Looking back at our Local Farmers’ Fair
On the 30th of January, we had our first Farmers’ Fair of the year! A wonderful moment for students and Farmer Fair enthusiasts to start the year off right and to buy sustainable (Valentine) gifts! The market took place in a very central place on the university, namely the Forum stage. Boerengroep organised this fair in order to get local farmers and WUR students and employees together. In this way, we wish to stimulate the local economy and have fun doing so!
The fair was held during lunch time, from 12h-14h, to give students the chance to stroll between the market stands during their study break. From 11h onwards, the farmers and entrepreneurs started to arrive and set up their table with their goods. The farmer from goat farm De Groote Stroe was there, with exquisite, organic goat cheese. The market garden, Ommuurde Tuin, was there with information and jams and vegetables to sell. De Hoge Born, which is a care farm right next to the campus, was at the market selling pumpkins, jams and much more. The Creative Garden, a community garden next to the Hoge Born, talked about how much fun it is to grow food next to their study or work. Eurrijn informed the visitors about the local currency in Wageningen.
Furthermore, some student-based initiatives were present. Wageningen Student Farm is an organization of students that grow their own food on a field near the campus. WEP (Wageningen Environmental Platform) sells vegetable and fruit bags from Tuinderij De Stroom. For new students, the market offered a good opportunity to get to know these two organizations. It was also a chance to get to know Foodsharing, a volunteer-based organization that collects food that would otherwise be wasted from restaurants, supermarkets and caterers and offers it for free to whoever wants to take the leftovers. Always a good option for a student on a budget, and a wonderful and exciting organization to be a volunteer in.
There were also some sustainable student entrepreneurs. Clara, an organic agriculture student, presented her beautiful self-made jewellery. And Luka, also organic agriculture-student, makes his own pins with images of Wageningen University on them, that he sold at the market. Moreover, we were very happy to have Chris there, who started a market garden, Sayuran, after graduating.
Besides food and jewellery, the fair also offered the opportunity to buy sustainable soap from Zerah.
As you can tell from this listing, we had a broad variety of farms, organizations involved with farming and food, student initiatives and sustainable producers. Furthermore, there was a good variation between “classics” that have participated in former farmers’ fairs organized by Boerengroep, and “newer” entrepreneurs that we got to meet ourselves for the first time!
Stay tuned for the next Farmers’ Fair in Wageningen University, that will take place during the Voedsel Anders Conference on the 3rd and 4th of April!
