How can Oosterwold produce more food for Almere?

Food production is one of the key principles behind the development of Oosterwold. The ambition is for the area to eventually provide 10 percent of Almere’s food. To move closer to that goal, more insight is needed into the different forms of urban agriculture that could work in the area.

Food Pioneers and the Municipality of Almere brought this question to Wageningen University & Research. As part of the Academic Consultancy Training course, students work on challenges that come directly from practice. Food Pioneers helped translate Oosterwold’s challenge into a clear research assignment and brought the relevant parties together.

An international perspective on Oosterwold

In May and June, six students from different master’s programmes worked on the assignment. The international team included students from Australia, Lebanon, the Philippines and the United States.

Their research focused on clustered urban agriculture. The idea is that food producers do not necessarily need to organise everything individually. By sharing land, facilities, knowledge or routes to market, for example, different initiatives can strengthen one another.

Parts of the food production process could also be outsourced to a professional producer. This could make it easier for locally produced food to find its way to customers and organisations across Almere.

Getting to know Oosterwold

At the start of the research project, the students visited Oosterwold. They were introduced to the area, learned more about the experimental nature of its development and visited several characteristic locations. They also explored the area that will become home to new residents as part of Phase 1B.

From there, the research developed further. Through a literature review and conversations with stakeholders, the students explored the activities already taking place in Oosterwold and identified opportunities for new forms of collaboration.

From analysis to recommendations

At the end of June, the students presented their findings to the parties involved. In their final report, they developed several models for clustered urban agriculture and outlined what would be needed to take these models further in practice.

The findings provide useful starting points for the further development of food production in Oosterwold. At the same time, the project demonstrates how a local challenge can be taken a step further by connecting it with the knowledge, research skills and fresh perspectives of students.

Interested in the findings and what happens next? Contact Guusje Weeber at guusje@foodpioneers.nl to request the full research report.