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Copenhagen training event: Smart Innovation for Small-Scale Producers Accessing Markets
‘Sometimes I feel like a needle in a haystack… there’s a lot of uphill work but when you’re in a room like this you feel proud of being part of this journey’. This room was in Copenhagen Town Hall for the first day of the European training event around the public food supply chain.
The programme, organised by Copenhagen Municipality, was packed with compelling speakers – including legal expert Johannes Baad Michelsen, Wim Debeuckelaere from DG Santé, Emilie Bøttern from the City of Copenhagen and Tamara Bruning from the City of Ghent. Robin Gourlay, Associate at Scotland Food and Drink, and ecological farmer Camilla Varming Nielsen shared insights from their experience. Line Rise Nielsen and Elisabeth Svensson from the University of Copenhagen, collaborating with the CoCoreado project, shared their research work
Presentation by Wim Debeuckelaere, European Commission, DG SANTE
The second day participants visited an example of a ‘food school’ (madskole) on Islands Brygge. Food schools embed food into embed food into the curriculum. They have chefs on site and involve pupils in preparing, cooking, and serving the daily meals ‘home style’ from bowls placed on tables.
COACH participants speaking with chef at food school on Islands Brygge
Later the group also visited Mejnerts Mølle Farm (see photo below) that supplies organic potatoes to the Municipality of Copenhagen and potato growing kits used for educational projects.
Here participants learned about the potato tender and Andrea Magarini, Food Policy Coordinator at the City of Milan, provided an overview of the city’s public procurement system driven by school canteens.
A common highlight was to bring together people from different areas of the food system to share their knowledge and perspectives. As one of the farmer participants reminded us ‘no matter where you are, whether a farmer of the other end of the supply chain… remember we are all just humans…’
Click here to access written presentations from the training event.
COACH Participants at Mejnerts Mølle Farm near Copenhagen