International Seminar on Local Food Systems

Submitted by laborate on Tue, 02/10/2012 - 12:48 GMT.

From 22 to 26 October, 2012 an international seminar on Local Food Systems, organized by Land Laboratory and the Van Hall Larenstein University (Netherlands) will be held in Lugo.

logotipo 'Semana Europea de la Custodia del Territorio'

The seminar is made of two parts. In the first one the theoretical and conceptual concepts about local food systems will be taught. The second one will be a workshop with field visits and interviews with local agents.

The theoretical part will taught by professor Alfonso Morales, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (USA). During the first two days professor Morales will introduce the concepts of food systems and urban agriculture, and explain how food systems can contribute to sustainability. After that, initiatives and planning tools that are being developed within this field will be exposed. And finally, a comparative analysis of food systems in USA and Europe will be done. The intervention of professor Morales will end with a debate with the audience about local food systems in cities and their respective areas of influence.

The second part consists on a workshop and field visits made by the students, with the aim of developing a plan to encourage local production and marketing of food in the city of Lugo. This plan will be presented on Saturday 27 at a public event. The participation of students of several nationalities and academic background in this workshop will contribute to analyze local food systems in the area of Lugo from different perspectives, as well as presenting new ideas to promote local food systems in the whole region.

A remarkable feature of the city of Lugo, like almost all cities of Galicia, is that presents many advantages for the implementation of such initiatives, given the strong link the city to rural areas. In fact, there are still many places in the city that retain vestiges of its rural and agricultural character, and that could be recovered to promote the creation of green areas through urban agriculture. In fact, there are already existing urban agriculture initiatives that are very successful, like the orchards by the river Rato. These actions can serve as a basis for more ambitious programs that help to create greener and more sustainable cities.

galego espaƱol