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04/03/2011
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Jan Eelco Jansma en Esther Veen
On the day of the provincial elections, I visited the cities of Assen and Groningen. Groningen, designated the Capital of Taste, has been active for a number of years in connecting the urban green areas with the Stadjers (the inhabitants of Groningen). In various locations within the city, fruit trees have been planted in cooperation with residents, a flock of sheep keeps the verges and grassy strips neatly trimmed, the catering facilities within the municipal council serve local produce, and entrepreneurs in the surrounding area take on the challenge of selling their wares in the city. Following in the footsteps of Groningen, Assen is also keen to create space for forms of urban agriculture.
In many other cities spades will hit the soil. Artists are involved in urban agriculture in various cities, based on the idea of allowing people to experience public spaces in a different way. There are also entrepreneurs who see a market in locally-grown, fresh produce, including the urban farm in Almere, a greenhouse grower who supplies residual heat to a care home, and Willem and Drees who sell locally-produced food to supermarkets. There are also community groups that create a neighbourhood garden from a paved square or who grow herbs and flowers in the tiny sections of soil visible around the base of a tree in an otherwise paved area. Concerns about our eating habits, living environment and lifestyles often lie at the heart of such initiatives. But entrepreneurs also see opportunities to offer new products and services locally.
We define urban agriculture as the production of food and the provision of related services in, around and for a town or city. Such services could include education, care, catering, or the management of green spaces, as well as local energy production by means of the fermentation of waste. Urban agriculture is a broad concept, ranging from the head of lettuce in the neighbourhood garden to the commercial enterprise on the edge of the city. A quick search through the archives of the local and national daily newspapers demonstrates that urban agriculture received much more media attention in the years 2009 and 2010 than in the preceding years. It seems as if everyone is talking and writing about it these days. However, so far urban agriculture as a movement has been very fragmented. Local food production must be given more attention by political and administrative bodies if it is to become more than just a hype. There is no consistent or coordinating national or local policy on urban agriculture. It is also difficult to categorise it under a single policy area; urban food production touches topics such as nutrition and health, agriculture, spatial planning and social cohesion. It fits in everywhere, as a result of which no-one really has responsibility.
A number of professionals within city councils are occupied with urban agriculture with great dedication. These professionals are working towards getting forms of urban agriculture off the ground in their own municipalities. In 2010, 15 of these professionals joined forces in the network of cities for urban agriculture (stedennetwerk stadslandbouw). Assen and Groningen provided two of the participants. This network has been facilitated by two research groups from Wageningen UR (Applied Plant Research (PPO) and Wageningen UR Livestock Research). It is a platform through which professionals can exchange expertise and experiences.
A feeling shared by many of the participants is that it is difficult to put urban agriculture on the map within the municipality itself. They feel that they get little or no support within the municipal council and have difficulty convincing their colleagues of the importance of urban agriculture. It goes without saying that this obstructs the development of urban agriculture. The ambition of this network is therefore to put urban agriculture on the agenda both locally and nationally. They will make it clear that this “hype without an owner” has genuine prospects. We aim to work on allowing this network to grow into a strong “perspective owner”.
Jan Eelco Jansma
Esther Veen