Launch of a robust, regional and regenerative food system in Utrecht

On Friday December 15th, the kick-off meeting for the launch of a robust, regional and regenerative food system in Utrecht took place at Fort bij ‘t Hemeltje in Houten.

From left to right, from top to bottom: Rinke van ‘t Holt (Het Lokaal), Jesper Kramp (Stadsbrouwerij De Drie Ringen), Alexander Daniel (Natuur en Milieufederatie Utrecht), Maarten Klop (Local2Local, Grounded), Marc Heijdeman (Compazz Foundation), William Pouw (fruitteelt), Bauke van der Veen (Vereniging Flevofood), Mark Frederiks (Amped/L2L), Jan Bos (Herenboeren), Emina Zorlak (Rechtstreex) , Mark Verhoef (De Sociale Pionier, Operation Food Freedom Overvecht), Lucie Jeandrai (Amped), Huub van der Maat (boerderij Nieuw Slagmaat)

In the Utrecht region, many initiatives, organisations, companies and farmer collectives have been working for years on the promises of short food chains and sustainable agriculture. In line with this, Province of Utrecht and Municipality of Utrecht have financially supported many individual projects and movements.

The crux: there is an abundance of energy, passion, willingness, knowledge and decisiveness, but in order to fulfil the promises (of a regionally connected food system with perspective and future-proofing for all) there is an important component missing: cooperation. A cooperation in which what is already there is valued and what is still missing can be realised in co-creation.

Local2Local and Amped have been pursuing this for 10 years and we started this process in 2019 in Metropolitan Amsterdam. The steps we were able to take here, the lessons learned and the testing of the process have convinced us that this is also possible in the Utrecht region.

The meeting on 15 December started the so-called foundation phase of the onboarding process. This phase centres on an analysis of current barriers and opportunities, strategy development and planning. It is the first primer, building strong partnerships using the principles of nature. Together, participants create a preliminary vision.

We are immensely proud of this first step, we thank our launching partners and look forward to putting our shoulders to our mission together!