Vrienden van het Platteland – stage

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Appelplukdag 2008

Appelplukdag 2008

Door Simone Plantinga – MSc-student 

Van mei tot september 2008 heb ik stage gelopen bij Stichting Vrienden van het Platteland (VvhP) in Wageningen. VvhP is een organisatie die probeert de kloof stad – platteland te dichten door middel van verschillende activiteiten. Onder de noemer ‘Ontdek je band met het Platteland worden er het hele jaar verschillende evenementen (open boerderijdagen en fietstochten) georganiseerd, met als hoogtepunten in september de Appelplukdag en de Dag van het Platteland. De Plattelandsgids is een onderdeel van de website waar  plattelandsondernemers hun verbrede activiteiten kunnen promoten.

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Excursions give real-world examples

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Excursion 02-03-2009, Course Globalisation and Sustainability of Food Production and ConsumptionBy Zachary Daly – exchange student at Wageningen University from Guelp University, Canada.

It’s always nice to be able to actually go out and see real-world examples of what you are studying and reading about in class. During the course Globalisation and Sustainability of Food Production and Consumption we had the opportunity to visit some farms. As such it was very interesting to see and talk to two organic farmers that are involved in alternative food provisioning networks, but work in a quite different way. The first farmer, Gerrit Marsman, has a mixed farm called De Eerste with a cheese factory and home delivery service, employing about 10 persons. He was ideologically very dedicated to what he was doing, talking about the madness of the global trade in feed and food, the health problems that the use of chemicals in agriculture cause, and the problem of a short-term and money-oriented economy leading to financial crisis. The second farmer, Rene de Lange, appeared to be less ideological motivated and more pragmatic. His family owns has a brand new farm with milking sheep in national park De Weerribben, a protected landscape of high cultural and natural value. A high milk production per sheep is important to him and his wife, as well as a hygiene-proof processing unit to make cheese, yoghurt, and ‘feta’. They market their products under the label of Weerribben Schapenzuivel (sheep dairy), through a wholesaler, to organic food shops all over The Netherlands, and even for export.

Rural Development in Brazil: interfaces between public policy and social actors

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From the 10th till the 28th of February Prof. Sergio Schneider of the Federal University of Rio Grande de Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil is visiting Wageningen under the agreement CAPES-Wageningen University. Sergio is Professor of Rural Sociology and Coordinator of the Post-Graduate Programme in Rural Development (PGDR). In his contribution to the Rural Sociology Weblog he briefly introduces his research domain. He will also present this at a research seminar of the Rural Sociology Group on Thursday 19 February at 16.00 hrs in room C70 of the Leeuwenborch building.

Sergio SchneiderBy Sergio Schneider – Since the 1990’s discussions on rural development in Brazil are no longer associated with policies to combat poverty. From these times onwards discussions on rural development have been related to themes like environmental sustainability, land reform, policies to support small family farming and more recently, the issue of food security. The discussion on rural development in Brazil has gained strong momentum … Continue reading →

A Future for Food

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Cover page of the 'Future for Food' report Gradually more countries are developing a more holistic policy approach to food. Today I came across a report entitled A Future for Food: Adressing public health, sustainability and equity from paddock to plate, written by Australia’s Public Health Association (PHAA). In this report the PHAA states that Australia is in urgent need of an integrated food policy and calls on public bodies (such as governmental departments and the education sector), private parties (such as the food industry) and the voluntary sector (e.g. community based organisations) to realise this integrated approach to food. The strength of this report is its focus on food as a multi-dimensional policy domain; i.e. a food policy should not solely focus on nutrition but should also include a broad approach to public health as well as issues of environmental quality and social inequalities. What I particularly like in this report is the aim to involve the education sector in a national integrated food policy: “to ensure basic food literacy and skills education is available in all schools in Australia, as well as being available via community-based education initiatives“. Teaching children about the many aspects of food could be, I believe,  a very fruitful strategy to prevent a significant increase in food related health, environmental and social problems in the near future. In that respect it would be interesting to learn from countries, states or cities that have adopted an integrated approach to food policy, including involvement of the education sector, in the (recent) past.

Landschapskwaliteit en verbrede landbouw

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Schaalvergroting van agrarische bedrijven zal veel kernkwaliteiten van Nationale Landschappen verder onder druk zetten, zo luid de conclusie van het in 2008 gepubliceerde WOT-rapport Helpt boeren de Nationale Landschappen. De negatieve effecten van schaalvergroting kunnen deels opgevangen worden door meer verbredingsactiviteiten in te passen als aanvulling op het inkomen. Bij hervormingen in het Gemeenschappelijk Landbouwbeleid van de Europese Unie kan gerichte inkomenssteun voor maatschappelijke diensten ingezet worden.

neven-voorpagina-thesis3Er zijn volop potenties, maar de relatie tussen verbrede (of multifunctionele) landbouw en landschapskwaliteit is niet zo eenduidig en evenmin vanzelfsprekend, zo bleek uit een afstudeeronderzoek van Kees Neven in het Groene Woud. Wil verbrede landbouw bijdragen aan landschapskwaliteit dan moet daar zowel op bedrijfsniveau als op gebiedsniveau richting aan worden gegeven. In Het Groene Woud doet probeert men dat met een Streekmerk, maar ook andere gebieden als de Noordelijke Friese Wouden is op zoek hoe dat handen en voeten te geven. Het belonen van (hoogwaardige) groene diensten die bijdragen aan landschapskwaliteit kan ondernemers hierin stimuleren.