Tag Archives: Agriculture

SOLINSA project has come to an end – the results

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January 31 the EU-funded research project SOLINSA has offically come to an end. A Special Issue of The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension is in preparation. Publication of the SOLINSA issue is foreseen for early 2015. For now the results of the project are available at the SOLINSA website under four subheading:

  1. The concept of LINSA
  2. The relation between AKS and LINSA 
  3. Interacting with LINSA
  4. Policy recommendations

Transition partnersHere public reports of the different workpackages are published, six factsheets, posters and two video clips made for a SOLINSA webinar in which Gianluca Brunori and Talis Tisenkopf explain what LINSA are.  These are also available at You Tube SOLINSA Project. To get an overview the SOLINSA home page offers a guided tour through the project and its results. The notion of transition partner captures well the various supporting roles towards LINSA.

Feminization of Agricultural Production in Rural China – PhD-thesis Xiangdan Meng

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January 2014 Xiangdan Meng has successfully defended her PhD-thesis “Feminization of Agricultural Production in Rural China:
A Sociological Analysis“. It can still be viewed at wurtv.wur.nl.

Rural-urban migration of male labour force is an unstoppable process in China. Although some women also migrate to work in cities, most of these women return to the villages after marriage. They need to take care of the children and the family and to work on their smallholder farms. In general, women’s labour participation in agriculture has increased due to the migration of the male labourers and they have become the main labour force in smallholder agriculture. This thesis is a sociological analysis on the impact of this change on the situation of these women and on smallholder agriculture from the women’s perspective. Continue reading →

Food Sovereignty: A critical dialogue – live streaming of conference

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Food sovereignty conferenceFollowing the Yale conference (see the post), the ISS-Agrarian, Food & Environmental Studies (AFES), Initiatives in Critical Agrarian Studies (ICAS), Transnational Institute (TNI), Institute for Food and Development Policy/Food First, Land Deal Politics Initiatives (LDPI) and The Journal of Peasant Studies organised a Food sovereignty Conference in The Hague, Friday 24.

Download the programme. There will be live streaming of the conference.

Food Otherwise Conference – February 21, 22 2014, Wageningen

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Food Otherwise Conference: Towards fair and sustainable food and agriculture systems
February 21, 22 2014 Wageningen.

More and more farmers, consumers, scientists and civil society organisations are working towards sustainable and fair ways of producing food. They are forging new relationships between farmers and consumers. They offer creative, dynamic and diverse alternatives to large-scale, anonymous and industrialised food production and the increasing influence of transnational corporations. Do you want to learn, experience, think along and discuss new and feasible food and agriculture systems with others? Would you like to build bridges and help to achieve a more sustainable and fair food and agriculture system? Do you want to get to know sustainable (young) farmers? Become inspired by innovative examples from the Netherlands, Flanders and abroad? Then come to our two day conference in Wageningen on 21 and 22 February 2014!

Keynote speakers • Olivier de Schutter, UN rapporteur on the right to food • Pablo Tittonell, professor Farming Systems Ecology Wageningen University • Hanny van Geel, farmer and board member of La Via Campesina Europe • Vandana Shiva, Indian scientist and activist (tbc).

For whom? Farmers, consumers, scientists, beekeepers, students, artists, professionals in the food and agro sectors, policymakers, politicians and journalists. Translation English-Dutch provided in the plenary sessions. Some workshops will be in English. Workshops and discussions around several themes, such as: • Local food networks: from producer to consumer • The power of large agricultural corporations • Agro-ecology • Fair incomes for farmers • Urban agriculture • Permaculture / food forests • Fair trade and Agricultural policies • Land rights • Seeds and biodiversity • Soil and closed-loop agriculture

Grassroots science event – Discussing the future of agriculture: myths, facts and moving beyond

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The next event of the Grassroots science series is a discussing on “The future of agriculture: myths, facts and moving beyond”: Wednesday November 20, at 20.00  in the Forum building.

Discussiants are:

  • Josef Keulartz (emeritus professor environmental philosophy)
  • Tomek Ponti (consultant on sustainable agriculture)
  • Jacques van Nederpelt (platform ABC, author of ‘8 myths in food and agriculture’)
  • Jan Diek van Mansvelt (Down to Earth, emeritus professor WUR, co-founder Louis Bolk Institute and former director IFOAM)

Sign up at http://grassrootsscience.nl/events/wed-20-nov-the-future-of-agriculture-myths-facts-and-moving-beyond/