The seminar is directed to researchers, students and professionals interested in food research including multidisciplinary areas such as life-sciences and socio-economic sciences.
The aims of the seminar are to reveal recent organic food research in Europe and introduce up-to-date research topics and methodologies to the participants. Important focuses are the quality of food in Europe and the socio-economic aspects of organic food consumption and production. We have specifically put emphasis on the invitation of the highest level of scientists as lectures.
Background
The future of food systems and "the nourishing networks" have currently become the focus of concerns for businesses, politicians, educatiors and the general public. The volatility of prices on the global market, the climate impacts, administrative regulations and the equity issues of food purchases as well as the emerging fraud of traded food items have increased the momentum towards more sustainable food systems.
Organic food and farming represents an approach for ectifying many of the ills of the conventional food system; however, as the organic systems operates through demand and supply on the current market, all the issues embedded within the conventional food system need to be solved by the alternative organic system as well. Therefore, there are plenty of economic, environmental and socio-cultural issues in organic food and farming to be solved by system actors.
Seminar is organized by
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University of Helsinki, Ruralia Institute
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MTT Agrifood Research Finland
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Aalto University, School of Economics, Business Center
The seminar shares the organizers´ open, critical and collaborative approach to Green Economy. The seminar invites participants to share novel research pertaining to organic food and farming. The participants of the seminar spend the first days of the seminar downtown Mikkeli, and then may join in to tour local actors´ businessees evidencing recent organic developments in Finland.
About the organizing research and development community in Mikkeli, Finland
Ruralia Institute of the University of Helsinki, Small Business Center fo Aalto University and MTT Agrifood Research Finland have focused for more than 20 years on the study of food systems. These organizations have also emphasized research and development of organic food and farming in collaboration with local actors.
The generic task of research based developmental support for rural livelihoods underlines the interplay between the rural and the urban, whereby both benefit from progress towards increased sustainability within the same systemic conditions of the European social market economies.
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