This document summarizes Harry Donkers' presentation on local and global food systems. It begins with an overview of industrial and local food systems, their successes and failures. It then discusses the paradigm of sustainable food security and how it requires reconnecting producers and consumers locally. Examples are provided of short food chains, local and regional food systems, and how they can be governed. The challenges of industrial and local systems in solving world hunger are also examined.

1. Local Food for Global Future
Presentation at the
Design Department
Food Non Food at
Design Academy Eindhoven
Harry Donkers
10 November 2015

2. Headlines
Industrial and local food systems
Practical examples in The Netherlands and in Russia
Structured approach: classification and governance
Knowledge and innovation

3. Successful:
production
volumes and
finance
Successful: efficient
use of natural
resources, less
waste
Unsuccessful
: social
aspects
Unsuccessful:
social and
ecological
valuesIndustrial
agriculture
and food
New paradigm:
Sustainable food security
(explicit mention of
sovereignty and safety)
Local focus
Local
agriculture
and food
Linear economy (no true costs):
Circular economy (partly true cost):
New food economy (true costs):
Industrial and local agriculture and food

4. Large distance between producers and
consumers
Up-scaling leads to an exodus of smaller
farmers and culture
Entrepreneurs become employees
Loss of awareness of food quality
Miles and miles of monocultures
Use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides
Loss of biodiversity
Oligopolistic competition: worldwide
and nationwide
Mega-farms, industrial processing
Food products treated as commodities
No fair prices for farmers (European
protests)
Too far-bred animals
Social: Far removed
Ecological: Mono
Economic: Mega Global
Cheap and poor quality basic food commodities, ‘synthetic enriched’ by the processing industry
Hunger on the one hand and obesity on the other hand
Current industrial system

5. Concentrations within the Dutch food chain
Infographic | 17-08-2014
Source, PBL, Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Managers of supermarkets have a great deal of power!

6. People
Profit
Planet
Sover-
eignty
Safety
Embeddedness
Fair prices
Biodiversity
and climate
Health
Right to food and right
to food production
Sustainability
(Brundtland)
Food security
(Shiva)
The paradigm of sustainable food security

7. The paradigm of sustainable food security
requires a focus on local resources
Social well-being: A reconnection of producers and consumers requires a local basis.
Economic features: Fairer incomes for farmers require fundamentally new forms of
capital that people can arrange locally.
Ecological features: The local framework is the best option for careful ecological
processes, resources and energy cycles largely to be closed, and
crop growing and animal husbandry to be interconnected.
Food sovereignty: Regions or nations to decide themselves on their production and
consumption of food, requires nationwide, regional and ultimately
local governance of food systems.
Food safety: Monitoring locally is less complex than monitoring global
industrial chains.

8. Reconnecting producers and consumers
(people and nature)
Control of local food production and
consumption
Access to sufficient food
Fair prices
Local/regional production
Micro machinery and
small scale processing
Food is not seen as a
commodity
Access to
the
countryside
Biodiversity
Right to food and right to
food production
Local/regional production
ensures access to food for
all people in the region
Awareness of
food impact on
health and well-
being
Social: Proximity
Economic:
Micro/Regional
Ecological: Multi
Food Sovereignty:
Access for all Food Safety: Resistance and
Nutritional
Local and regional agriculture and food systems

9. The industrial and local trap in
solving the world food problem
Industrial system
Solving the world food problem needs
more volumes of production
Do the increased volumes reach the poor?
Local system
Solving the world food problem is
equivalent to the paradigm of Sustainable
food security that implies a local focus
Do the local systems meet the features of
the paradigm?
Defends: Claims:
Industrial trap Local trap

10. Largest and broadest farmer side by side in Bunschoten
Eemlandhoeve is an organic farm with 40 beef
cattle (sucklers) and extra functions: meeting
facilities, family days, education, care, a shop
and more ….
Hoeve het Witte Schaap is a modern
dairy farm with about 400 dairy cows
and robots for milking, feeding and
manure handling.
Jan Huigen and Gerrit Schaap are organizing the excursion: ‘Largest and broadest farmer'

11. Largest and broadest farmer
Largest en broadest farmer side by side in Bunschoten
Hoeve het Witte Schaap
Hypermodern dairy farm ca. 300 dairy
cows, with robots for milking, robots
for feeding and robots for stall mucking
In an excursion to both farms, farmer and philosopher Jan Huijgen shows the
differences and makes it clear that both forms of business can coexist
De Eemlandhoeve
Apart from ca. 40 beef cattle also other
markets, conference center, kitchen
gardens, apiary and education center

12. Recommendations: Bottom-up regional initiatives; Profiling agriculture in spatial debate; Develop added
value; Farming with nature / landscape and recreation / tourism and hospitality industry; Develop specific
regional research and policy; Encourage regional branding
Crop growers:
Arable farmers
Horticulture
Nature organizations
Hotels/Rest./Catering
Processors/shops
Animal
farmers
Products for self
cooking
Animal contacts
Landscape:
Grain fields
Crop growing
Horticultural
products
Outdoor eating
R
e
c
r
e
a
t
i
o
n
e
m
p
l
o
y
e
r
s
producers
consumers
tourists
arrangement
arrangement
arrangement
Vechtdal Food Community

13. Organic/natural food chain in Krasnodar, 2012
Chain partners:
– Producers, small farmers
– Organic shop
– Catering
– Internet shop
– Cafetaria
– Restaurant
Support needed:
– Facilitate lead farms to
demonstrate successes
and to serve as a
model farm for small
farmer
– Better knowledge and
training for better
quality
– Better mutual co-
operation
– Possibilities to invest

14. Classification of food systems
Combination of geographic and social aspects
/Cooperation

15. Short chains
Examples:
Farm shops, farmers markets, experiences, food teams, CSA, Web shops,
Short chain governance:
Aiming at a better cooperation between consumers and producers.
.
Raw milk production and consumption

16. Local food systems
.
Urban food systems:
Rural food systems:
Food provision in the rapidly growing city of Dar es Salaam
Examples:
Local food system governance:
Employment opportunities and attractive rural areas, urban challenges and opportunities
for sustainability and biodiversity.
Rural and urban food systems should not stand alone.
Policy support to establish linkages between rural and urban food systems, reducing the
rural-urban divide.
Slow Food Communities
Impact of small and private farmers on rural development in Russia
Urban Agriculture
Localfoods.org.uk

17. Producers/en
trepreneur-
ship
Consumers/
citizens and
institutions
Local
governments/
Societal
organizations
Regional
Embedded
Slow Food
Convivia
Transition
Towns
Regional
cooperation
Slow Food
communities
Food Strategies
Food Policy Councils
Stimulating knowledge
Sustainable
regional
development
Supporting
governance
Interaction
Rural-urban
environment
Characteristics of regional food systems
General example of regional
food governance: Regional
(typical) products in bids for
local and regional
governments

18. Regional food systems
Amsterdam
Rotterdam
The Hague
Utrecht
Randstad region
Metropolitan food systems:
Conurbation food systems: Countryside food systems:
Cityside food systems:
Corridor food systems: Connected cities food systems:
Food security in Belo Horizonte
Twin cities Local Food Initiatives
Minnesota/Saint Paul
Eindhoven cityside region
The Area Cooperative
Oregional in the Connected
cities Arnhem-Nijmegen
Boerenhart
Examples:
Regional food system governance:
These ‘core’ systems flourish when producers, consumers and local governments cooperate.
Natural development; self sufficiency and sustainable food security.
Regional cooperation is a critical factor.
Instruments: Integral regional planning, joint building of regional food strategies.
Boerenhart
Vechtdal region
Groene Woud:
green area between town-trangle Eind-
hoven, ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Tilburg

19. City gates Karpen, Strijp and Genneper Parken connecting
Eindhoven with Peel, Meierij and Kempen
Meierij
Kempen
Peel
Karpen
Strijp
Genneper Parken
Groendomein Wasven
Philips Fruittuin
Genneper Hoeve
Example of a
cityside region

20. Cooperating Regional initiatives:
Interests bundling, stimulate
regional multifunctional,
value formation, knowledge-
embedding, supra-regional
development agenda:
Food Hubs = infrastructure for upscaling
regional initiatives
Interregional or national food systems
Examples:
Interregional food system governance:
Increasing efficiency; exchange information, products and services.
Supporting the various regional food systems.
Solving the region transcending problems.
Creating logistics hubs, regulations, interregional cooperation.
Toward a regional food policy in Europe

21. Transregional or global food systems
Border regions:
Vecht/Vechte
Brabant+Oost-Nederland,
Niedersachsen en Westfalen
Policymaking bodies and movements:
Doha-round 2001,
still busy
OECD:
EU: Committee
for the Regions
Regions that are not adjacent to each other:
Cooperation
Netherlands/ Germany
and South Africa/
Swaziland/Mozambique
around Vecht/Vechte and Komati river
Examples:
Transregional food governance:
Promoting international cooperation between regional food systems.
Handling confrontations between established institutions and societal movements.
Eliminating global barriers by international bodies and stakeholder representatives.
Creating favourable conditions for national, regional and local interests.
Mitigating the power of monopolistic/oligopolistic elements by governed international trade.
Building international connections and agreements; transregional cooperation, twinning.
Rio+20 and beyond

22. Building Food Building a more
Strategies equitable world
From government From one-
to governance dimensional flow
to dialogue
Application areas of sustainable food security
Implementation of knowledge and innovation
Policy and Aid
Basic
disciplines
Local
production
and
processing
Social
sciences
Ecological
sciences
Economics
Food
sciencesTechnology and
Organization
Social
From far
away to
nearby
Economic
From global
to local
Ecological
From mono
to multi
Sovereignty
Right and
access to
food
Safety
Building
resistance
Holistic approach
Knowledge Innovation ICT Financial Logistics
management methods
From From
mega hierarchy to
to micro community
Creative Reciprocal
moderation solidarism

23. Application areas, challenges and aspect disciplines
Application
areas
Challenges Aspect disciplines Topics/levels
Social From far away
to nearby
Soci(et)al sciences Social nearness: How social is a system?
Trust: Basic element of cooperation
Food sovereignty: No unwanted interference from outside
Food
sovereignty
Right and
access to food Food science (health and
nutrition, safety and
gastronomy
Health and nutrition: Relationships local food and health
Safety: Building resistance in stead of monocultures under
sanitary control (Béchamp in stead of Pasteur)
Gastronomy: Study of flavour and taste
Food safety Building
resistance
Economic From global to
local
Local production and
processing
On-farm impact: Small-scale processing
Local and regional impact: Rural employment and
livelihoods
Economics Micro: Creating value added at the farm
Meso: Farm participation in local and regional economy
Macro: Absence of free competition, TTIP and CETA,
disturbs food sovereignty
Ecological From mono to
multi
Ecology and
environmental sciences
Soil: All biomass needed for soil fertility, no biofuels
Landscape and nature: Rehabilitate large-scale damaged
ecosystems (Loess plateau, Thomas Loronjo)
Climate:. Focus on low latitude regions with most problems;
helping ‘The Great Wall’ with fertile lands marching up
north

24. Individual skills
flourishing culture
Collective capacities
inspiring creativity
Renewal Control Competition Cooperation
Capabilities of the self
with an eye on room for
the other
Competences of the
other with an eye on
room for the self
Technology and organisation
1. Creative moderation
OrganizationTechnology
2. Equipment and precision technology
3. Energy sources
4. Animal and plant breeding technologies
5. Alternative farming systems (such as ecological,
agro-ecology, permaculture, agroforestry)
6. Technologies for on-farm value added
7. Nanotechnology
8. Biotechnology
9. Technology assessment
1. Reciprocal solidarism
2. Organization of production, processing
and marketing at farm level
3. Network cooperation and communities
4. Increasing regional capacities
(Education, Science,
Technology, Esthetic,
Value creation) (Life, Bodily health,
Bodily integrity, Senses,
Control over one’s
environment)
(Institutional, Traditions,
Cultural, Appreciative)
(Awaking,
Transparency,
Knowledge, Human
measure, Dialogue)

25. Policy and aid
AidPolicy
1. Policy objectives: awareness, health,
safety, product quality, animal welfare,
environment, inclusion of food
sovereignty and food safety, conditions
for free competition, etc.
2. Regional food strategies: Governance
bodies sitting together developing a
plan to achieve the goals in a regional
setting.
3. Ensuring ‘real’ free competition.
1. Building cooperation, enhancing a
professional dialogue between local
farmer and knowledge workers.
2. View knowledge production, sharing
and dissemination as a two-way
traffic.
3. Assist countries to identify and
develop their own human resources
and capacities.

26. Implementation of knowledge and innovation
Knowledge management
1. Bundling interests
2. Stimulating multifunctional developments
3. Embedding knowledge
4. Maintaining regional, inter- and transregional contacts
5. Develop local, regional and supra-regional agendas,
Innovation methods
Various methods, ‘Open innovation’, Out-of-the-box thinking
ICT
1. Web-sites and social media
2. On-line available scientific information.
3. Special web sites, platforms
Financial
1. New financing forms and techniques, local money systems, such as LETS
2. Other ownership relations
Logistics
1. Logistics services to achieve: small-scale local logistics
2. Food hubs.

27. Food aspects and design
Balancing and positioning
• Food basics: commodity intrinsic basic need
• Food traditions: local, regional, national, international
• Food creation: relationships soil, fertility, crops, animals
• Food partners: producers, processors, consumers, recyclers
• Food systems: industrial local
• Food stages: production, processing, consumption, recycling
In global chains local cycles
• Food markets: firms, contracts, cooperatives, communities
• Food technology renewal control
• Food organization: cooperation competition
• Food governance: role of producers, consumers and governments
• Food policies: goals