Art and social interaction on Mando; Call for Researchers

The Wadden Sea coast of Denmark from Tønder to Blaavand is a beautiful natural and rural area with three wadden islands Romø, Mandø and Fanø. For the third time, the biannual Wadden Sea Festival from 4 to 12 september draws attention to this area with various forms of Contemporary Art at many different places. One of the art [...]

Boeren buitenspel gezet – Inspraak en onvrede in Restveen en Groene Waterparel

Door Reinier van der Starre, MSc student Het melkveehouderij/akkerbouw bedrijf van mijn familie in de Wieringermeer wordt bedreigd door de  planvorming voor het Wieringerrandmeer. Dit proces volg ik dus al jaren van dichtbij. Wat mij opgevallen is, is dat mijn familie maar ook andere boeren in de omgeving zeer gefrustreerd zijn geraakt tijdens dit planvormingproces. Hierbij [...]

Food initiatives in Amersfoort

   “Eating is an agrarian act” said Bart Pijnenburg at a meeting last Thursday in Amersfoort. So we ate together with 50 people a meal based on regional products and lots of garlic from the farm Eemlook. The meeting was organized by Transition Town Amersfoort, the Eemlook and two consultancies Mensenland and Eemstad Lab. “We” were all [...]

Through a Food Lens…

By Simone Plantinga – MSc student For the Dutch version of this text follow this link A year ago, I started with the research for my MSc Thesis in Rural Sociology. The research was carried out in Tilburg, a city in the Province of Noord-Brabant, in the south part of the Netherlands. After a couple [...]

Als door een voedselbril…

Door Simone Plantinga – MSc student For the English version follow this link. Mijn afstudeeronderzoek naar Food Policy Councils, is gestart naar aanleiding van een aantal verkennende gesprekken binnen de vakgroep Rurale Sociologie van Wageningen Universiteit, met de Brabantse Milieufederatie in Tilburg en de Provincie Noord-Brabant en gaat over de randvoorwaarden, mogelijkheden en de beperkingen [...]

The Black Gold

Last week, students of the course ‘Agrarische en rurale ontwikkeling, sociologische perspectieven’  had two days of excursions and could choose from 4 different excursions to see different models of multifunctionality and institutional arrangements in farming (see Birgit’s blog about a different excursion). With our group, we visited the Stadsboerderij Almere and the nearby Zonnehoeve in Zeewolde. Both farms have different other [...]

Romashki or a Life Less Ordinary, part 3

By Thomas Macintyre …Belka the squirrel had been swishing her tail back and forth, and when I looked at her she held out a walnut for me to take. “This is a present” she said, as I took the nut. “It is a nut that was too high for you to reach in the tree. [...]

Who’s ‘the’ farmer?

Yesterday (Tuesday) 42 first year students , Paul Hebinck and I visited two Dutch farms for the course ‘Agricultural and Rural Development: Sociological Perspectives’ (RSO 20806 ). We firstly visited the multifunctional farm ‘Eemlandhoeve’ of Jan Huigen. In an inspiring talk, Jan explained about the development of the Eemlandhoeve and the future plans. The farm has [...]