School of Food

School of Food is an initiative of the Food Council MRA to establish a regional knowledge and data platform to support the renewal of the food system. A new food system ensures sustainable production, healthy food and availability for all population groups.

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The School of Food will be built up step by step and will complement existing regular knowledge institutions. In the start-up phase, it is not (yet) a physical entity with a building and a regular staff, but a digital community. In the opinion of the initiators, the School of Food should take the form of a cooperative enterprise. This initiative stands or falls with a far-reaching form of cooperation  take joint responsibility for sharing knowledge and resources.

The objectives are:

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• generating interdisciplinary knowledge about the regional food system;

• better use and broad availability of existing knowledge and information as a form of knowledge democracy;

• improve the accessibility of existing information and knowledge about the regional food system for all groups in society;

• promote data on the different aspects of the food system to become public and shared ownership in the spirit of the commons movement.  

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Why?

The idea behind this initiative is the desire to use scattered data collections and fragmented knowledge about techniques, procedures, networks, facilities, financing and logistics.  with entrepreneurs and consumer groups and make it available to the members of a newly established cooperative organization in the Metropolitan Region. This is an example of 'knowledge circulation' as advocated in the WRR report 'Towards a Learning Economy' from 2013. The community where the knowledge is shared can be referred to as a food common.  

In the spirit of the commons movement, this knowledge is transferred from the private domain to the public domain. The School of Food works alongside, but in collaboration with, the established knowledge institutions in the region on the democratization of knowledge about all elements of the food chain in the interest of realizing a transition to a sustainable food system that makes healthy food accessible to all income groups. and cultures in society.

This initiative focuses in particular on artisanal, local companies in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, which want to respond to the growing demand from consumers for pure, healthy, sustainable and local products. The use of digital media and collaboration to achieve economies of scale are central. The correct resources will be determined in more detail by the participants in the cooperative in mutual consultation.

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Contact:  Jeffrey Spangenberg, tel. 0650278920