Live blogging at European Eemland Conference (2)

(About live blogging Here are some notes from the European Eemland Conference. The usual disclaimers for life blogging apply: these are just some notes of one individual, not a representation of “The Thruth”. If others will share with us their notes, a mosaical, multi-perspective “social report” will grow. This “stream of impressions” is nice for those who are not with us, to get an idiea of what has been going on, as well as a shared “product” which we co-create from the conference. Anyone can join, just tag blogposts, photos, with “guusnet” or ask for a login in for this Guus’ blog and become an author).

Jan Willem van de Schans’ presentation on Wednesday afternoon

“Von Thunen revisited”

when he started work: the feeling was: we pay too much for agriculture, best to move it to developing countries

competing claims for space

70.000 ha of farmland converted to other uses: recreational, nature

BUT:

cities are becoming increasingly aware of sound food policies

city food strategy: closer-by food production
eg London and Toronto
in city planning they want to re-introduce food production planning

food as a public responsibility
Amsterdam also wants to reconnect with farmers

food policy in Europe has become a supra national affair, but needs to be localized again

cities, local regions, are reconnecting

Quality of life
Three cities, Boxtel, Oisterwijk and Best. They wanted to attract knowledge workers who want excellent quality of life and recreational facilities. so they introduced in their regional planning  quality of landscape; nature as well as farmland.

Food miles
Oil production has peaked already, so our footprint is becoming important. Super markets are picking up on this and show foodmiles.

circular city maps with city and surrounding country side (perishable products near the cities, livestock for meat a bit further, arable crops in the periphery)
central city
the Von Thunen model
country side
but the rules and conditions of the Von Thunen model have changed

eg. LCA life cycle analysis shows, it is better to grow roses in Kenya than in NL (the transport is bad, but energy during growing cycle is much lower)

closing the natural circles
if you close the natural circles, (not only food miles, but also manure miles etc)
local is not good just because of food miles, but also to close local cycles

food security
this was deemed ridiculous for our wealthy country to be concerned about food security, but history has shown: in the long food chains there are some risks: export bans etc
so local food security becomes more important
———-
urban agriculture
farming and the city are a natural combination
farmers could grab the chance to teach their skills to those urban people who want to do it.

(so the farmer joins the traffic jams to work in the city?, we are listening to a plea for agric in the city and hosting city people for anything but agriculture  in the rural area?????)

park  on top of parking

an edible park; a farm or garden rather than a park
real estate

“Food sovereignty”

people want to reclaim control over food

conclusions:
urban food system planning
-farming as positive rather than negative externality (move them closer and make food prod  a real issue in town and city planning)
-think in terms of mixed functions (eg happy shrimp farm, tropical shrimp in R’dam area)

Urban rather than rural re-vitalization
focus on the real demand of cities rather than trying to make good use of whatever happens to be redundant in rural areas
focus on middle and lower incomes
consider ethnic variety as opportunity (turkish yoghurt procuced in the green hart

some examples:
spin farming

so:
Farmers have something to offer
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Agrarisch landschap is ook natuur!

Dit zijn Inge and Hans. Ze zijn deelnemers aan de Eemland Conferentie. Ze zijn collega’s, beide werken bij Provincie Zuid-Holland.

In hun werk lopen ze tegen het volgende aan.
De vraag van burgers naar “mooi landschap” wordt door beleidsmakers vaak min of meer automatisch geinterpreteerd als een vraag naar “natuur”. Terwijl veel mensen een agrarisch landschap ook waarderen, sterker nog, in de beleving van veel mensen is landbouw zelfs helemaal niet gedifferentieerd van natuur: Een koe in de wei is ook natuur. Bij “landschapsbeheer” als functie denken de politiek en beleidsmakers veel eerder aan natuurorganisaties dan aan boeren.

De vraag van Hans en Inge:

Hoe krijgen we (beheer/waarde van) agrarisch landschap op de politieke agenda?

Live blogging from Eemland Conference

About live blogging

Here are some notes from the European Eemland Conference. The usual disclaimers for life blogging apply: these are just some notes of one individual, not a representation of “The Thruth”. If others will share with us their notes, a mosaical, multi-perspective “social report” will grow. This “stream of impressions” is nice for those who are not with us, to get an idiea of what has been going on, as well as a shared “product” which we co-create from the conference. Anyone can join, just tag blogposts, photos, with “guusnet” or ask for a login in for this Guus’ blog and become an author.

Wednesday, afternoon session

Interactive forum discussion with different speakers on the four pillars of the Versatile Countryside concept
show master: Eelke Wielinga

first pillar:
Entrepreneurship

What are the symbols of your enterprise that you have brought?

Alfredo Cunhal: the symbol i have in mind is “a home”, i want my farm to be the home for manykind people, for animals, for biodiversity

Hillar Pulk: for me the symbol of my farm is “enjoyment”, meaningful enjoyment. It is never a single thing alone which people like, the complex interplay of the many facets of the farm, which turn it into a real experience, is what people enjoy.

Bram Prins: (showing elastical “spider” with hooks, used for tying things, eg. to the back of your bike) This is what I think of as a symbol for my farm: a spider in the web of my surroundings, links, networker, ties to others.

But when we think of entrepreneurial spirit, we do not usually think of ties, of considerations with the surroundings. Usually we think more of a free spirit. Are you a special kind of entrepreneurs? What makes you an entrepreneur? Why do you feel responsible not only for your own income, but for societal values at large?

It is a matter of seeing opportunities, and of course it is very important to look at the values people feel are important.

Can you make money, earn an income: is there a business case?

It is not always easy, but I have survived so far. There are so many components to my farm.

In the times when my father farmed it was simply a matter of producing as much milk as possible. Now it is more complex.
We need to “earn” a license to exist, we need to earn a license to produce. We have to justify what we are doing.
For all types of farms it is needed to link to the surroundings and take into account what others deem important.

What is the entrepreneurial part in it?

We are an SME, a small or medium enterprise, we need to play a role, innovator role to regional innovation.

What do you expect from this conference?

Well, we are people too, we look for inspiration, new ideas, motivation.  Contacts with other people.

Maybe we can establish a collaboration

Possibly cooperate with universities.

Splitting up “farmers” in groups as if they where separate is the stupidiest thing to do. Look, Jan Huijgen is a very different farmer than me. but all of us have to work in the triangle of PPP; People Planet and Profit. Each of us has to decide on a good mix of these P’s. I am often associated with working for a profit, but also large, production-oriented farms have to realise that nowadays they need a license to exist, that they need to take planet and people into account. And i sometimes need to remind Jan that he has to make a profit for a living!

So today our conference motto is ploughing, breaking ground. It is also symbolic for breaking structures, so that new things can develop. What are the things to do according to you?

Changing the mindset of farmers, to make them aware of what is happening around them.

To think of ethics, ethical values.

Photo report in English

our portuguese guests at Eemland Conference

For English speaking readers, have a look at our slide show of first impressions of European Eemland Conference, with English comments!