Jan Huijgen

Je suis fils d’agriculteur du village de Spakenburg (près de Amersfoort/Eemland), je suis né en 1957. J’ai étudié l’Agronomie à Wageningen et la Philosophie à l’Université Libre d’Amsterdam. J’ai fait un an d’études au Canada.
Ensuite, j’ai fondé une ferme multifonctionelle, l’Eemlandhoeve, en 1993, la Fédération régionale d’agriculteurs et citoyens pour la conservation de la nature en 1998, la coopérative nationale ville/campagne, et le European Network Versatile Farmers (Réseau d’Agriculteurs européens polyvalents) lors de la conférence Européenne de Eemland en 2008. Au niveau national j’ai été l’initiateur de la Taskforce Agriculture Multifonctionnelle et du Réseau de Connaissance sur la Campagne polyvalente (Knowledge Network Versatile Countryside). Au niveau européen, Eemlandhoeve participe au programme Green Cook sur l’agriculture alimentaire régionale. Entre temps, Eemlandhoeve est devenu un centre d’innovation pour le renouvellement rural (www.eemlandhoeve.nl).
Mon rêve pour les prochaines années est le renforcement des systèmes de production alimentaire locaux en rémunérant les agriculteurs avec des prix équitables pour leurs produits, avec un véritalble dialogue sur l’origine et la vie des produits locaux et des lieux de rencontre où le public puisse entrer en contact avec la vie agricole.
Jan Huijgen fut récompensé du prix international Mansholtsprize en 2007 (voir www.Mansholtprize.org). Pour plus de renseignements, menez une recherche Google sur Eemlandhoeve (particulièrement son blog – néerlandais/anglais), sous les mots-clés janhuijgen, veelzijdigplatteland, versatile countryside et autres.

Résumé

Titre : la Réinvention de l’Agri-culture : vers un nouveau paradigme de culture alimentaire agri-rurale : le cas de l’Eemlandhoeve – l’histoire d’un agriculteur/d’une ferme paradigmatique.
Par : Jan Huijgen, agriculteur/philosophe de l’Eemlandhoeve (www.eemlandhoeve.nl ), titulaire du prix Mansholtprize 2007 (www.mansholtprize.org)

Je voudrais élaborer ce développement et ces concepts en partant de mes expériences d’agriculture multifonctionnelle – locales (1993), régionales (1998), nationales (2003), européennes (2008) et globales (jusqu’à 2013).

Dès le début, l’agriculture et la philosophie ont été les deux piliers sur lesquels l’Eemlandhoeve a été développé. L’agriculture constitue la base pratique du travail de la terre, avec les animaux et les personnes, alors que la philosophie se penche sur la signification de ces activités et les correspondances qui les lient. Nous avons décrit tout ceci dans la mission concernant la rencontre de l’agriculteur et l’habitant de zone urbaine, ville et campagne, et Créateur et création, avec l’accent sur le mode de vie durable. Le mot agri-culture fut alors redécouvert : la culture de l’agri- : la culture de soigner le sol, le paysage, les animaux, les produits, les personnes, ainsi que l’héritage pour les futures générations. Cette culture a pris une nouvelle forme avec l’expansion des fonctions de l’Eemlandhoeve:  l’agriculture multifonctionnelle. Un documentaire télévisé s’est enquis  de la force motrice qui dirigeait l’évolution de l’Eemlandhoeve et une maxime de trois mots a été conçue : passion – être ému et s’y mettre ; vision – porter le regard vers l’avenir ; et courage – oser faire bouger les choses.

Trois phases se distinguent dans le passé évolutif de l’Eemlandhoeve:

Phase I environ 1993-2003 : développement de la ‘Multifonctionnalité’ de l’agriculture. Les premières démarches furent menées en vue de sortir l’agriculture de sa préoccupation unique pour la production alimentaire à grande échelle vers de multiples fonctions telle que la nature (plus de 300 espèces de flore dans l’Eemlandhoeve), le paysage, le recueil, l’éducation, le renseignement, les produits régionaux, et les soins. Cela a pris forme au niveau local et régional dans les nouveaux bâtiments de la ferme avec leurs fonctions spécifiques et dans une nouvelle organisation (Ark&Eemlandschap) centrée sur la gestion de la nature agricole. Les retombées locales (1993) et régionales (1998) furent primordiales. Le développement de nouvelles fonctions a continué depuis (renseignements, connaissance et innovation, hébergement et silence, entre autres).
Phase II 2003-2008 : la démarche vers l’implantation régionale. Ceci commença en 2003 par la fondation de la Co-opérative ‘Stadteland’ (Ville-Campagne), par laquelle ville et campagne furent approchées de manière nouvelle, et qui a été étendu au niveau national par la formation d’un Groupe de Travail pour l’Agriculture Multifonctionnelle et le Réseau de Connaissance pour une Campagne Polyvalente. Au niveau de la ferme, le rapport ville/campagne s’élabora sous la forme d’un Centre Régional d’Innovation – ou Lieu de Travail – où les débats ruraux furent mis en contexte.

Ceci fut suscité au niveau Européen en 2008 avec l’importante Conférence Européenne de Eemland, à laquelle le concept Campagne Polyvalente a été lancé et le monument Stadteland présenté.

Phase III 2009 et suite : l’élaboration de la ‘Valeur Ajoutée’ en tant que troisième dimension (pris en compte avec la multifonctionnalité et l’implantation régionale). La motivation venait du fait que seulement 15-20%  de la valeur finale des produits agricoles reste pour l’agriculteur, et 80-85% sont pour les autres éléments de la chaine (production, logistique, emballage, distribution). Ceci veut dire que les agriculteurs produisent souvent à perte, une situation qui ne peut pas être maintenue pendant longtemps. Comment la ‘valeur ajoutée’ est-elle créée dans une entreprise? Nous savons que les agriculteurs sont assis sur un trésor caché (écologique, alimentation, santé, social, traditionnel), mais peuvent-ils et osent-ils développer et commercer cette ‘valeur’ cachée ?

Cette phase mène actuellement au développement futur des valeurs de la marque de l’Eemlandhoeve  sur 5 niveaux (l’espace, l’alimentation, la connaissance, le soin des personnes, la créativité) par voie desquels la valeur ajoutée évolue. Mais, plus important encore : le développement d’une marque régionale au cœur des Pays-Bas, la mise en place d’un programme de connaissance pour la région avec des initiatives de produits et d’évènements, l’attention nationale pour le lien entre la nature, la santé, et l’alimentation, une position européenne contre le gaspillage alimentaire en mettant l’alimentation en valeur et en implantant la valeur de l’agri-culture dans une diversité de régions.

I am a farmerson of the village of Spakenburg (nearby Amersfoort/Eemland born 1957). I studied Agriculture at Wageningen and Philosophy at the Free University of Amsterdam. Have been for a year study  in Canada.
After this I founded in 1993 the Multifunctional farm the Eemlandhoeve, in 1998 the regional association of farmers and citizens for nature conservation, in 2003 the national cooperative City/countryside and in 2008 the European Versatile Farmers network on the European Eemland Conference. On the national level I was initiator of the Taskforce Multifunctional Agriculture and the Knowledge Network Versatile Countryside. On the European level the Eemlandhoeve participate in the Green Cook programm about regional foodculture. In the mean time the Eemlandhoeve became a innovation centre for rural renewal (www.eemlandhoeve.nl).
My dream for the coming years is the strengthening of the local foodsystems by rewarding farmers fair prices for their products, with real life stories of these products and expierental places where citizens can meet farmlife.
Jan Huijgen was awarded with the international Mansholtprize in 2007 (see www.Mansholtprize.org). For more information google on Eemlandhoeve (see his blog – dutch/english), janhuijgen, veelzijdigplatteland, versatilecountryside and others.

Summary

Reinventing Agri – culture: towards a new agri-rural food culture paradigm: the case of the Eemlandhoeve – a story of a paradigmatic farm(er), by Jan Huijgen, farmer/philosopher of the Eemlandhoeve

I would like to work out this development and these concepts from my multifunctional agri-culture demonstrationfarm Eemlandhoeve experiences – local (1993), regional (1998), national (2003), European (2008) en Global (on the way to 2013).

Summary of the Eemlandhoeve case
From the beginning, agriculture and philosophy are the two pillars on which the Eemlandhoeve has been developed. Agriculture forms the practical basis of working with the earth, animals and people while philosophy reflects on the meaning of these activities and the connection between them. We have described this in the mission concerning the meeting and connection of farmer and city dweller, city and countryside and Creator and creation, with a focus on sustainable living. The word agri-culture was then rediscovered:  the culture of agri:  the culture of caring for the soil, nature, landscape, animals, products, people and the legacy for future generations. This culture took on a new shape with the expansion of functions on the Eemlandhoeve:  multifunctional agriculture. A television report inquired about the drive behind the development of the Eemlandhoeve and a maxim of three words was born:  passion – being moved and going for it; vision – looking to the future; and courage -  daring to really make things happen.

Three phases can be distinguished in the developmental history of the Eemlandhoeve:

Phase I: roughly 1993-2003: development of the ‘Multifunctionality’ of agriculture. The first steps were taken to broaden agriculture from heavy emphasis on specialized food production alone to multiple functions such as nature (more than 300 species of flora on the eemlandhoeve , landscape, recreation, education, information, regional products and care. This took shape on a local and regional level in the new buildings on the farm with their specific functions and in a new organization (Ark&Eemlandschap) focused on agrarian nature management. The local (1993) and regional (1998) consequences were central. The development of new functions has since continued (information, knowledge and innovation, overnight lodging and silence, among others).

Phase II 2003-2008: the step towards regional embedding. It began in 2003 with the founding of the ‘Stadteland’ (City-Countryside) Co-operative, in which city and countryside were given a new connection and were elaborated on a national level with the formation of the Taskforce for Multifunctional Agriculture and the Versatile Countryside Knowledge Network. On the farm the city/countryside relationship took form in a Regional Innovation Center – or Workplace – where rural issues were brought into context.

This was raised to a European level in 2008 with the large European Eemland Conference when the Versatile Countryside concept was launched and the Stadteland monument was revealed.

Phase III 2009 et seq.: elaboration of the ‘Added Value’ as the third dimension (together with multifunctionality and regional embedding). The motivation behind this was the fact that only 15-20% of the final value of agricultural products ends up with the farmer, and 80-85% with other parties in the chain (production, logistics, packaging, retail). This means that farmers often produce under the cost price and that cannot be maintained for long. How is ‘added value’ created in a business? We know that farmers are sitting on a pot of gold (ecological, food, health, social, traditional), but can they and dare they develop and sell this hidden ‘value?’

This phase now leads to the further development of the Eemlandhoeve brand values on 5 levels (space, food, knowledge, care for people, creativity) in which added value is developed. But even broader:  the development of a regional brand for farmers in the heart of the Netherlands, the formation of a knowledge agenda for the region with product and event developments, national attention for the link between nature, health and food, a European position against food waste by promoting respect for food and anchoring the added value of agriculture in a diversity of regions.

I was invite to participate in a symposium at Wageningen University with the title: ‘The new rural idyll’.

I have learned from philosophy the old reaction patterns of European thinking: after the dark middle ages we have the Enlightement with reasonable people developing science and technology. Modern culture was developing, modern farming systems were the practical outcome. But within Europe we get a strong reaction to this rationalistic approach: the romantic movement with drew attention to emotional, artistic, community and even religious aspects. Within European culture we are ever and ever confronted with these two way of approaching reality. We see this also reflected in agriculture with the classical modernistic approach and the opposing alternatives in biological farming, nostalgic forms of local /regional agriculture and so on.

But now, a new rural paradigm is ermerging as a reaction on and as a strategic alternative route for modernist farming systems. This ‘third way’ of farming – above the dilemma modernist/nostalgic farming – is getting more and more support from different perspectives:
- regional food strategies of cities
- versatile countryside developments ( ‘the countryside has so much more to offer ‘)
- slow food culture movements
- new entrepreneurial frameworks in multifunctionality (new businessmodels)
- innovation programm’s of regional, national and international government/knowledge bodies
- sustainability measurements (blended value concepts).

For a rebalancing of our food culture, a more integral policy framework (from region to European) and scharpening of our knowledge- and innovation agenda we need to rediscover the meaning of agri – culture as culture of the agri.
Beyond the modern/idyllic dialectic we need to be passioned for caring soil, animals and products, we are in need of integral visions on the urban/rural frameworks and need courageous examples of the realising future of agriculture.
The Eemlandhoeve case serves as example of such a Cityside Oasis of the European Versatile Countryside.
(see www.eemlandhoeve.nl;blog www.janhuijgen.nl; www.versatilecountryside.eu, book: Cityside Oasis; Movie European Versatile Farmers)

Jan Huijgen (Demonstration Farm Multifunctional Agriculture ‘Eemlandhoeve’), pioneer new City/Countryside relationships *
Jan Huijgen is farmer and philosopher, involved in different initiatives around multifunctional agriculture, versatile countryside and rural transformation processes. His is rural entrepreneur at demonstration farm ‘Eemlandhoeve’ and winner of the Mansholtprize 2007

One of my good friends from the Ministry of Agriculture of the Netherlands make me aware of the difference between AP (Agricultural policy) and RP (Rural Policy).
And it is important to understand this difference for the regional innovatie strategies- RIS.

Agriculture is coming from a primairy and urgent good – food production- for the sustaing, health and wellbeing of the people. In the starting years of the Agricultural policy – and we can go back to Joseph in Egypt in the Bible – we the government task in providing enough food for the people. That implicates an Government who is very present in development, in preserving some food for times of trouble or modern: by not functioning markets. Especially after the World war II the Common Agricultural Policy was directed centrally from Brussel in all kinds of regulations for the sector and for the country policies on agriculture. AP is historically, systematically and for the future organized around policy centres who have power, guidelines and money to create a common strategy for priority goods of the people. AP is in the mean time embedded in a very strong economic and technological chain network which had been very effective but …. Has also his flaws.

Rural development starts almost immediately with the characteristics of the different regions and the involvement of different actors in the region. It are not the primary and priority goods of getting alive, but about the goods we need beyond the act of getting alive: the life quality and life conditions of the people. When we inhabit a beatiful landscape, or recreate, or learn, or creating regional culture, we are taking the next steps in living. In some sense is this reflected in the RP framework: we empower the regional actors to sustain their diverse rural area, to develop new products in the region for making it attractive and livable. It is characteristic that the European LEADER bottom up approach has created so much energy that it is now embedded in new rural policy framework (axis 4).
RP has created a lot of dynamics in regions, but has it the economic and structural power to regain the regional quality and diversity which is in need for sustaining and healthy communities?

AP and RP are coming from one European DG on Agriculture. It has two departments on agriculture and on rural development. They are different in policy framework, in budget, in connecting to regional affairs and in style of operating. In the modulation and progressive modulation budget from one department (agriculture) is coming to the other (rural development).
With our concept of the Versatile Countryside (see www.versatilecountryside.eu) we connect entrepreneurs, marketcreation, regional development and knowledge circulation. In some sense it connects the separated worlds of agriculture and rural development. It also creates a policy frame which connects the best of both worlds: the primary and priority product of food and the culture around that product (regional context).
I find it fascinating to reflect from this new concept on the difference between AP and RP. Can we discuss the formula: VC = RP + AP?
Some food for thought for the next blog and I am curious about your thoughts on this!

It was a remarkable mixture of all kind of people who attended the EEConference: entrepreneurs, knowledgepeople, social organisations and people from all levels of government. It was a good mixture of people who can together make the difference!
Mostly you are in connection to people from your own business. We are trained and by our jobs operating in different worlds. Government people are writing policy statements, knowledge people are doing research and publishing in special journals, businesspeople are doing business and creating money and social activists are organizing actions and making public attention. It is very interesting to touch each others domain and try to enlarge your own perspective with the other.
But the next step is: can we bring these different domains to each other? Is there a common ground that can unite people from different jobs? Can we formulate this common ground and organize our ‘megacommunity’ for realising our goals?

It was the aim of the EEConference to create a meeting place for these different people. I have met people from the government from all levels (OECD, European, National, regional and from the local government), entrepreneurs from Hungary, Portugal, Estonia and other countries. There were students and knowledge people from several countries of Europe and even abroad. And I have met social involved citizens from the Netherlands, but even from Armenie.
All people have their own agendas on knowlegde, policy, business and social aspects. Can we create a common agenda, a common regional agenda where all the perspectives come to each other?
I saw some elements on the Conference of creating this common agenda. We saw interesting developments about regional identity with economy, tourism, landscape as concrete projects. The Portugese project about de CO2 reduction strategy of the farmers and the bio- businessdeals can give new impulses to the region in the context of the national and European innovation agenda. Big cities are in search of the neighbouring areas for landscape, education, regional products, care, waterquality and so on.
For the realisation of these regional agenda’s, we need the strenght of common partnerships and the forming of a mega community. It is creating the ‘common language’ between the partners. And we need ‘translators’ who can intermediate between the different partners. Business people have an other way of thinking and making choices than government people. Most knowledge people are observing, analysing, making options but can’t take the responsibility of just doing it. So we need leaders who organize the comunity of different people for making together the decisions for the regional approaches. And it is important to connect the regional projects with the national and European agenda. It stimulates regions to connect to other regions who have comparable problems and challenges.

Looking backward to the European Eemland Conference we have brought together people from different domains for meeting each other and discussing a common agenda.
It was interesting and it was promising.
Looking forward we are trying to form an European Versatile Countryside movement with the networks we have met on the EEConference. For making next steps I am at the moment dealing with an Intereg project RIS – Regional Innovation Strategies – with partners from the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and England.

We were very busy with the preparation of the European Eemland Conference next week. All organisational and practical work has to be done. We are almost finishing a new Landscape house in Eemland, which will be opened by the regional and European officials.
The big tent for 300 – 500 persons is made ready, and the programm is almost defenite with speakers and workshops. People from all over Europe are already on the list of the Conference.

It is remarkable that this week was also a big Conference on the rural area, organized by the European Commission itself. It is held in Cyprus under the title ‘Europe’s rural areas in action’ (see for the interesting programm http://www.aimgroup.eu/2008/cyprus/index.html).
We see the launching of the European Network for Rural Development (ENRD), which will help the national chapters in implementing the existing programms for rural development.

It is interesting to reflect on the similarities and differences of both our Conferences. Both are concerned about the vitality of the rural area to face the ‘challenges’. Both see new tasks of the government and the knowledge/research institutes for analysing and financing new opportunities facing these challenges. Both are also aware of the multilevel approach – from local, regional, national en European to address the problems.

There is one point on which I sense at least some difference: the role of the entrepreneurial spirit and the market/chain approach. For serious innovation you need the risk taking persons, the doers, the marketimpulses and the networks which are formed by this men and organisations. I know, from the governmentperspective and from the countrysidepeople we are a little bit afraid of these powerfull market forces. And it is important to take into account the dangers of too much market and to little public values in the rural area.
I was surprised to discover that in the recent publication of the OECD – The new rural paradigm – the best practises of rural development included also the involvement of the businessparties. Next week Mr. Nicolas Crosta of the OECD will also attend the European Eemland Conference and I would like to talk with him about that. Key processes of innovation need besides government and knowledge also that businessexperience.

On the European Eemland Conference we will discuss an innovation model – the Social Entreprise European Versatile Countryside (EVC) which will involve special business people: the Social Venture Entrepreneurs. That are people who combine the entrepreneurial spirit with the corporate social responsibility – not only profit, but also people and planet are important.
We need for the tough challenges of the rural area social responsible entrepreneurs who are serious about the public values of the commons, and at the same time entrepreneurial in taking up the challenges on a creative way.

I would like to discuss this EVC approach with the new European Network for Rural Development, with the EU commissar mrs. Fischer Boel and all other participants in the ongoing discussion on the Rural Area of Europe. I would like to start this next week, and when people have already ideas beforehand – comment on this blog!

Almost three weeks left, than the EEConference on the Eemlandhoeve!
A lot of preparations has to be done. Thanks to the organizing comittee for handling all the logistics, workshopspreparation, catering, financials, communication and so on. A complete circus is at work for the realisation of that conference.

But, it is time to reflect upon the happening of the Conference and the next step behind.
It is a wonderfull happening that the Eurocommisar Mrs. Mariann Fischer Boel is coming to this Conference. And she had already written a remarkable preface fot the jubilee book of the conference: Cityside Oasis – or how to bridge the gap between city and countryside’
In it she write about the importance of innovative entrepreneurship and the necessity of a holistic approach of the countryside. She reacts on our model of the Versatile Countryside in which entrepreneurship (1), market creation (2), regional indentity (3) and knowledge (4) are combined.
On the Conference this holistic approach comes back on the three days:


Day 1: the introduction speech of our former Minister Veerman will analyse the necessity of the reconnection of farmers and citizens and the need for an integral innovative approach. Also with the OECD the ‘new rural paradigm’ and on the discussionforum we will analyse the ‘mindset’ for creating this movement.

Day 2: in the morning the model of the Versatile Countryside will be discussed and in the afternoon the agenda of the projects will be discussed and formulated

Day 3: in the morning we will have with they keyplayers of the network a U- turn session in which we will explore our commitments to this EVC approach. In the harvest of this Conference we will present the results to our Eurocommissar Mrs. M.Fischer Boel with the question if she will join and will support our European Versatile Countryside as a form of the holistic approach she has described in her preface.

We have still a way to go to an European Versatile Countryside. I am curious to know if this is an promising way and if people from several domains (farmers/ entrepreneurs, marketparties, social investors, knowledgeinstitutes, and committed citizens organisations) can join us on this way.
Who will comment on this ‘on the way to EVC’ proposat?

One of the most interesting thing in founding the European Versatile Countryside movement is the meeting of committed people in the diverse corners of Europe. I have already told about the founding farmers of the Versatile Countryside. Very inspiring persons (VIP’s). Now I would like to tell something about the scientific people connected in the Rural European Network. In a intereg project of Farmers 4 nature I met mr. Herbert Diemont from Alterra Wageningen – a very broad oriented scientist with a lot of European connections. Via him I met on my Portugese trip to Alfredo Cunhal (my collegue founding farmer of the Veratile Farmers) Dr. Leonardo Costa of the Porto Catholic University – inspirator of the Porto meeting of this year.

In the week of 2&3 october there will be a meeting of the REP in Porto (Vairao – Portugal) about the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after 2014: shaping of a Regional Agricultural Policy (RAP) for Europe. Besides the CAP the development of the RAP and the rebalancing of the common en the regional specific elements of that policy.
I was invited to come to connect this meeting of the REP with the movement of the European Versatile Countryside. The REP transitional paper 2 will be used as a pre –advice for the EEConference with the EU commisar Mrs. Mariann Fischer Boel.
I could not go to Portugal because I have to focus now on the EEconference. But the material of the REP meeting is very relavant for the EEConference. The discussion of the direction of the Agricultural sector and broader the sustaining Landscape in Europe is very important. And this is not only a policy discussion, but a broader sector and domain transgressing movement.
Policy discussions by scientist can clarify some of the underlying forces of this transition process. On the REP meeting this analysis is taken up by scientist all over Europe. I would like to read the results. A good analysis can be the starting of a new policy agenda and the invention of new directions of the frameworks and actors operating in this field.

For me, the connection of the REP meeting in Porto and the European Versatile Countryside movement will contain the next few spearheads:

Enough questions, enough interesting stuff for my friends on the Porto meeting and I am curious to know some of the answers.

Last week it was the hundred year after the birthday of Sicco Mansholt, the founder of the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union. I was at this celebration in the province of Groningen. A lot of people attend this meeting and the remembrance of his life and work was very inspiring.
We received a journal at that meeting – EuroChoices – and this number was about the 50 year of Common Agricultural Policy – from Mansholt to Fischer Boel. Several articles analysed the development of the Agricultural policy with all the reform proposals in the time. Now the Health check is announced and just after our EEConference this will be officially published.

In one of the articles the Guest editorial David R.Stead of the University of Dublin, analysed the role of the conference at Stresa for the CAP. His emphasis is on the role of Mansholt in formulating the ambition of the policy agenda and what het called ‘the unusually positive atmosphere …in a European spirit’. ‘the delegates were generally eager to avoid nationalistic defensiveness and negativity and instead search for common ground’.

In the literature an article of M.Tracy (1994) is picked up called ‘The spirit of Stresa’.

I think this is an important point. People can make the difference and that difference is dependent on ‘the spirit’ of people. Is there a positive spirit, than a lot of energy can be created and a movement with a common agenda can be put on place. When it is negative, the opposite is happening.

It is therefore important to find the Very Inspiring Persons (VIP’s) for yourself. For me I have for this time 4 VIP’s in mind. Mansholt and de former secretary general of the United Nations – Dag Hammerskjold – are two of them. The others you can read in the book Cityside Oasis, which will be published on the EEconference.

What I experienced in this persons is the visionary and inner growth and strength which is very powerfull on the places where these two men were placed. They made the difference in the policy agenda, one in agriculture, the other in the peace keeping process of the World.

We are now in the preparation of the EEconference busy with all kind of organisational and programmatic issues. But the most important thing will be the ‘spirit of Bunschoten’ which vitalize the European Versatile Countryside movement. Can we learned the lesson of Stresa, do we indeed have a new common goal which is attractive beyond all the differences we experience as European?

For me this point will be with me during the coming weeks up to the Conference and how to explicate this dimension of spirit on the Conference itself.

I hope that more people become involved in this concern and intriguing facet of human life.

Jan Huijgen

This morning I was invited to give a guestlecture at the Agricultural University of Dronten for students all over Europa and even abroad (USA, Malawi).
I was invited to tell the story behind the European Eemland Conference which will be held in the end of octobre on the Eemlandhoeve (see www.versatilecountryside.eu)
In that lecture I told my personal story from local (1993), regional (1998), national (2003) and European (2008). Its starts with the Eemlandhoeve, than the regional association Ark&Eemlandschap, de national Stadteland and now the European Multifunctional Farmers Network and other European networks.
I realised myself during that story that rural entrepreneurship is a key element in this development. It are entrepreneurs who take the initative, it are entrepreneurs who are not only writing plans or policies, but realising things, it are entrepreneurs who are thinking about exploitation en attracting people for you products and business. It is very interesting to reflect about that entrepreneurial mindset. A lot of thinkers has done it, for instance Schumpeter. It is very interesting to see how it works. When I was travelling to Estonia, to Germany and to Portugal to visit my collegue Founding Farmers for the Versatile Countryside (a Movie is made about them for the EEConference!), I was struck by the guts and the (partly) realised vision of these farmers. All of us has worked now for about 15 years in their farm to broaden it, to find new relationships with the region, to connect knowledgeworkers in this new business. But key player is the entrepreneur who would like to realise his specific goal. And each have his own point of excellence. One in human/animal relationship, the other in the montado experience of dealing with topsoil, the other in lebens- mittel = mittel zum leben, and the last one in human/farmer interrelationship.
Each has worked it out in his own setting, but each has made it visible in farm buildings, in sustainable landuse, in productdevelopment.

I got just the preface of Mrs. Mariann Fischer Boel for our new book Cityside Oasis, which will also be present on our Conference. In it she stresses the role of the new entrepreneurial spirit for the EU farmers.
I hope that this point is made clear to the students and that some of them (10%) is struck by this talent/mood and pick up entrepreneurship in his/her country. Even in Malawi – the student reacted – it will be interesting to do such kind of thing. It was the best compliment I heard this day!

Kind regards, Jan Huijgen