FARM AWAY

EEMVALLEI, BUNSCHOTEN

The challenges for the agricultural sector have been well discussed recently. Issues regarding nitrogen, pollution, food security and a growing chasm between city dwellers and farmers are all topic of debate. The way in which our food is produced directly impacts the way we organize and inhabit our land.

Several parties are trying to come up with solutions that tackle these difficulties. One of these parties is the ‘Actiegroep Nederlandse Voedsellandschappen’ (ANV). A group of farmers and policy makers led by Jan Huijgen that try to introduce a new sort of landscape. Seeing the issue of the strict divide between agricultural land – where nature is slowly disappearing, and natural landscape – where no agriculture is allowed at all, the ANV sees the need for an Hybrid option: gardening landscapes. In essence, they’re a new legislative type of land use that could be implemented around cities, towns and natural reserves. Gardening landscapes include organic farming, gardening forests, mixed land use, and places for education and farmstays. For city dwellers it would provide local produce, farmers markets and a more (bio)diverse countryside for recreation. In this manner, cities and nature reserves would be protected from some of the negative side effects of intensive farming, while establishing a fertile ground for reconnecting townsfolk with the surrounding countryside. The farmer will produce for local residents and the residents are able to see where their food is produced.

To help ANV in their pitches and discussions with the minister of agriculture, Studio Habitat researched the spatial implications of this new potential policy. This resulted in a series of maps and infographics, including a fictional gardening route that explains all major benefits of the implication of gardening landscapes. It is time to rediscover the value of our food.