Tag Archives: conference

Food Sovereignty conference Yale University – papers online available

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The Yale University Program of Agrarian Studies and Journal of Peasant Studies jointly organized the International conference on Food Sovereignty: a critical dialogue, 14-15 September in Yale, celebrating both the 20th anniversary of La Via Campesina and the 40th anniversary of the Journal of Peasant Studies.

Various reknown scholars in peasant studies will present a paper and discuss the food sovereignty concept as advocated by the La Via Campesina movement. Conference papers are online available and a selection will be published in the Journal of Peasant Studies. See for more information also the Food First weblog of the Institute for Food and Development Policy. Eric Holt-Giménez is the executive director of FoodFirst/Institute for Food and Development Policy.

Also Prof. dr ir Jan Douwe van der Ploeg,  former chair of Rural Sociology and currently Professor Transition Studies at Wageningen University,  presents a paper titled ‘Peasant driven agricultural growth and food sovereignty‘ with the following abstract:

The concept of food sovereignty represents an important theoretical and practical challenge. The political economy of agriculture can only take this gauntlet by developing a better understanding of the processes of agricultural growth. Without such an understanding it is difficult to address the issue of food sovereignty. Developing such an understanding involves a (re-) combination of the political economy of agriculture with the Chayanovian approach. This paper gives several explanations (all individually valid but stronger in combination) as to why peasant agriculture results in sturdy and sustainable growth – it also identifies the factors that undermine this capacity. The paper also argues that peasant agriculture is far from being a remnant of the past. The different peasantries of the world are shaped and reproduced by today’s capital (and more specifically by current food empires), and equally, they help to shape and contribute to the further unfolding of forms of capital related to food and agriculture. It is important to understand this two-way interaction between capital and peasant agriculture as this helps to ground the concept of food sovereignty. This article is underpinned by three assumptions. First, the debate about enlarging total agricultural production is very real. Although this debate is currently used to assess the hegemony of food empires and imperial science, we cannot throw away the baby with the bathwater. Secondly, the capacity to produce enough (at different levels, distinguishing different needs, etc.) needs to be an integral part of food sovereignty discourse. Thirdly, I am convinced that peasant agriculture has the best credentials for meeting food sovereignty and has the capacity to produce (more than) sufficient good food in a way that can satisfy the (many) objectives of producers themselves as well as for society at large.

The City 2.0: Global e-conference about Integral Cities

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 City 2.0 is a virtual innovative conference that starts on September 4th featuring 50 visionaries, designers, teachers, and leading edge practitioners from different industries, sectors and disciplines, from all over the world, for a conversation about the future of the city. I feel honoured that I have been invited to participate in the first session about the ‘eco-region’ together with prof. Karen O’Brien from Norway.
The conference organizers invite everyone interested in the future of cities: “We’ll dream, dialogue, and design together. We want your voice to be included. This groundbreaking event completely free because we believe it’s just that important. We hope you’ll join us and share in the learning, inspiration, and envisioning”. Continue reading →

WG on ‘Civic Food Networks’ at conferences ‘Ag in an Urbanizing Society’ IFSA 2012 and IRSA 2012

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As follow-up of the successful Working Group on “New Forms of Consumer Engagement in Food Networks: Diversity, Mechanisms & Dynamics” that was held at the ESRS Conference in Chania, Crete last August 2011, we will organize Working Groups on similar topics at different scientific events in the coming year. The different scientific events for which WGs are organised are the following. For specific details see links:

1. International Conference “Agriculture in an Urbanizing Society” on Multifunctional Agriculture and Urban-Rural Relations, 1-4 April 2012 in Wageningen, The Netherlands, Working Group 3 “Exploring ‘civic food networks’ and their role in enabling sustainable urban food systems”, convened by Petra Derkzen, Cornelia Flora, Markus Schermer and Henk Renting, http://www.agricultureinanurbanizingsociety.com/UK/Working+group+themes/WG3

Deadline for abstract submission extended to 20 January 2012. Deadline for paper submission 1 March 2012.

2. 10th European International Farming Systems Association (IFSA) Symposium on “Producing and reproducing farming systems: New modes of organisation for sustainable food systems of tomorrow” in Aarhus, Denmark, from 1-4 July 2012. Workshop 4.1 “‘Civic food networks’ as driver for sustainable food and farming systems”, convened by Chris Kjeldsen, Markus Schermer and Henk Renting, http://ifsa2012.dk/?page_id=341

Deadline for abstract submission extended to 3 January 2012. Deadline for paper submission 1 March 2012

3. XIII World Congress of Rural Sociology of the International Rural Sociology Association (IRSA) on “The New Rural World: From Crises to Opportunities” in Lisbon, Portugal from 29 July to 4 August 2012, Session number 64 “New Forms of Consumer-Producer Cooperation within Food Networks: Comparing Experiences in the North and the South”, convened by Henk Renting, Gianluca Brunori, Flávia Charão Marques and Claire Lamine, http://irsa2012.com/media/uploads/events/irsa2012/XIII_WCRS_sessions_description_session.pdf

Deadline for abstract submission 15 January 2012, Deadline for paper submission 15 May 2012

We propose to use the concept “Civic Food Networks” as a common denominator for the type of newly emerging food networks that we wish to explore in these different Working Group sessions. This term has several advantages compared to other commonly used concepts such as “Short Food Supply Chains”, which has mainly been used in producer-centred analysis and in relation to rural development impacts, and “Alternative Food Networks” which mainly proposes an opposition to dominant, conventional food systems and implicitly supposes that these types of networks never will become mainstream and will continue to remain marginal. Additionally, the term “Civic Food Networks” clearly expresses that the food networks we want to explore have their basis within civil society and that, rather than merely as economic actors, consumers and producers in these networks mainly cooperate as “citizens” in new forms of collective action to shape the food system. As such, they can be understood as expressions of new forms of “food citizenship” in which consumers and producers together regain control over the ways in which food is produced and relations between state, market and civil society within food governance are actively reshaped.

We have tried to ensure that the various WG meetings have a different thematic focus within the topic of Civic Food Networks so the conferences will complement each other and broaden the geographical range of our debates. We are also trying to establish a mailing list of people interested in debates around Civic Food Networks. If you want to be included in this mailing list, please contact us at rentingh@gmail.com or Markus.Schermer@uibk.ac.at