#EU4AdviceTestimonials – Julia Gómez-Lama Gutiérrez

EU4Advice launched a testimonials campaign to engage as many stakeholders and members of the project community as possible. We kick off with participants from the CrossLiving Lab which took place in the Netherlands in July. Their valuable insights and experiences will help us showcase the project’s impact and foster deeper connections within our community. This campaign is an exciting opportunity to highlight the voices that drive our mission forward.

Our first guest to reply to our questions is Julia Gómez-Lama Gutierrez, who graduated from Leiden University with an MSc in Biology and Science Communication and Society.

Why did you start working on/with local food?
I began working with local food while involved in a biodynamic agriculture project. I was drawn to these systems because the conventional consumption model didn’t fulfil me. Shopping for all my food at a supermarket and being detached from the entire supply chain felt disheartening. I wanted to reconnect with the actual effort behind food production and the people involved in it. By working in the field and supporting small-scale projects rather than large-scale production, I found a more meaningful and satisfying way to engage with food. Producing your food feels incredibly emancipating and empowering.

What have you learned/developed while working on regional food systems?
Through my experience, I have learned the immense effort required in regional food systems, including the seasonality of different foods, planting schedules, and harvest times. More importantly, I’ve understood that all waste and production surpluses are part of a circular system. Waste can be minimised by being mindful and reusing everything possible, given the effort involved in producing everything from fruits and vegetables to cheese, milk, and wool. While working within this system, I developed an ethical and responsible approach to small-scale animal production, which we then sold at a local store and in nearby village markets.

What are you looking for? What would you like to learn from other regions?
I am keen to explore how regional food systems can be integrated and collaborate on a larger scale. In the last project I worked on I realised how important it is for small-scale entrepreneurs to stay connected. I am particularly interested in understanding how different regions address similar challenges and how they manage to maintain sustainable practices while scaling their efforts. By learning from diverse experiences and sharing knowledge, we can overcome the limitations of conventional agricultural methods and enhance the resilience and success of our projects. It’s all about breaking away from the traditional agricultural system and ensuring our projects thrive long-term. Sharing knowledge and supporting each other is crucial for making real progress.

Source: EU4Advice

Advisors
Are you helping farmers and producers to sell their things directly, to improve their bargaining power or position in the value chain, or to transition to more socially and environmentally production systems?

Now is your chance to join the first-ever European advisory network focused on short food supply chains (SFSCs), established through the Horizon Europe projects COREnet and EU4Advice, which ultimate aim is to enhance the sustainability, competitiveness and visibility of European short food supply chains. A key step to pursue this goal, is to enhance the connections between SFSC actors in Europe, the capacity building and the knowledge sharing between advisors, producers, researchers and policy-makers.

This platform will connect you to a wide community of experts and advisors related to SFSC and support effective exchange of knowledge and solutions among advisors and other food system stakeholders, through access to training materials, thematic workshops, collaborative knowledge-sharing sessions, and networking activities.

Additionally, you will be listed in a public database of SFSC advisors, giving you visibility as a trusted resource in the SFSC field. Moreover, your participation will also play a role in shaping policy recommendations at the EU level that support the development of the SFSC sector.

Your involvement in the network and related activities is entirely voluntary, and you will at all times have flexibility in choosing how to participate. As a first step, we’ll ask you to complete a brief questionnaire to understand your expertise and role in SFSCs better.