Hello @jvangeyte, welcome on board! From what I know about ILVO and for others here who don’t know it, it is an Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research in Belgium (website here) and is a research partner in several regional cooperation projects. Do you also work in projects in Central/Eastern Europe or is it mostly Belgium focused? No problem there, just to umderstand better.
We would be looking for two things:
what are practical problems that you encounter in your work…?
what are you now working on (personally) which will benefit from engaging actors from across the borders - a project in the making, an ongoing project with potential to scale… a new project proposal we could work on together, it could be anything.
Any one of these two questions that speaks to you? Feel free to also share links to your work so we can prepare before we meet, it will save us time!
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Alex
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? albower.com
In flux
Rebalancer. Holistic Changemaker.
Realigned to use expertise in New Media, Animation, Motion Design, Storytelling - Marketing and Advertising - With Heart and Guts.
Future Tech ups and downs.
Manchester Native
Local Social advocate.
Mental Health, Trauma Informed.
Organiser of Local food initiatives via Land Reform and ‘repurposing’ to Balanced Ecological Habitats that happen to provide food for all.
Kids Are Nature - Experiential Learning - Grow Food.
Slowness. Softness. Curiosity. More time and space needed.
Dot linker and Joiner. A Mirror. A Bridge.
Connector and Unifier of disparate ideas. Systems thinker.
Divergent/Convergent.
I love to discuss and listen and use dialectics to reach Cognitive Collective Coherence.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Other
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? They are all interlinked to me.
This is why concepts and categories are so difficult in a box checking world. They all span. Crossect. Laterally. Obliquely.
This limits larger vision I find and therefore limits understanding of the holistic root cause f the problem and then gets harder to solve.
My/Our problem is Disconnection.
I aim to bridge gaps of deficits. Creatively and Imaginatively.
Through Play and Exploration.
#Dialectics
How is your government helping this, or not helping? Negatively for a very very long time.
Chaos means to get off the fence. (not before surveying the land)
Awareness is key.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate? I’m not sure. Maybe
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Dragan M. Jonić
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? I’m a member of Ama Center for the Care of People and Nature, non-profit civil association for the development and implementation of innovating programs within
sustainable development, environmental protection and organic agriculture.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? Tremendous challenge with making local producers aware of the harmful effect of monoculture and heavy use of herbicides and pesticides.
Promotion of food sovereignty vs. food colonialism.
Raising awareness aboout toxic effects of additivies in hard and soft plastics (BPA and phthalates) that migrate into water we drink and food we eat.
How is your government helping this, or not helping? We don’t expect any assistance from the government, on the contrary. They are selling out arable land in Serbia to foreign corporations, which immediatelly start growing industrial crops in monoculture instead of diversified, autochthonous local varieties.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate? We are. It is very important to motivate small farmers into growing local, traditional foods. More to come…
Welcome to the event Puja,
So you have been in Edgeryders for some time and wrote about food waste and our individual conscious behavior (lovely post here, for those who haven’t read it yet!).
What would be new to tell others who are new here is: what do you see as a practical problem when it comes to the food supply around you? If you have access to locally produced food, and if so, how are the suppliers work together or with others to make this more central in the public agenda? Any experience you have, it will help us a lot to prepare the event. Thank you!
Nice to meet you Alex @albow7! And thanks for your detailed list of things that you do - I think the more practical ones are easier to grasp, so I will connect to those…
What is a local food initiative which you organised, and are you happy with the results? By the way @Puja here is in Exeter and very involved in the food movement in the UK but also internationally, you two should connect.
Myself, a few years ago I was very much involved in organising community dinners with food waste, with a local NGO in Romania where I used to live. Now I’m producing a plant based protein food in Belgium, and I am sad to see a market full of fake meats which maybe contribute to solving the CO2 big problem, but bring on other problems. Feel free to ask me more.
I’m curious about this, would you mind offering more information about this?
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Daniel Convents
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? Owner of Jiedi - specialist in qual research & insights development. Extensive experience, and interest, in foods innovation
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? Access to diversity of local food ingredients, directly from producer, or at least traceble to producer
How is your government helping this, or not helping? all ‘food systems’ are geared towards upscaling, difficult for downscaling to become rewarding
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Jasen Lakic
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? Well as of next year I will be back in Croatia as my main base. I will continue my work within the EU funded rural development structure there by helping the less informed or badly served locals. I just came from Croatia and a lot of people asked for help with their projects. Also, I will try implementing 2 bigger projects: one linked with education and the other with agriculture and sustainable development.
I was also approached by an association of local producers to help place their product abroad, as I have a company in Brussels too. I am thinking of starting an online shop with quality Croatian products and offering them to existing bio/organic smaller shops in Brussels.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? The biggest problem I want to solve at the moment is: how to offer affordable quality food from local producers to LOCALS in Croatia.
Currently the system does not support something like that, driving the production cost of such goods so high that the average Croat OR BELGIAN cannot afford it.
I believe the solution is in efficiency (shared facilities/machinery) and growing smaller surface but higher yield goods in a more controlled environment. The climate change is real and farmers are seeing the direct impact of it.
Offering very affordable, quality food should be a priority because it is supposed to be a human right, not a luxury. Our health and our freedom depend on it. I believe the government implements a lot of laws which take away our freedoms, food is just step 1. Self reliance, sustainability, 0 waste, work/life balance, community cooperation through direct democracy etc…
How is your government helping this, or not helping? Well there are two sides to it, just like anything else. Government as an entity is influenced too much by private power (financially etc), so some decisions made are quite harmful for most of the population (like seeds standardisation laws). They argue it is for the protection of the end user but the current industrial agricultural model encouraged by seed producers is pure monopoly. It also leads both to degradation of our health and degradation of our environment, which will be most felt by our children.
The policies in place have both increased the price of food production and damaged the natural evolution of our plants, which naturally adapt to the soil and climate conditions wherever they are planted.
On the other hand, government is made of many individuals and organisations and a lot of them do work hard to help as much as they can…
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate? Hmmmm, can’t think of anything now and I am not sure I will have the time in the next 4 months.
It could be interesting as of March next year. If our activities align. I will be in Croatia for sure and working on agriculture and sustainability for sure.
Hi, we do more than 60 different projects in agriFood, some very big, like 35 million euro and more than 100 partners, some very small just with farmers,
It could be interesting maybe to talk about DjustConnect
Hi @dconvents, welcome on board! Can you give us an example of how the problem manifests itself in your life and how are you going about solving it?
Feel free to also read about others here and ask them questions - the more we get to know each other’s perspectives before we meet the better we can each prepare our contributions to the session.
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Milan Prastalo
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? I would like to start up agro tech company supported by EU Investment firms and agro tech projects focusing on innovations and sustainability growing micro herbs at controlled environment year around such as greenhouse for gastronomy and medicine, using natural resources, innovative technologies and sustainability.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Work and employment
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? I am experiencing problem in rising capital for agro tech start up infrastructure and logistics, needed for investment to build greenhouse infrastructure with innovative tech solutions and logistics.
I’ve found that government and local investors are not interested in supporting start up agro tech companies which business plan is innovative and sustainable micro herbs food specifically produced for exports within EU market.
How is your government helping this, or not helping? I’ve found government not interested in innovative and sustainable agro tech investments, supporting small businesses based on innovative agro tech solutions, and sustainability of resources.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate? I would be interested in participating EdgeRyders event next month, and willing to near me to participate.
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Liliana Carrillo
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? I work at the AgroFood&Tech department of the Flemish AgroFood institute ILVO (https://www.ilvo.vlaanderen.be). As an R&D Engineer, I support the data-sharing initiative called DjustConnect (https://youtu.be/GaB3jz_oGkoDjustConnect)
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Family/Work and life balance
Think about the topic… and tell us: What do you see happening around you that is important for your community’s wellbeing? How is your government helping this, or not helping? My smallest community is my family. My family members have ASD.
I am not receiving support from the government as a care taker of people with cognitive disabilities. My personal wellbeing is important as I am the main care taker in my ‘small’ community. Corona has made the challenges more visible.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate? I would like to co-organize an event around Food Commoning, and around Agrofood Common data. How do we start?
Hi @Milan, welcome on board, happy to have you at the event!
Where are you based, where is your project planned to happen?
There is a trend for micro herbs and a few businesses here in Brussels where I’m based, and I see them struggling nowadays because their model is to deliver to the Horeca and chefs who use such herbs in their kitchens.
For those who do not yet know about micro herbs, why is this sustainable agro tech, could you tell us more…? From what I know, they need a lot less water and are highly rich in nutrients (like concentrates), which means you get a high quality yield with no so much resources.
You should definitely connect to @jvangeyte and @lylycarrillo here, who are also focused on agri tech, and ask them for advice!
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Vlad bauer
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? Funding and scaling www.fermabauer.ro
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? Identifying funding opportunities to scale the business, matching production levels with customer demand
How is your government helping this, or not helping? Not helping
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
These are the planned events at the moment. Which ones do you wish to attend? Webinar: Localisation of Food - 30 October from 18:00-20:00
What is your name? Pacôme Elouna Eyenga
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? The EIP-AGRI Service Point acts as a mediator within the EIP-AGRI network, enhancing communication and cooperation between everyone with a keen interest in innovating agriculture: farmers, researchers, advisers, businesses, environmental groups, consumer interest groups and other NGOs.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? Sharing knowledge, connecting people and tackling challenges
How is your government helping this, or not helping?
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate?
Hello @Vladb, good to e-meet you!
Very nice project, and seeing that you make ‘zacusca’ really made me crave it!
I hadn’t heard about your project but I’ve lost a little bit of track of initiatives in Romania ever since I’ve moved to Belgium… and I was born and bred in Cluj, a bit far from Dambovita where you are.
Could you explain a little more about this… ? How did you manage to stay afloat since you started in 2013? Mainly through selling the produce and no subsidies? Do you have any local trusted partners?
This will help us better understand your project and prepare materials before the event next week,
Are you part of a project or an organisation? What does the project/organisation do, and why? I’m a projectcoordinator at Agribusiness Service BV, a service providing company specialised in the animal feed sector (https://www.agribusiness-service.nl/ apologies, right now the site is only available in Dutch!). We provide our expertise in the sector, but also have secretarial and financial know-how to facilitate projects from start to finish.
Let’s get to know each other. Which of the following topics is the most relevant to you? Sustainability in agriculture or food
Think about the topic… and tell us: What is a practical problem that you have in your work/projects or personal life? Covid-19 related (work/personal life): It’s harder to establish a relationship with the people involved in the different projects and sectors I work in, as you have less opportunity for small talk and one-on-one conversations during online conference meetings. I’m a new employee and due to covid-19 measurements I feel less involved in the company (despite best efforts from my colleagues and teammanager, I must add!) and I have difficulties staying motivated working from home all the time.
How is your government helping this, or not helping? I support the government’s covid-19 measurements such as work-from-home and forego physical meetings for online meetings, getting the virus under control is more important than the personal discomfort.
Are you interested to co-host an event with EdgeRyders in the next months? If so, do you have ideas to engage others near you to participate? I have no answer to this yet, I’d like to experience the online event first.
Hi @L.Nobel, how happy I am that you registered, welcome on board!
I hope you don’t mind a question, I am trying to support everyone to prepare for the event next week by reading about each other’s work:
In your experience, what is a key challenge to get more agri businesses in NL or Europe to collaborate with smaller scale/ organic farmers and promoting organisations? Are they part of your network too?
