We are looking for good practices of local food innovations and projects

Open Biobord Forum
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Hello all,

As part of RDI2Club-project, Regional Council of Central Finland (RCCF) is working with local food and now we are collecting good practices of local food innovations and projects.

I am sure that we have many great local food ideas around Baltic Sea Region and it would be great if you could share them here :slight_smile: What are the best local food ideas in your area?

Do you know any great e.g.

  • local food projects that have increased the popularity of local food
  • Local food markets that have worked very well
  • Ideas how to increase the use of local food in schools
    Or anything else.

Our goal in RCCF is to collect these good practices and promote them in the area, so that we can boost local food market. We try to find different ideas, projects, innovations etc. that have worked well, so feel free to share your thoughts and experiences.

You can also contact me via e-mail: enni.huotari@keskisuomi.fi

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@RDI2CluB any good practices ? :man_cook:

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Hey @ennihuotari,

Perhaps the Estonian open farms day would be a good practice?
On one weekend of the year, usually mid-summer, all kinds of different farms all over the country open their doors for visitors, either they set up pop-up cafe’s, sell their produce or organize excursions. It is both beneficial to the farms to sell directly to consumers but also for educational purposes for the kids, for them to see how farming and agriculture works.
It’s a really popular event - last year there were 310 farms participating and welcoming over 195 000 visitors.

Read more about it here: Welcome to Avatud Talude Päev | Avatud Talude Päev

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Thank you @kaidi!

That sounds a really good example. I will definitely look into it :slight_smile:

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Dear @ennihuotari,
like @kaidi says they have in Estonia, we also have Open Farms day in Norway. They don’t necessarily focus on selling products (the farmers decide themselves whether they will do this), but on informing and increasing knowledge about farming. I have to admit, I haven’t been visiting any of the farms in recent years myself, but remember well I did as a child, with my father - and memories that last for 30 years should probably be considered a success? :wink: The webpage (Åpen Gård - Norges Bondelag) seems to be in Norwegian only, but hopefully Google can provide an okay translation.

We also have Farmers Market, where the producers sell their products directly to the consumers. The producer is not necessarily a farmer, but someone who processes local raw food on a small scale. In the bigger cities, the markets show up regularly at squares, in parks etc, while in smaller cities, they attend festivals and other major events - or even small events focusing on food and farming. More information at What is the Farmer's Market? - Bondens marked

At www.lokalmat.no (also in Norwegian only) local food producers may register to make their products available to purchasers for grocery stores. The local food awereness has increased in recent years, and now, many grocery stores offer a quite wide range of local products - or at least, products produced on a small scale not too far away. They are also hosting a “Local food school”, or courses for the producers, to build knowledge and networks: https://www.lokalmat.no/no/nyhetsarkiv/lokalmatskolen-er-i-gang

And of course, we have the REKO - local food network, which is one of our 25 cases. The purpose of a REKO-ring is to establish an online local food market, offering an effective, direct and easy way for local food producers and consumers. The interaction is direct, without any intermediaries. The local food market is co-created by producers, consumers and facilitators termed administrators through a process of facilitated interaction. As this is originally a Finnish consept, you may have heard of it before? Norwegian information is found at https://www.smabrukarlaget.no/norsk-bonde-og-smabrukarlag/matnyttig/lokalmatringer/aktive-reko-ringer/, and the Finnish founder also have a TED talk about it: IL MARKET VIRTUALE, DIRETTO E ITINERANTE | Thomas Snellmann | TEDxReggioEmilia - YouTube

I’m not aware of measures to increase the use of local food in schools, but I believe that something has been done with local food in the elderly care, so I will look into it a little further.

Please let me know if you want me to gather more information about any of these measures, or if you want to get in touch with any of the local producers or organisations.

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Thanks a lot @ingrid

I will get back to you later! Especially Lokalmat sounds really interesting! :slight_smile:

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This is probably not exactly what you’re looking for, @ennihuotari, but I’d like to share it with you anyway :slight_smile: Due to the Covid-19, most of the Farmer’s markets and other places selling local food are closed. Thus, it is difficult for the producers to sell their products and they risk huge financial losses (one local producer estimates to lose €20.000 each month the Farmer’s market is closed).
To overcome this, some local producers have started www.stuttrestmat.no (“stuttrest mat” is a dialect expression for local food). Here you can order local food, and the producers will deliver at your home or along set routes (jointly, not each producer by theirselves). I haven’t tried it myself yet, I heard of it on the news yesterday, so it’s quite new, but I find it interesting - so does also Innovation Norway, who has supported this.

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