New forms of food production and distribution are emerging in the Danish cities and in the countryside. These new forms do not only bring the producer and the end user closer together, but can also showcase opportunities for settlement and business development in rural areas. This report contributes knowledge on strategic and practical work to realise this potential. Firstly, the report describes the dynamics in new food-driven rural/urban relations. Secondly, it presents innovative user-driven recommendations to harness these new relations for settlement and business development in rural areas.
The research questions guiding the project are as follows: What characterizes the dynamics of new food-driven rural/urban relations? And, how can these dynamics and their related activities support increased settlement and business development in rural areas? Furthermore, it is in the scope of the study to develop tangible tools for policy and planning on local, municipal and national levels. The study focuses on potentials to strengthen settlement and local business development derived from new food-driven interactions.
The study employs a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. In its design, four types of data collection (telephone survey; qualitative interviews; participant observation and action research seminars) complement each other in answering the research questions. The qualitative data collection explicitly targets producers and urban dwellers taking part in new food-driven initiatives.
The quantitative data is collected through telephone survey. The survey focuses on urban dwellers’ actions towards new ways to obtain produce, their wants regarding what these actions might contribute, and their visions for an optimal way of obtaining produce. The survey involves 601 respondents in central Copenhagen. The qualitative data is collected though qualitative interviews, participant observation, and action research seminars. Here, producers’ and urban dwellers’ experience of new food-driven initiatives is emphasized, as well as their visions for these initiatives, and their perspectives on rural development. A group of 19 urban dwellers and rural actors, considered experts on food-driven initiatives, have participated in the action research. In a planned process carried out as three seminars in November 2014, they have formulated recommendations on harnessing new rural/urban dynamics for settlement and business development in rural areas.
The study includes an extensive literature review. The purpose of this is to qualify and inspire the planning of the quantitative and qualitative data collection by pointing out central issues and debates on alternative food networks. Furthermore, the review provides a broader context for the analyses. Central points from international literature thus frame the discussion of the study’s results. Finally, reviewing existing literature on food-driven rural/urban dynamics help identify themes in need of further research.
The study finds an unresolved want among urban dwellers to create closer bonds to rural actors with food-driven initiatives. The potential for rural areas is tied to this want. However, rural food initiatives are somewhat expected to match the expectations produced by TV shows. This potential was pivotal in the action research. Through a guided process, participants from Copenhagen and the rural Municipal Stevns formulated concrete recommendations for both rural and urban areas. The recommendations address how rural/urban dynamics in food-driven initiatives can best be utilized for settlement and business development in rural areas. In a range of fields, the recommendations call for political action towards equal conditions of production, distribution and marketing between large-scale conventional and small-scale organic or biodynamic farms. Furthermore, the recommendations call for more cooperation between rural actors to reduce workloads, create new associations and to improve the visibility of the qualities of the rural areas.
The need for coordinating platform in the city is stressed. Such a platform should be geared towards making new food-driven initiatives visible and accessible, as wells as increasing the interaction between rural and urban actors. Furthermore, the study finds that rural development may be increased by using new food-driven initiatives to demonstrate the relevance of politics on rural business development, living conditions, nature and landscape to urban dwellers.
The study provides three recommendations. A common platform and spokes-body should be established. The platform is to serve and connect food-driven initiatives in rural and urban areas, e.g. food coops, farmer’s markets, community-supported agriculture, small-scale producers and their networks, for instance SlowFood. Important tasks would be to make food-driven initiatives visible and accessible to as many city dwellers as possible; to initiate cooperation with relevant associations and NGOs in order to integrate food-driven initiatives; and to work for equal conditions in food production. Rural authorities should support local small-scale food producers. These producers contribute significantly to getting urban dwellers to seek out rural qualities. Core elements of this support could be municipal institutions taking initiative in changing local attitudes by prioritizing local organic produce, and improving the general conditions for small-scale production. For instance, authorities could support authorization of production facilities or offer entrepreneurial courses tailored to small-scale food producers. Institutional frames should be adapted to cater for the new food-driven initiatives’ requirements. Procedures should be simplified and communication targeted, and business policy for small-scale producers focusing on quality and proximity developed. Furthermore, authorities should work towards better integration of policies targeting organic production, rural development, nature, landscape and local infrastructure. Characteristically, addressing these recommendations to specific actors is currently a challenge. With this study, however, an overall political framework may create a grounding for addressing future recommendations on integration of rural development and new food-driven initiatives. Accordingly, there should established a common platform and a cross-departmental think tank.