be found in the initial objective for setting up Proefpark de Punt:

‘Landleven in de Stad’, een natuurlijke speel- en recreatiemogelijkheid voor de buurt te creëren.

A trend watcher on the website of Proefpark de Punt talked about ‘squatting green space’ which is what many initiatives in the US and the Netherlands essentially do. However, the local context differs considerably which means that the connections to health and sustainability are interpreted quite differently. A call for comparative studies I guess.

Proefpark de Punt

Multifunctional Agriculture miniconference

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Han Wiskerke

On Thursday 8 October 2009 we are organizing a miniconference about multifunctional agriculture (recently also announced in Dutch). This event is part of a two year research project entitled ‘Dynamics and Robustness of Multifunctional Agriculture’ and is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality. Aim of this conference is to examine what we can learn from experiences in other countries to enhance the development of multifunctional agriculture in the Netherlands. Four speakers will talk about (aspects of) multifunctional agriculture in different countries: Italy, United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil and China.

Mariënwaerdt (source: http://www.marienwaerdt.nl/)

The miniconference will be held at Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt and participation is free of charge. All presentations as well as the discussion will be in English. If you are interested to participate, please apply by sending an e-mail to corine.diepeveen@wur.nl. You can also use this e-mail address for any queries about the miniconference.

Dynamics and Robustness of Multifunctional Agriculture – Lessons from Abroad *Thursday 8 October 2009* Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt, De Hooge Schuur, ‘t Klooster 5 in Beesd
12.30 – 13.00	Welcome and coffee/tea
13.00 – 13.05	Conference opening by the chairman	Krijn Poppe – Chief Science Officer Agro-chains and fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Nature & Food Quality
13.05 – 13.15	The multifunctional conference setting – a short introduction to Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt	Frans van Verschuer – Owner of Rural Estate Mariënwaerdt
13.15 – 13.30	Dynamics and robustness of multifunctional agriculture – introducing the project and presentation of the first results	Han Wiskerke – project coordinator and Professor of Rural Sociology, Wageningen University
13.30 – 14.00	Multifunctional agriculture in Italy – the rural district approach in Tuscany	Gianluca Brunori – Professor of Agricultural Economics, Pisa University, Italy
14.00 – 14.30	Multifunctional agriculture in the UK – the role of the state and the public sector	Roberta Sonnino – Lecturer in Environmental Policy & Planning, Cardiff University, United Kingdom
14.30 – 15.00	Multifunctional agriculture in Norway – the relation between multifunctional agriculture and sustainable rural community development	Katrina Rønningen – Senior Researcher at the Centre for Rural Research, Trondheim, Norway
15.00 – 15.30	Coffee/tea break
15.30 – 16.00	Agrarian and rural development dynamics across the globe – comparing Europe, China and Brazil	Jan Douwe van der Ploeg – Professor of Transition Studies, Wageningen University
16.00 – 16.55	Debate: inspiring lessons for multifunctional agriculture in the Netherlands
16.55 – 17.00	Conference closing by the chairman
17.00	Drinks

Sustainable food planning conference

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Han Wiskerke

On 9 and 10 October 2009 the first Sustainable Food Planning Conference will be held. This conference is an initiative of the AESOP (Association of European Schools of Planning), the ISOMUL (International Studygroup On Multiple Use of Land) and the Rural Sociology Group of Wageningen University.

The sustainable food planning conference is organized to examine the role of food in urban and regional planning. Although political, societal and academic interests in food and the city are rapidly increasing, food largely remains a stranger to the field of urban and regional planning, spatial planning policies and planning studies. Recently the American Planning Association launched its Policy Guide on Community and Regional Food Planning. Inspired by this policy guide, this conference seeks to explore ways in which food can and should be incorporated in planning practices, policies and research and develop strategies for enhancing sustainable food planning in Europe. The character of the conference is primarily agenda-setting by establishing a network of planning practitioners, policymakers and agrifood and planning scholars in Europe and beyond.

Restaurant and meeting centre De Kemphaan (source: http://www.restaurantdekemphaan.nl/content/ons_bedrijf)

The conference will take place at De Kemphaan in the city of Almere in the Netherlands. If you are interested to participate in this conference, please apply by e-mail to corine.diepeveen@wur.nl. Costs for participation are € 100,- (incl. drinks, lunches and diner). The number of participants is limited to 50 persons. For more information have a look at the conference programme below:

Day 1 – Generating ideas, exchanging experiences and comparing perspectives
09.00 – 09.30	Welcome and coffee/tea
09.30 – 09.45	Food and planning: an introduction to the conference	Prof. Kevin Morgan (Professor of Governance & Development, Cardiff University, UK)
09.45 – 10.00	Including food and agriculture in urban planning: the Almere approach	Mr. Henk Mulder (Almere municipality – director urban development and planning)
10.00 – 10.30	An integrated and territorial perspective on food studies, policy and planning	Prof. Han Wiskerke (Chair of Rural Sociology – Wageningen University, NL)
10.30 – 11.00	Coffee/tea break
11.00 – 12.00	Session 1: Agri-food policy issues
11.00 – 11.30	Food and agriculture in Europe’s peri-urban regions	Mrs. Dwarshuis (President of Peri-Urban Regions Platform Europe – PURPLE)
11.30 – 12.00	Feeding the city: practices, challenges and lessons from developing countries	Mr. Henk de Zeeuw (director RUAF foundation)
12.00 – 13.00	Session 2: Urban food planning practices
12.00 – 12.20	The practice of food planning in New York City	Dr. Nevin Cohen (Associate Professor in Urban Studies at the New School for Liberal Arts, New York
12.20 – 12.40	The practice of food planning in New York State	Mr. Bob Lewis (Senior Planner New York State)
12.40 – 13.00	Amsterdam’s food strategy (“Proeftuin Amsterdam)	Mr. Bart Pijnenburg(Programme manager Proeftuin Amsterdam)
13.00 – 14.00	Lunch break
14.00 – 15.30	Session 3: Theoretical perspectives and academic issues
14.00 – 14.30	Reconnecting consumers and producers: dynamics, diversity and potentials of alternative food networks	Prof. Gianluca Brunori (Professor of Agriculture Economics – Pisa University, Italy)
14.30 – 15.00	Urban Food and Public Spaces: Planning for Security and Sustainability	Dr. Roberta Sonnino (Lecturer in Environmental Planning – Cardiff University, UK)
15.00 – 15.30	Food and the city: the links between food, public health and sustainable urban development	Dr. Martin Caraher (Reader in Food & Health Policies, City University London, UK)
15.30 – 16.00	Coffee/tea break
16.00 – 18.00	Excursion to City Farm Almere	Tineke van den Berg (urban farmer)
19.30 – 22.30	Drinks & Diner
Day 2 – Towards an agenda for sustainable food planning
09.00 – 09.30	Welcome and coffee/tea
09.30 – 10.00	Including food in planning studies and planning practices: experiences from the USA	Prof. Jerry Kaufman (Professor Emeritus of Urban and Regional Planning – University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)
10.00 – 10.45	Issues, topics, themes for a sustainable food planning agenda (plenary inventory)	Moderated by Prof. Arnold van der Valk (Professor of Land Use Planning – Wageningen University, The Netherlands)
10.45 – 11.15	Coffee/tea break
11.15 – 12.45	Developing the building blocks for a sustainable food planning agenda (parallel working sessions)
12.45 – 14.00	Lunch break
14.00 – 14.45	Plenary presentation of and discussion about results of parallel working sessions	Moderated by Prof. Terry Marsden (Professor of Environmental Policy – Cardiff University, UK)
14.45 – 15.00	Sustainable food planning in Europe: concluding reflection and look ahead	Prof. Kevin Morgan (Professor of Governance & Development, Cardiff University, UK)
15.00	Coffee & tea / end of conference

A local food movement in central Finland?

Posted on August 27, 2009 by Petra Derkzen

After the ESRS conference in Vaasa, I joined my friend Ella to her place in Sotkamo in the north east of Finland. In Finland Sotkamo is better know as Vuokatti, the ski and outdoor holiday area within the municipality. It makes the center of Sotkamo a rather lively exception in a region suffering from de-population and ageing rural communities. Why would a young generation of farmers take over? A real challenge for Ella’s boyfriend, a dairy farmer in the region Kainuu. Milking 16 cows on 45 hectares party under conservation agreement, he is the only dairy farmer left in his village, delivering his milk to the cooperative a hundred kilometres further. With the decreasing milk price, these are hard times to make a living from this farm.

overview of the farm

Alternatives are needed, but somehow, the development of alternative food systems seems to take off very slowly in Finland. Jokinen and colleagues (Maaseudun uusi aika 2/2009) give three reasons; 1) the long distances in the sparsely populated areas; 2) the strongly consolidated food supply chain (the three largest retain chains control almost all grocery sales in the Nordic countries) and 3) the declining co-operative culture in abated rural communities. I was struck by the similarity in reasons/conditions to the American Midwest, where, especially in Iowa alternative food systems do take off – against the odds.

Farmer cooperation, consumer awareness and civic action and organisation are among the most needed ingredients for building local food systems and sustainable livelihoods in Finland. Currently, this intermediary level of organisation is lacking in many places. How to start a positive cycle of development depends on many interrelating and partly unpredictable factors. Good examples – from within Finland or from oversees – might inspire people to invest in their communities and in local food.