Working Group 4: Foodscapes
Team leaders: Anna Wilczynska & Gloria Niin (EMU Tartu), Roxana Triboi and Arati Uttur (LE:NOTRE Institute),
Field trip: A tour that intersects food production and supply, with a focus on organic farming. The countryside perspective will be covered by local farms, a visit to a Soviet era Kolkhoz, to understand the historical and sociological changes of agriculture in the Baltic states, and the onion route, as an example of promoting regional products. Urban fringe agriculture will incorporate small scale urban gardening initiatives in Tartu and the Tartu Market. The visit will finish with a visit to the Research Centre for Organic Farming run by the Estonian University of Life Sciences
Lectures: History and future of food production in the Baltic states, Organic Farming research and practice in Estonia, the concept of Agricultural Parks.
Workshop: This theme will focus on the expanding interest in Estonia in organic food production within a framework of sustainable farming, together with the Tartu Food Strategy 2022-2030. It will also cover the context of the Soviet era collectivisation changes imposed on the landscape. A location will be examined where the differences in landscape and ecosystem services between conventional or organic agriculture can be observed as well as intersection of different stakeholders and where land use is visible such as urban/rural connection points. The idea is to work on the Agricultural Park concept in the urban fringe of Tartu, that would serve as place of organic production, agricultural innovation and education, economy and bioeconomy, but would be also a potential place for recreation and act as connector of the city green and blue infrastructure. We will also focus on practical work, site specific interventions.
Local challenge: to understand the potential of Tartu city and county to become a food hub, including social, economic, spatial and environmental challenges, namely, creating joint food collaboration network in its social and spatial dimension. Promotion and marketing of locally produced food.
Research questions:
- What is the potential for creating a local food hub in Tartu, considering organic food farming and the ‘farm to table’ concept?
- If and how can the idea of an Agricultural Park be integrated into the landscape of Tartu and its surroundings?
- How and whom to involve? How to connect different stakeholders by creating a multisectoral and locally based network, for example small scale farmers or research and development centres?
Tasks:
- To map the local stakeholders and their possible contributions, of the potential for communication as well as supply and distribution channels?
- To understand what are the unique aspects of the county’s food production system: past, present and future, to show how agriculture has influenced and shaped the foodscape of the county. It will also examine how its unique characteristics can be promoted
- To visualise different strategies for a local food hub or Agricultural Park area, at different scales, within the framework of the Tartu County Food Strategy 2022-2030