WUR & UoG

I am wrapping up my time here in Holland very quickly. Tomorrow I hope to leave Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam at 10:55 AM, grab a connection in Chicago’s O’Hare airport and arrive in Calgary hopefully at 18:29 Alberta time.

So, how was WUR?

WUR was great. I learned alot about the intricacies and complexities of setting up a sustainable food supply chain. Right now I am not going to go into much more details about what all I exactly learned, but rather would like to discuss the eduation system at Wageningen with my Canadian experiences.

In Canada, (or, at least in Kwantlen University College, University of British Columbia and University of Guelph), the school year is divided into four-month semesters. Each semester you take approximatly 4-5 courses at the bachelor level and 3-4 courses at the master’s level. One professor sometimes assisted by a teacher’s aid, lab technician, etc, delivers the entire course material.

In Wageningen the structure is somewhat different. First, the year is divided in two month periods. Also, rather then having only one professor the entire period, each week we had a different professor because each week we studied a different aspect of the chain (for example, risk, economics, environmental sustainability etc) and each week an expert in the particular subject matter delivered the lecture. Occasionally, a guest professor delivered the lecture. This resulted in a continuously dynamic and fresh classroom environment. One professor was responsible for, and facilitated the entire course. He also sat in every lecture, and if I’m not mistaken is the one who also will be grading the exams.

Which is better? Hard to say…there is of course less professor-student contact in the WUR style, but on the other hand the WUR style does result in high quality education.

Enough for now. I have a few things to do yet before tomorrow.

If I don’t post anything before Dec 25th, I wish you all a nice Christmas.

p.s. The weather in Holland has turned wintery. Pretty, but I’d rather have had it if it started snowing December 23rd. Tomorrow I hope to leave early for the airport. I do not want to be late!

The Concept of Naturality & Farming Systems

A little while ago we had a rather informative lecture on the social perspectives of farming found in different countries. Specifically, we learned about the perception of farm naturality in the Netherlands and Norway.

Naturality is a concept that relates animal farming practices with the ‘natural’ environment the animal would live in. It is generally thought that for improved animal welfare, animals should be cared for in a natural way. The degree of naturalness, however, is the point of contention. Even more specifically, the definition of what is a natural agricultural production system differs. Why?

Dutch society generally want their dairy cows to be outside, grazing fresh grass, etc. On the other hand, the general Norwegian perspective on dairy naturality is that the cow may be housed indoors (but preferably allowed to graze too), calves housed in calf hutches and fed milk replacement powder, etc. In summary, the Dutch want dairy farms to resemble nature, while the Norwegians see natural dairy production in terms of farmer-animal contact. Why these different perspectives on how dairy farms ought to be?

Perhaps the answer lies in the different societal domains in Norway and the Netherlands.

A societal domain can be thought of as a cluster of individuals, organisms and landscapes interacting together in a uniquely distinct manner. For example, an academic domain could be a university campus with undergraduate and graduate students interacting with each other and with professors. Such a domain is obviously much different than a nuclear family domain. The values and objectives of each domain may also be quite different too. Back to agriculture though and why society may have different perspectives on the naturality of animal husbandry.

In Norway, there may be three general land use domains: Urban, Rural and Nature domains with the following characteristics:

As you can see, farming in Norway operates as an interface between the urban and nature domains. Now, consider the Dutch land-use domains. In the Netherlands there are typically two types: the urban and the Green domain as shown in the powerpoint slide below:

Within the Netherlands, 63% of the population believes that there is no “real” nature, and most natural environments are either built or managed by people (e.g. parks, green space etc). One exception to this may be the Biesbos which is still a wild nature reserve in Holland. However, clearly these different domain perspectives result in different views of farms. In Holland, farms are part of the green domain and are part of nature, while in Norway, farms are not part of nature but between the nature and urban domain. In Norway, cows are part of the rural domain but not part of the natural domain, hence they can be managed in a more intense manner, while in the Netherlands, 90% of society considers cows part of the landscape! Furthermore, in Norway many farms play an important role in segregating the urban domain from the more dangerous natural domain, while in Holland the green domain prevents the sprawl of the urban domain.

So, what was the take home message of this lecture?

These differing social perspectives play an important role in ascertaining how farms should function. It guides rural policy development. It highlights the need to reconnect people with where food comes from. It explains why dairy farming in the Netherlands may be increasingly regulated (e.g. imposing restrictions on large-scale commercial farms) while in other countries farms are actively supported. Last year we learned about Agriculture Policy in Guelph. In the UK farms are increasingly becoming stewards of the land rather than producers of food and the government is promoting such activities. This lecture may have shed light on why!

Ha det!

You doing anything out there?

A few minutes ago I was chatting with my brother on msn. His first message was: “You doing anything out there?…no pics…no blog…”
Very true. I am not going to apologies like I did last week, because after all I don’t want to be enslaved to the blog. I am not posting because I don’t have anything to post about. Au contraire! Last week I was working on a post about an interesting lecture I had, but didn’t get that finished yet. So, instead this one will be first – because it is easier to do

So, what is new over here in the country of wooden shoes, windmills and Frikandel Speciaal? Well, first of all I have less then three weeks time left in Holland. That means I there are many things which I hope to be able to do yet in these 19 days (425 hours).  However, if all goes well, I may post more about these things at a later date.

Last weekend I visited friends in Rotterdam. On Saturday I toured the oldest city of Holland, Dordrecht. Although the weather was a bit cool and rainy outside it was a very rewarding day. I walked through the commercial district, browsed the markets and explored the old city. Het Groothoofdspoort (built 1618/1619) was neat to see. The city’s shield is mounted on the inside of the gate, and on the outside is the stedenmaagd. (The stedenmaagd is a methodological figurine). It is interesting that when this gate was built (or rather fortified, as the original gate was built circa 1450), the city also witnessed the only National Reformed Synod. So, I also visited the church where this monumental synod was held: het Grote Kerk (translation: the Great Church).

The late-Gothic style church was rebuilt after a city-wide fire destroyed it in 1457. Although normally the church is supposed to be open Saturday afternoons, this Saturday, being a rainy, cold November Saturday, the custodian decided not to open the church but rather took the day off. However, I was able to climb the church tower. After climbing 275 narrow treads, I could look at the workings of the clock, hear the bell chime real close by, and had panoramic views of the city and the three rivers which join within her. Here are a few pictures:

Looking down the stairwell:

At the clockwork:

and of the view:

In the evening, my friends and I went to the Euromast and had a very nice view of Rotterdam at night:

The Euromast at 185 meters tall:

And lastly of the Eurasmus Bridge:

Well, that is enough for tonight. Hope you all are doing well.

Bye for now.