Voedsel Anders Conference 2016: A Personal Impression by Katie Sandwell

Produced for Voedsel AndersIn February 2016 the second Voedsel Anders conference brought people together to build newconnections and relationships within the food movement in the Netherlands, Belgium, and around theworld, and to begin working towards a shared agenda and strategy for the movement. Over a thousandparticipants, some returning and some attending for the first time, gathered in Wageningen to discuss foodsystem problems and solutions, plant the seeds of new ideas, build new connections, and grow themovement.

The conference was a very successful follow up to the 2014 “Food Otherwise” / “Voedsel Anders”conference, with more than 30 dynamic organizations and initiatives working to create a new kind of foodsystem. Both interactive, two-day events gave people passionate about creating a better food system in theNetherlands and Flanders a chance to come together and begin building a more cohesive movement. Theorganizations involved work on issues ranging from the environment, to young farmers, to internationalsolidarity or development; their activities range from farming and research, to advocacy and activism, andyet they share a commitment to creating a different kind of food system.

Opening and Welcoming

The opening sessions helped to set the tone forthe conference: discussion came together with art,and a diverse and growing movement waswelcomed to one of the Netherlands mostprestigious agricultural universities. Participantsbegan arriving in the early afternoon of February12 to musical accompaniment by Yeraz: pianoand saxophone greeted the diverse crowd as theroom filled with the first buzz of a conversationthat would carry on over two days.

Evelijne Bruning, director the The HungerProject, welcomed the crowd of new and veteranparticipants. An exercise revealed a mixed group,spanning many decades of age, hailing from atleast five continents, and identifying themselvesas students, researchers, farmers, entrepreneurs,consultants, activists, politicians and more, alldrawn together by the goal of creating a betterfood system. We began to get to know each other,introducing ourselves to our neighbours under

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Throughout the conference the audience was invited to share views, experiences, observations and questions (Joyce Fabriek)

Music by Yeraz welcomed the crowd (Daniel Gomez)

Evelijne’s guidance and reflecting, at the outset,on what would make Voedsel Anders a personalsuccess for us, and how we could make it happen.

Arthur Mol, Rector Magnificus of WageningenUniversity welcomed the audience to theinstitution, setting the stage with a discussion ofthe growth of global population and demands forfood, and the growing recognition of the need forsustainable food. He reminded us that these

questions are current, urgent, and complex, andthat we must base our discussions in evidence,but look beyond narrowly scientific notions ofsustainability or food safety to address fairness,transparency, identity, and social sustainability.He concluded with the hope that we will meetagain in the future: the conversations started herewill not be finished in two years, let alone twodays, but it is very important to start them, and tocarry them on.

During the conference:• Attendees were welcomed on the first day with music by Yeraz, on piano and saxophone, helping

to set the tone of relaxed and creative conversation that would carry on for the two days of the conference

• 60 workshops in English and Dutch offered participants the chance to dive in depth into topics likeintuitive agriculture, composting, fighting food waste, the role of meat in land grabbing, ediblelandscapes, short food chains, urban agriculture, food co-operatives, pesticides and biodiversity,land rights, food sovereignty, and much, much more;

• Conversations rolled on into the evenings,carrying over from lectures and workshops intopacked evening gatherings;

• Fresh, hot, vegan and vegetarian meals werecooked and served by volunteers atRampenplan;

• two different groups of musicians entertainedthe crowd and added emotional depth to thediscussions;

• A live-illustrator accompanied paneldiscussions, sharing his perspective with theaudience and creating beautiful images sharedwidely over social media;

• Participants overflowed into the vibrant Reclaim the Seed Festival next door to celebrate and learnabout seed saving and the need for seed sovereignty, and to swap or buy seeds;

• 75 volunteers supported to conference in a wealth of ways including baking home-made goodies tokeep participants going;

• Our facilitator solicited views from the audience,and made sure that everyone was heard and had achance to connect with people to argue orcollaborate, arranging dates and ad hocdiscussion groups to meet between sessions;

• Dutch-Greek chef Jonathan Karpathios developeda recipe for delicious vegetarian “beet”erballenwhich were cooked up for the group and served atthe closing party;

• Jan Douwe van der Ploeg was awarded the firstFood Otherwise award for his 40+ years of workwith farmers, connecting the Academe to socialmovements and food producers;

• Inspirations were exchanged, ideas cross-pollinated and the seeds of new collaborations andpartnerships were planted.

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Jan Diek van Mansvelt & Anneke Roth re-energized the group near the end of the first day (Daniel Gomez)

Conversations carried on into the evenings (Aart-Jan van de Glind)

Opening Keynotes: Jonathan Karpathios, Irene Cardoso, Jyoti Fernandez

Three keynote speakers from differentbackgrounds and sectors shared their perspectivesabout the necessity and urgency of change inglobal food systems.

Jonathan Karpathios, a Greek-Dutch chef told thegathered listeners about his passion for food,developed through years of work as a chef, andhis realization after the birth of his son that heneeded to find a way to continue to practice andexercise this love of quality food in a sustainableway, connected with nature. He left his kitchen

(temporarily) to work with a Greek farmer,learning more about sustainable farming andrealizing that there are farmers in the world whogrow and raise food with the same attention andpassion with which he cooks it. Jonathan arguedthat we must adjust our understandings of qualityand realize that truly quality food means foodwhich is raised in healthy soil, and treated withlove and care, from the field to the plate. Heended with a call about the urgency of changing

the way in which we live with nature, remindingus that while Mother Nature does not need us, oursurvival depends entirely on her.

Irene Cardoso, a researcher from Brazil and chairof the Brazilian Agroecology Alliance, shared theperspective from Brazil and argued thatagroecology should be understood as

simultaneously a science, a practice, and amovement. The need for sustainable food isintimately tied to the need to support familyfarms and to recognize farming as a culturalpractice. Family farms can and do engage withmarkets but they represent a different way ofworking with nature. Agroecological farmers,many of whom are also family farmers, rejectover-use of chemical inputs, and environmentallydestructive and socially damaging farmingpractices. Irene shared examples of large-scaleagroecological projects which nonetheless remaintrue to the principles of the movement, andcontrasted these with massive and chemical-intensive production of, especially, soy beans and

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Photo by Joyce Fabriek

Jonathan Karpathios spoke to the crowd about his life as a chef (Joyce Fabriek)

Irene Cardoso spoke to the crowd about the importance of agroecology (Daniel Gomez)

sugarcane which are destroying distinctive andbiodiverse regions of Brazil. She ended with adiscussion of the importance of growingagroecology as a social movement which she andher allies do by: working strategically with policymakers; hosting conferences and sharingknowledge; using peasant-to-peasant knowledgeexchanges; working with researchers anduniversities to further develop scientificknowledge without disregarding traditionalknowledge; and staging public demonstrations,among other tactics. Irene concluded byreminding us that everyone eats and, therefore,everyone should be engaged in the struggle for amore just and sustainable food system.

Finally, Jyoti Fernandes brought the perspectiveof a young farmer in the UK. She spokepassionately and volubly about the importance ofrecognizing agriculture as a source of meaningand culture, as well as of sustainable food. Amember of Via Campesina, the Land WorkersAlliance, and a co-operative producing local andsustainable food, she argued that land-basedhuman cultures are the foundation of sustenance,and that we have the resources to producewholesome, sustainable food that nourishespeople, land, and culture together. She spoke ofthe resilience and creativity of a generation ofnew farmers like herself, many from non-farmingbackgrounds, who are committed to using everycreative tool and strategy at their disposal toproduce food that they can believe in, in the faceof a policy environment which favours a verydifferent food system.

Jyoti’s own children, and her contemplation ofthe kind of life she wanted them to lead – and thelife she wanted to lead with them – helped toinspire her movement to the land but shediscussed the major obstacles the she and farmerslike her face. Fundamentally, land-based culturesrequire land: the kind of sustainable, embedded,culturally rich food systems that many newfarmers are working towards are not possible

without access to land. While creative solutionslike CSAs and co-operatives, shared tools and on-farm processing can make it possible for somefarmers to survive, these are comparatively smallniches and a transformation of the food systemwill require an equally large transformation foodand land policy to truly support sustainable foodproduction. Jyoti reminded us: this is what needsto be done, if we want a future for our planet.

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Jyoti Fernandez spoke about her experiences as ayoung farmer (Joyce Fabriek)

The audience had chances to discuss throughout the afternoon (Joyce Fabriek)

Monsanto TribunalIn a surprise appearance, international activistVandana Shiva joined Voedsel Anders toshare the news about a range of upcomingactions which will take place around theMonsanto Tribunal to be held in the Haguefrom 12-16 October 2016, concluding onWorld Food Day. Monsanto will be tried forcrimes against humanity, in recognition ofdamage to the environment, thecriminalization of seed-saving and relatedimmiseration of farmers, their lawsuitsagainst governments around the world whoban their products, and more.

On the 12th and the 13th of October, seed andfood festivals will celebrate alternatives andresistance. On the 13th and 14th, a public trialwill be held. Finally, on the 15th and 16th aformal tribunal including a panel ofinternational judges will sit in judgement ofMonsanto.

Everyone at the conference (and reading thisimpression) is invited to be involved, byplanning an action, sharing ideas, supportingthrough crowd-funding, or helping to growthe networks of the movement by identifyingother people who should be involved. In thisway, Vandana Shiva urged the crowd, we canspeak as a collective voice of sanity andfreedom against irrepressible tyranny.

Learn more about the Monsanto Tribunal at http://www.monsanto-tribunal.org/

“Aha!” MomentsComing together as a movement is about sharing inspiration, and cross-pollination of different ideas andsections of the movement. At the end of the first day, the gathering paused to share their “Aha!” momentsfrom the day’s workshops. A few thoughts which caused people to stop and think:

• Intuitive agriculture workshop: We shouldfarm not only with our brains, but with ourhearts as well.

• Compost workshop: these debates are not one-sided; we cannot imagine one kind ofagriculture that fits for everyone and everyplace

• The economic definition of profit is tiny:people, profit, planet captures much more ofwhat is really happening in the world

• A core question for sustainable farming is: howdo you put healthy soil at the centre ofeverything you do?

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Vandana Shiva invited the audience to get involvedin the Monsanto Tribunal (Daniel Gomez)

The crowd shared their insights and inspirations (Joyce Fabriek)

Debate: The future of agriculture and food (with live illustration by Remco de Kluizenaar)

Panel 1: Agroecology: The New Mainstream?

Martin Van Ittersum, Wageningen professor, andIrene Cardoso of the Brazilian AgroecologicalAlliance discussed the role of agroecology inbuilding a more sustainable food system.Professor Van Ittersum began by introducing thecrowd to the concept of yield gaps – the distancebetween the maximum that scientists believe acertain crop can produce and how much itactually produces in the field. He argued thatagroecology may help to reduce yield gaps,especially in Europe, but it is unlikely to beeffective enough to feed local populations in theglobal south. The crowd joined the discussion,questioning the methodology of yield measures(which often focus on single-commodity yieldsper acre, rather than total food produced,potentially misrepresenting polycultural systems),as well as arguing that absolute production maybe a red herring in a world where 40-50% of allfood is wasted.

Throughout a lively, occasionally rowdy, debateabout the colonial overtones and misconceptionsgrounding the notion of “feeding Africa,”Professor Van Ittersum argued that, whilemoderating western diets, reducing waste, andpotentially addressing global inequality areimportant, on their own they will not feed aglobal population of 9 billion a sufficient,healthful diet. He argued that, when talking aboutthe kind of food system we want, it is importantto recognize that conditions, and therefore theproblems people face differ around the world: thesolutions may also differ.

Throughout the debate our charming moderatorarranged “dates” for discussions of specific pointsto be discussed over drinks after the end of theformal session, opening the space for one-on-onedebates and a deeper engagement with otherpositions, across political boundaries.

Irene Cardenes took the stage to explain howagroecology is already on the road towardsbecoming mainstream in Brazil, supported byscale-appropriate policy and a focus on familyfarmers, who currently produce 70% of Brazil’sfood. However, there are still major obstacles tothis becoming the true mainstream in Brazil:chemical-intensive, export-driven agriculture

continues to consume huge amounts of land andresources. The way the universities are organizedhelps to perpetuate a gap between theory andpractice. Peasant to peasant methodologies whichconnect extension, education, and research arehelping to grow the movement and create spacefor it to enter and transform the mainstream.

Questions from the assembled audience rangedover broad perspectives: how do we bring non-human life into discussions of ‘feeding the world’to imagine a future that still retains other life?;how do we talk with people, rather than aboutthem, for example in the question of ‘feedingAfrica’?; What role does land-grabbing play inglobal hunger?; Does the massive funding gapbetween agroecology and conventionalagriculture skew our evidence and ourperspective on what is possible?; how do weensure that conventional agriculture keepsdeveloping and becoming more sustainable?

Panel 2: Policy Options for a fair income for farmers and world-wide food security

After giving the audience a moment to “shakeoff” one debate and prepare themselves for thenext, Sieta van Keimpena, Niek Koning, and Fritsvan der Wal took the stage to discuss the role ofpolicy in improving (or perpetuating) problems inthe global food system.

Sieta van Keimpema opened with a discussion ofthe challenges facing farmers today. Sheidentified the effects of the abolition of EU dairyproduction quotas on Dutch dairy farmers – theprice of milk has fallen well below the cost of

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The audience engaged with the panelists throughout the debate, raising new questions andviewpoints (Aart-Jan van de Glind)

production, and cheap processed products arebeing sold very cheaply in the developing worldin an attempt to deal with the available surplusand keep prices from sinking further. She arguedthat, to prevent this kind of situation, we need tohave the ability to put the brakes on markets. TheDutch Dairymen Board have consistentlycampaigned for a controlled volume ofproduction, with export only of products that aredistinctive to the Netherlands or can be bestproduced here, while government strategy wantsto conquer new markets with high production.

Niek Koning spoke about the relationshipbetween prices and food security, and thequestion of whether there is already enough foodin the world. He argued that the current state of

global abundance is fed by fossil fuels, and hasled to a significant growth in global population,which can only be slowed by economicdevelopment. Every rich country historicallyprotected their agriculture to allow development,which in turn slowed population growth. Heargued that a number of pressures from waterscarcity to demand for bio-fuels are convergingand will create threats to global food security inthe future. In this context leaving global foodproduction to the market is a huge gamble.

Frits van der Wal introduced the crowd to theFood Security Cluster with the Dutch Ministry ofForeign Affairs and the importance of workingacross disciplines and silos to develop policysolutions for food security. He discussed thepossibilities for transformation in the foodsystem, and the need for fair prices for farmerswhich allow not just a living wage but re-investment in farms. He argued that policy isusually oriented towards low prices for

consumers, because they are the bulk of voters,although other panelists pointed out that there arealso consumers who want farmers protected morethan they want low prices.

The panelists discussed the role for the Dutchgovernment in, for example, dictating the termsof international trade (through trade agreements)in a way that either disadvantages or protectsfarmers around the world. Panelists alsodiscussed the fundamental goals of Europeanagricultural policy (as laid out in the Lisbontreaty), to support stable markets and fair incomefor farmers, and whether these goals are beingmet by policy today. They raised concerns aboutthe “bio economy” and use of land to producenon-food products, as well as about the ‘pseudo-liberalization’ in current world markets, wherericher countries continue to support their farmerswhile demanding the opening of markets indeveloping countries. Panelists disagreed aboutdegree of the impact that rich nations have oninternal agricultural policy in developingcountries, and the state of agriculture around theworld.

The audience raised questions about the relativeimportance of the economy in an ecologicalcrisis, about the role of policy in determining afair wage for farmers, and what policy-makers arein a position to make these changes. The panelistshelped to raise and address many difficultquestions in this debate: how can globaldevelopment and farmers around the world besupported?; What is the relationship between theneeds and demands of local farmers, and those offarmers elsewhere in the world?; What role doesdumping from Europe and other developedeconomies play is undermining development?;

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Illustrations captured key themes, like the challenge of low prices for farmers (Guus Geurts)

Remco de Kluizenaar shared his perspectives with the audience through whimsical live illustrations throughout both debates (Aart-Jan van de Glind)

What role does global trade play in ending orperpetuating global poverty? In the end thisdebate ended without a clear resolution, but theevening closed with the thought “There is nosolution yet, but there is still tomorrow”.

Throughout both debates Remco de Kluizenaar’slive illustration helped to whimsically capture thekey themes and points of the discussions, fleshingout points with charming illustrations of farmsand farm issues.

Musical TheatreWe think with our hearts as well as ourheads. The second day of VoedselAnders 2016 opened with a musicalcontribution by Noortje Braat and EgonKracht: they shared songs of action, ofsadness, and of hope. One particularlypoignant piece was a love song to thefood system which is passing away.Taking the perspective of someone whohas invested themselves, their life, andtheir hope, in a system which is now,slowly, falling apart, Noortje sangwrenchingly of grief and betrayal, ofbeing blind with love and withcertainty, and of awakening todisenchantment. As we push towardstransition, finding the legitimacy in thegrief of those who believed and invested in the old system, recognizing that losing or rejectingsomething which you have poured your heart into is a real tragedy, is important to find our waythrough this transition. Compassion can help us to reach across political divides for allies. Othersongs struck a more hopeful note, and dealt with the possibilities for other ways of doing things.Even to a less-than-fluent Dutch speaker, the emotional content of the songs was powerful andgave a depth and urgency to the discussion to follow.

Piet van Ijzendoorn & Arjen Wals: Visions of food system transformationPiet and Arjen discussed the role that education,among other things, can play in making possible atransition to a new kind of food system, and howwe can support this kind of transition.

Arjen opened by addressing the question of howthe transition towards a just and sustainable foodsystem can be strengthened. He argued that thereis a tension between optimization and transition:do we need to improve the system, or replace it?Some people in the food movement believe thatwe need to do things better, others argue that weneed, instead, to do better things. How do wereach a place where we can involve as manypeople as possible in the movement? He spokefrom the perspective of an educator, andsuggested that we need to reject a world viewwhich sees each environmental and social issue asseparate. Instead we need to recapture a holisticview which we all tend to have as children, andwhich is educated out of us.

Arjen argued that although there are reasons to behopeful as more people pay attention to theseissues, the tendency to split into separatedisciplines, and understanding people primarilyas “consumers” can be an obstacle to developingsynergies and building towards transition.

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Noortje Braat and Egon Kracht's musical theatre addeddepth and emotion to the discussions at the conference (Joyce Fabriek)

Photo by Aart-Jan van de Glind

Further, we need to recognize the role of conflictin education and in food system transformation.We need to get to work on developing not justadaptive capacity but disruptive capacity – toolsto disrupt the remarkably robust and resilient foodsystem currently in power, and to call this intodoubt.

Piet van Ijzendoorn shared the ways in which hisown embracing of agroecological farming wasmade possible by a critical attitude to educationand to received wisdom, and an interest in howthings could be done differently and done betterthan they were in the chemically intensive mass-production model that was becoming popularwhen he entered farming. This led him to a kindof transition within himself, and to therecognition of the need to work with the Earth,rather than against it.

He argued that, to be in control of nature and ofour lives, we need to address the problems ofhuge inequality in the world today. We need tomake a transition which is personal, economic,social, and ecological and which moves us from aworld view driven by scarcity to one driven byabundance. For this to be possible it is criticalthat farmers are allowed to really farm, that theyhave the land they need, that policy is gearedtowards local food production, not exportmarkets, and that farming itself is orientedtowards building up the health of the Earth andthe soil. Most of the workshops held here overthese two days demonstrate models of transition,examples and ways of bringing about furthertransition. The panel concluded with the audiencesharing their experiences and examples oftransition.

Panel 2: Leen Laenens, JocelynParot, Jack Stroeken: Strategies for the food movementRepresentatives of VELT (an organizationpromoting ecological living and gardening inFlanders and the Netherlands), Urgenci (theinternational network for community supportedagriculture), and Slow Food Netherlands, cametogether in the final panel discussion of the day todiscuss strategies in the food movement. Jocelynopened with a discussion of CSAs, suggestingthat one reason they are so potent is because theynot only offer an alternative to the dominant foodsystem but are also a brilliant pedagogical tool – away for people to learn about their food and tounderstand what transition would mean and looklike in their own lives. This can be an antidote tothe fear of transition which people invested in thecurrent system and worried about losing their jobsand livelihoods may feel.

The panelists emphasized the importance of amovement being conscious of itself as movement,from coming together in events like this, todeveloping community charters etc. to allow it tocontinue to grow and evolve. Finally Jocelyn toldthe audience that recognizing CSAs as a part ofthe broader movement for Food Sovereignty,particularly through participating in the firstEuropean process on Food Sovereignty, was ofdecisive importance to the growth of their localmovement. European organizations will gatheragain in Romania in October 2016 and this willbe an important chance for the whole movementto come together to develop a shared action plan.

Leen, representing VELT, spoke about thedevelopment of a broader food movement in

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Panelists discussed how to further grow the food sovereignty movement (Joyce Fabriek)

Photo by Daniel Gomez

Belgium, and the connections between VELT andthe transition movement. She discussed howagroecology came to be a key term in theorganization, and how it captures a great deal ofwhat their members mean in talking about‘transition’. Agroecology and knowledge-sharingcan help to grow the movement and develop newways of working. Further, to grow a movement itis vital that we connect with each other so that wecan develop a perspective which is both broadand deep. VELT has facilitated this processlocally by developing an agroecology platform –a space for people to meet and exchangeknowledge and ideas. These processes, however,will take time: we need to balance patience andurgency for deep and long-term change. Finally,Leen also emphasized the importance of acting onmultiple fronts: not just developing or knowledgeand understanding but holding governments andcompanies accountable for their choices anddecisions, e.g. through the upcoming Monsantotribunal and related movements to pressuregovernments to take responsibility for thesurvival of farmers, through lawsuits and othermeans.

The final speaker, Jack Stroeken, representingSlow Food Netherlands, shared some of the

strengths of that movement. Slow Food is focusedon ‘good, clean, and fair food,’ with a focus onpreserving and expanding biodiversity within thefood system, in plant and animal varieties, butalso in research and farming systems moremetaphorically. The movement has grown tomore than 100,000 paying members globally(3000 in the Netherlands). Slow Food isorganized into local “convivia” and “presidia”and is focused on building alliances between e.g.farmers and chefs in order to help to showcase thepositive and the pleasurable in local food. Therole of “conviviality,” focusing on the comfortand pleasures of growing, cooking, and eatingtogether has been highly important to the successof the movement, as has the focus on buildingnon-hierarchically, working always from thebottom up rather than from the top down.

The audience joined in to share their ownexamples of transition, from working with seedbanks to preserve heritage plant varieties, todeveloping a movement of ‘slow science’ tosupport social movements. The panel concludedwith practical advice for movement-building: tofocus not on scaling up, but scaling out, cross-pollinating, and finding allies.

Reclaim the Seed During lunch or in moments snatched between workshops on Saturday, participants of VoedselAnders had the chance to join an allied event next door. Reclaim the Seeds brought togetherthousands of participants to swap their own seeds, buy or sell heirloom and heritage varieties, andparticipate in workshops about seed saving and other key topics. This was a boisterous gathering,crammed with people dreaming of their summer gardens and eagerly buying and trading seeds,bulbs, and roots. The right and the ability to save and trade seed is critical for food sovereignty andthis celebration of free and community-owned seed was a perfect accompaniment to, andillustration of the values and principles of, Voedsel Anders.

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People swapped their own saved seeds at a seed exchange table (Joyce Fabriek)

Local producers also sold organic and heritage seeds (Joyce Fabriek)

Olivier de SchutterOlivier de Schutter, though delayed by trainproblems, arrived in time to discuss the questionof transition. He argued that the transition to asustainable food system tends to be perceived interms of policy and economic instruments, butthat this conception is insufficient and relies on atop-down vision of power as something which is

exercised from above or, occasionally, seizedfrom below. He encouraged us to conceive ofpower as something which is exercised in alleveryday relationships. This way of thinking canlead us to a range of solutions which are lesshomogenizing, less top-down, and less obliviousto local difference. He argued that conceivingtransition as a top-down process has impacts onour behaviour, and leads us to focus our attentionon symptoms, rather than causes: food systemsare failing to deliver health and well-being for allbecause of deep structural issues in the wayresearch is organized, because of cultural lock-insor questions of how people are accustomed toorganize their lives, and because of political lock-ins, or the ability of those currently in power to

block change.

To address these issues we need ideas and modelsof transition which 1. start from the bottom, as forexample in recognizing and celebrating city-levelsolutions; 2. embrace solutions which do notcome from “experts” but from ordinary peopleworking out local solutions – e.g. Transitiontowns and 3. find a mix between ‘vote, voice, andexit’ - using all existingpolitical instruments as wellas opting out and developingautonomous alternatives. Wecannot give up on thepolitical process, but alsocannot rely on it as the only source of change.

Ultimately, we need to re-think political decisionmaking: In the 20th century representativedemocracy was our main instrument; votersselected politicians to make all major decisionsfor them, and were only minimally andoccasionally involved in decision making afterthat point. We need to put creative thinking aboutsolutions back in the hands of the people who areaffected by them, and who understand them.

When asked for advice for the Voedsel Andersnetwork de Schutter politely pointed out thatexperts giving advice to social movements issomething which happens too much already, butsuggested that ideas of scaling out, rather than up,supporting individual initiatives with structuralreforms, continuing to hold politicians and othersaccountable for their actions, and emphasizingfood education, as raised by previous presentersand panelists, all have a role to play in growingthe Voedsel Anders movement and building adifferent kind of food system.

Nyéléni Europe Forum 2016In October 2016 the second European Forum on Food Sovereignty will take place in Romania,hosted by the organic farmers' organization 'Eco Ruralis Romania' in order to strengthen andbroaden the movement in Europe. This meeting will be a follow up to the significant andsuccessful Nyéléni Europe Forum held in Austria in 2011, which brought together more than 400representatives from 34 countries, to discuss the struggles and strategies of a European FoodSovereignty movement.

It is time to take this conversation further. Organizing for the 2016 Forum is happening now. TheForum will be attended by national delegations, but in order to make the process as inclusive aspossible it is important that it is preceded by strong national consultations. This will allowdelegates to share the needs and goals of everyone in their networks. To find out more about theNyéléni Europe process, and its namesake, Nyéléni, visit http://www.nyelenieurope.net/en.

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Photo by Joyce Fabriek

“ You will not grow a tree bypulling on the branches”

WorkshopsThe true essence of Voedsel Anders was found in the 60workshops which took place over the two days, splittingpeople into smaller groups to share findings and research,brainstorm solutions and next steps, debate, and build newconnections and alliances.

Taking place in both Dutch and English, with a diversity ofthemes, formats, and topics, the rich offering presented somedifficult choices to attendees, but gave us the opportunity todelve into new topics or old specialisms. In general workshopsfeatured ample discussion and opportunities for all participantsto share their knowledge, questions, and diverse perspectives.

The workshop offerings were divided into four key themes,with varied discussions in each area:

• Agroecology;

• Access to Land and Land Rights;

• Fair Agricultural and Trade Policies;

• Short Chains and Urban Agriculture.

Details on just a few examples follow below.

Towards food sovereignty that works: presentations and discussion on a strategy for the food movement

This workshop profiled initiatives to bringagricultural workers into discussions of foodsovereignty. Although workers are a huge part ofour food system, discussions of food sovereigntymore often focus on consumers and independentfood producers, and say relatively little aboutlabourers including food processors, factoryworkers, fast food workers, and farm workers.This workshop aimed to change that. Karin AstridSiegmann’s presentation, read by the moderator

as she was unable to attend, introduced theImmokalee Workers movement, a highlysuccessful non-traditional union of tomatoworkers in Florida. The Immokalee workers haveworked to achieve better wages and workingconditions. Unusually, they have succeeded bydirectly approaching large-scale end buyers oftomatoes, especially fast food chains but alsosupermarkets like Walmart. They have used avariety of tactics including buying shares incompanies in order to attend shareholdermeetings, and working with consumers topressure companies. This strategy emerged out ofa recognition that tomato farmers themselves areincreasingly caught in food chains over whichthey have little control.

The second presenter, Giulio Iocco, presented hisresearch on two food sovereignty alliances insouthern Italy, with a focus on SOS Rosarno, aninitiative in Calabria which arose in response toracial violence threatening agricultural migrantworkers, as well as generally poor and temporarylabour conditions. This project was co-started byfarmers and farm workers, who saw that theyfaced many related and interacting issues in thefood system. With the support of politicizedconsumers and an already-active alternative food

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Interactive workshops addresseddiverse topics (Joyce Fabriek)

system in this region, these farmers and workershave been able to move away from commodityproduction of oranges for industrial processingand develop more diversified farms. They haveincorporated as a workers’ co-operative: allworkers not only receive a living wage year-round (rather than having to move continually tofind work), but are also democratically involvedin decision-making about their work.

These examples prompted a discussion of howthe food sovereignty movement can better engagewith workers. An important point that emergedwas that alternative food chains, while valuable,are small scale by definition – taking onmainstream food chains will involve workingboth with the state and with the large scale foodprocessors and buyers who are the major playersin the mainstream food system.

New organizational forms: Co-operative stores: by, through, and for the community:

This workshop introduced the idea of co-operative stores, an emerging model in theNetherlands and Belgium. The workshop wasspecifically focused on full-time stores with theirown premises and paid staff as opposed to othermodels like buying clubs run by volunteers.Although these face more challenges, they alsohave the opportunity to act as a more viablealternative to mainstream supermarkets,challenging ideas about what a supermarket is byproviding a space for community to gather andgrow, as well as to buy food.

Presenters from Bees Co-op (Belgium), GedeeldeWeelde (Maastricht), and De NieuweGraanschuur (Amersfoort) shared theirexperiences, leading into a discussion of how tostart a food co-op. Co-operatives have thecapacity to bring together consumers andproducers into new kinds of relationships, and toallow them to connect and build communityrather than communicating solely through price.This is particularly the case in co-operatives likeBees Co-op, which has farmer, consumer, andworker members (multi-stakeholder co-ops). Inthese cases, groups who the mainstream foodsystem sees as in conflict (consumers trying todrive prices down, producers trying to drive themup) are able to forge new relationships and workas allies.

Co-operative grocery stores demand more of theirmembers than ordinary stores, but this can be an

advantage as well as a challenge. These kinds ofstores, with a social purpose and mandate beyondcheap food, offer people a chance to learn abouttheir food and to practice democratic skills andcommunity problem-solving, offering the chanceto become co-producers and to think radicallyabout what we want from our food system. Thesepossibilities were illustrated by the presenters’stories.

The workshop concluded with a lively discussionabout starting a food co-operative, includingsome guidance from bodies like the Co-operativeGrocers’ Association who offer guidelines on howto begin a food co-operative. Hopefully someseeds were planted and the obvious interest andenthusiasm of the audience gives rise to agrowing co-operative movement in theNetherlands and Belgium.

Strengthening the Food Sovereignty Movement in Europe:

This workshop developed themes from threeworkshops in the Access to Land and Land Rightsworkshop stream, brought together small scalefarmers, shepherds, and fishers, and promptedfurther discussion on growing the foodsovereignty movement in Europe

Panelists began by addressing their relationshipswith broader movements. Most identified as partof multiple connected movements: foodsovereignty, La Via Campesina/the globalpeasants’ movement, the Solidarity Economymovement, and the artisanal fisheries movement.

Panelists discussed the need to cultivate foodsystems centred on people rather than profit.Alliances between consumers and producersemerged as an important theme, though several

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Panelists discussed in an informal format, with the facilitator introducing comments from the audience (Aart-Jan van de Glind)

panelists cautioned that producers’ perspectivesneed to remain central in the movement: small-scale and peasant food producers are most closelytied to food production and are therefore highlyknowledgeable about challenges, opportunities,and alternatives. This knowledge needs toinfluence policy processes, and consumers can bepowerful allies in making this possible.

“Food sovereignty” was identified as a keyconcept that helped to articulate the sharedconcerns of consumers and producers, and whichcould be used to bring people together ‘under oneumbrella’ as allies and as citizens. It wassuggested that building food sovereignty requires:resistance to harmful practices, transformation ofexisting mechanisms (e.g. subsidies), and theconstruction of alternatives.

Panelists also identified challenges to a more justand sustainable food system: difficulty accessingland, seeds, the right kind of markets, and thecommons, as well as issues in the wider economiccontext including a speculation in land andcommodities, a lack of understanding aboutalternative food networks, the continued draw ofcheap food, and exclusion of peasants and othercitizens from some major policy arenas.

However, participants argued that many of thesechallenges can be best addressed by workingfrom the ground up, developing alliances acrossdiverse social movements, and re-building localmarkets. Finally, the panelists shared the newsabout the upcoming European Food SovereigntyMovement: see the box on Page 11 for moreinformation.

Concluding Comments from Jan Douwe van der PloegJan Douwe van der Ploeg spoke to sum up theconference and draw together some of it’s majorthemes. He began by celebrating the scale of thisconference as a sign of the strength of themovement: over 900 people, 4200 cups of coffee,75 volunteers, many supporting organizationsfrom all sectors, and dozens of workshops wherenew alternatives are discovered. He argued thatcreativity is an act both of resistance andresponsibility: creating new solutions requireschallenging the system, but this is the only way

that system change or transition can come about.Criticism is necessary to begin this process andbringing about system change will involveconflict and confrontations, not just at thebeginning. Confrontations like the Monsantotribunal are necessary to bring about a transition.

Protest and confrontation arise from and expressthe belief that things can be different.

But in addition to resisting the dominant system,we need to begin todraw together all ouralternatives intocoherent systems –this is how we achievetransition, or systemchange. This is howwe show that we cando it differently. Bringing people and systemstogether in new ways cross-pollinates and createsnew strength. To better explain this, Jan Douweintroduced a theoretical concept from the worldof transition studies: cracks. Cracks in thedominant system provide spaces for alternatives,and as these cracks are filled and forced open, thedominant system can increasingly be replaced,made redundant, and eventually destroyed.

A movement for different food began in the1970s with the first organized resistance tomodern, corporate, and chemical-intensiveagriculture. But there has been enormous progresssince then. We have decisively moved beyond theidea that all farmers must “get big or get out”: weknow now that many more other strategies andpossibilities exist. Groups criticizing thedominant system in the 1970s were small andisolated, but have now come together into solidand robust international organizations with aworldwide reach. Our theoretical understandingof agriculture and ecology was limited, and thebulk of knowledge and research was controlled

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Jan Douwe van der Ploeg concluded that the food sovereignty movement in the Netherlands is a growing force (Daniel Gomez)

“People produce alternatives, and alternatives produce change.”

by those advocating for the mainstream system –today we have developed our knowledge andunderstanding immensely, especially throughagroecology. We have insight from manydifferent fields, from history, economy, politics,and more. Now universities themselves are alsobeginning to come on board: for a conference likethis to be welcomed by the Rector Magnificus ofWageningen University, and sponsored by theMinistry of Foreign Affairs, suggests that wehave no need, anymore, to feel the “Calimerofeeling”: “I am small and they are big and it isn’tfair.”. As a movement, we are not so smallanymore.

There is still a huge amount to do. There are hugeproblems which have been discussed here, frompoverty and environmental degradation, to cheap

commodities and farmers being forced off theirland by lack of opportunities and squeezed out ofthe market by trade agreements. But the foodmovement is here, and substantial, and is clearlynot an “old style” movement with an identifiableleader and core – it is flexible, catchy, polyvalent.This is an advantage in many ways but it alsomeans that we ourselves do not really understandhow our movement works. But we know that weneed platforms to exchange and share solutions,that the food movement should be present in allthe public and policy spaces where food is beingdiscussed, that researchers must be able to speakup and share their findings, and that we cannotaccept absurd circumstances. This conferenceshows the strength of the movement, but there isstill a great deal to do.

AcknowledgementsWe are very grateful to the Voedsel Anders/Food Otherwise Movement. Please view a full list ofaffiliates on the website here: http://www.voedselanders.nl/en/voedselanders_en/Start.html

The conference was supported by: Action Aid, ASEED, Boerengroep, Both ENDS, Cityplot, CLM,De Hoge Born, Dutch Dairymen Board, ELPG, FIAN Netherlands, Greenpeace, Hivos, ILEIA, LaVia Campesina, Land & Co, Louis Bolk Institute, Milieudefensie, Minsterie van BuitenlandseZaken, NetVISwerk, OtherWise, Platform Aarde Boer Consument, Rich Forests, Stichting RUAF,The Hunger Project, Toekomstboeren, Transnational Institute, Triodos Foundation, Uitgeverij Janvan Arkel, van Akker naar Bos, VELT, Vereiniging voor Biologisch-Dynamische Landbouw enVoeding, Wageningen Universiteit, Warmonderhof, Wervel.

This report is a personal impression commissioned by Voedsel Anders and prepared by KatieSandwell.

Photographs were kindly provided by:

Joyce Fabriek

Daniel Gomez

Aart-Jan van de Gilde

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