Chris Kjeldsen

Multifunctional farming, multifunctional landscapes and rural development

The Common European Agricultural Policy (CAP) is under transformation towards a Common Agricultural and Rural Policy of Europe (CARPE). During this transformation, substantial parts of the previously direct support for agricultural production (1st pillar measures) are now decoupled from production. Moreover, a share of direct payments is modulated to the rural development programme, which is the 2nd pillar of the CARPE (Table 1).

Methodological issues of modelling farm and landscape scale indicators for sustainable land systems

Abstract Geografisk Tidsskrift, Danish Journal of Geography 106(2): 35–43, 2006 This paper presents results from the strategic EU research project MEA-scope (www.MEA-scope.org), which aims at the development of a GIS-based framework to model farm and landscape scale indicators for rural sustainability. Problems in scaling information between the farm- and the landscape levels in particular are addressed. Both disaggregation and aggregation techniques are needed to convey information between the two levels. This is demonstrated in a case study of (1) disaggregating landscape level soil maps for farm level modelling, and (2) subsequent landscape level aggregation of the farm model results. This interaction between farm- and landscape level information sources gives the opportunity for integrated modelling of farm level indicators (e.g. nutrient balances, energy use, farmers age, employment etc.) and landscape level indicators (e.g. groundwater quality, corridors between habitats and population density). The case studies illustrate the modelling and scaling of Nitrogen surplus as one indicator for water pollution in one of the MEA-scope landscapes, but the case studies has general application for the modelling of other indicators in other landscapes, and in other projects. In this context, the MEA-scope framework is being discussed in comparison to the conceptual framework of the Global Land Project (www.globalland-project.org), which reveals different shortcomings in the MEA-scope approach and lessons for future research work on the interface between land use systems, ecological systems and social systems.

Evaluating public participation in Denmark’s water councils: How policy design and boundary judgements affect water governance!

Under the Water Framework Directive, public participation was identified as a key part of water planning. This caused a paradigm shift in Danish water planning. Water councils in River Basin Districts were established to provide public input on how to improve the physical conditions in streams. A study of the water councils found that Denmark has complied with the requirements of making background information available to the public and ensuring consultation. The facilitation of the councils’ processes has worked well. However, while they are presented as the ‘new governance option’ in Danish water planning, this does not accord with reality. The water council processes are limited in scope and controlled by the central government. Their process can be better characterized as expanded stakeholder consultation, officially part of the policy process but involving very little active public involvement. The article concludes by indicating the consequences for participation and collaborative innovation.

The MEA-Scope Modelling Approach

The MEA-Scope project developed, and applied a modelling approach that allows for the ex ante assessment of sustainability impacts of new policies, technologies and market changes. Thereby, the agricultural production at farm level and its effect on social, economic and environmental assets under changing circumstances is examined. The MEA-Scope modelling approach simulates the development of regional agricultural production structures over time. Within the same analysis, the approach considers details of individual farms and soils. During the project duration, three pre-existing models were further completed and interlinked with each other. The modelling approach was applied at two different levels of detail in seven different European regions to examine the effects of five agricultural policy scenarios. The core models involved were AgriPoliS, MODAM and FASSET/Farm-N. In this chapter, the modelling approach, characteristics of the models involved and the policy scenarios are introduced while results as well as details on the different modelling applications can be found in subsequent chapters of this book.

Coordinating quality practices in Direct Trade coffee

ABSTRACT Over the past few decades, many food niches have emerged with a specific focus on quality. In specialty coffee, micro roasters have brought about Direct Trade coffee as a way of organising an alternative around new tastes and qualities through ongoing and ‘direct’ relations to farmers and cooperatives. But Direct Trade also involves exporters. We ask, how do exporters and roasters work together in these new coffee relations, and what do they work on? We observe and participate in a situation where Colombian coffee exporters visit Danish roasters. They tour the roasting facilities and taste a number of coffees. Often, the term power is used to analyse such value chain interactions, but we argue that the term coordination better opens up these interactions for exploration and analysis. What emerges is a coordination of quality. Through touring and tasting, issues emerge and differences are laid out. We learn that quality is a continuous achievement. There is friction between the ways in which the roasters and exporters do quality, but these are not done away with through power. They are made known and discussable through the work of coordination. The activity of tasting quality is a coordination device that allows for bringing out differences in how quality is done in practice. Coffee, in this event, is not a fixed object, but shifts as issues of quality are brought up in tasting. This suggests a decentering of the object on the issue of quality.

Indicators for assessing the environmental impacts of land use change across Europe

Much progress has been made in understanding future trend development over the last years. Governments and international bodies are increasingly attempting to assess ex-ante the impact of their policy proposals. In the SENSOR project, environmental sustainability is assessed by answering a set of policy relevant questions likely to affect goods and services provided by land. The answer is complex and the assessment of future options is very sensitive to scale, how far ahead in time is being considered, and whether the assessment addresses local, regional or global concerns. The relationships between components of land use and the response of environmental indicators are not necessarily linear and assessing impacts at a European scale implies to use multi-scale sources of data of uneven quality across countries, which in turn creates constraints when interpreting the results at different spatial levels.

N-Losses and Energy Use in a Scenario for Conversion to Organic Farming

The aims of organic farming include the recycling of nutrients and organic matter and the minimisa-tion of the environmental impact of agriculture. Reduced nitrogen (N)-losses and energy (E)-use are therefore fundamental objectives of conversion to organic farming. However, the case is not straightforward, and different scenarios for conversion to organic farming might lead to reduced or increased N-losses and E-use. This paper presents a scenario tool that uses a Geographical Information System in association with models for crop rotations, fertilisation practices, N-losses, and E-uses. The scenario tool has been developed within the multidisciplinary research project Land Use and Landscape Development Illustrated with Scenarios (ARLAS). A pilot scenario was carried out, where predicted changes in N-losses and E-uses following conversion to organic farming in areas with special interests in clean groundwater were compared. The N-surplus and E-use were on average reduced by 10 and 54%, respectively. However, these reductions following the predicted changes in crop rotations, livestock densities, and fertilisation practices were not large enough to ensure a statistically significant reduction at the 95% level. We therefore recommend further research in how conversion to organic farming or other changes in the agricultural practice might help to reduce N-surpluses and E-uses. In that context, the presented scenario tool would be useful.

It’s never too late to join the revolution! – Enabling new modes of production in the contemporary Danish food system

ABSTRACT The Danish food system has undergone a transition in the past 10–20 years, in which new quality conventions have evolved. Examples include increasing organic production and consumption, and increasing interest in local food, experience, community, taste and gastronomy. This article explores what influences if and how these new food trends are expressed in the food system. We conduct a comparative case study involving three product categories: craft beer, specialty flour and organic broilers. Craft beer and specialty flour have undergone a revolution, in which new flavours, products, practices and social relations are generated; by contrast, organic broilers have remained a relatively stable product category. The case studies demonstrate that the revolution is not just taking place in one domain, but it implies a multidimensional reconfiguration of the food system where an emphasis on multiple quality aspects and diversification of the product category is important. However, food trends are not the invention of the individual producer, but serve as common conventions that products can be related to, although their interpretation is not pre-given. In addition, a transition presupposes a shared vision and a coordination of activities among the actors in the food system or the mobilization of new actors who share this vision.

The quality turn in the Danish food scape: new food chains emerging – new territorial impacts?

Abstract Accounts of the ‘quality turn’ in agro-food literature suggest that there is a potential for growth in the market for ‘high-quality’ food, which utilises distinct notions like ‘quality’ and ‘place.’ These food chains are typically described as ‘alternative.’ Alterity might stem from alternative social or physical geographies of such food chains. This study is focused on exploring whether the utilisation of different notions of quality in emerging producer–consumer networks also translates into new patterns of rural development. This paper is based on data on various sub-sectors of Danish food chains on municipality scale for the period 2000–2005. Specifically, this study seeks to identify whether this is the case in the Danish context. First, the analysis considers the economic geography of Danish food chains on national level. Second, a deviant case on a regional level is considered, which runs counter to the trends on national level.

Validation of an Agent-Based, Spatio-Temporal Model for Farming in the River Gudenå Landscape. Results from the MEA-Scope Case Study in Denmark

A validation of the agent-based model AgriPoliS by back casting is presented. The agent-based model AgriPoliS is calibrated to a Danish agricultural catchment. The model was supplied with empirical data on the exact location of individual plots as well as farm characteristics of 2,383 individual farms covering the period 1998–2004. Validation was carried out comparing the results of the simulation to the empirical data. The comparison shows that the model simulates development on the most aggregated level (the number of farms in the catchment) relatively well. There are some variations to the degree of precisions on less aggregated levels of analysis. The overall conclusion is that the agent-based model approach utilized here was effective in regard to prediction.