Last Thursday, we had a lunch event about the “Commons” with Pablo van Neste, Elianne Bakker and Maria van Maanen. During this event, Pablo and Elianne gave an introduction to the Commons and talked about the project of Toekomstboeren (Future Farmers) that they worked on for the past year, and Maria gave her perspective as a farmer. It was the first event that we organized as a hybrid between online and offline, which gave an interesting dynamic. You can watch the recording below. If there is interest, we can organize a follow-up event that dives deeper into the subject.
Read more about the Toekomstboeren project here: https://toekomstboeren.nl/land/
What if… land was not a commodity that can be speculated on by wealthy parties? What if we treated land, the primary resource for farming, in a way that allows farmers who mean well for the environment and the people to produce good food?
This sounds like a radical idea, in the thought of Polanyi, who argued that once land, labour and money became ficticious commodities, society became subordinated to economy (instead of the other way around), which he comdemned in the Great Transformation.
Toekomstboeren has been working together with farmers who have made steps to make land a “common” and we are happy to invite you to the presentation of their project. Three people who have been working hard publishing a manual to bring land into the realm of the commons, will speak during this one hour lunch event. Pablo Van Neste will give a short introduction, Eliane will give an introduction to commons and the problem of access to land. To end, Maria van Maanen, farmer at De Wilde Peen, will talk about how she is bringing the commons into practice, and lead the open discussion.
The event will take place offline, location to be announced, but will also be livestreamed online. Access to land is the main obstacle for (young) farmers and we are looking forward to discuss a possible solution with you, and to create connections between the project of Toekomstboeren and the university.