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Short abstract:

This contribution studies the challenges and opportunities of novel citizen initiatives that aim to (re)construct biodiverse food infrastructures. In particular, it focusses on a ‘living laboratory’ where proxy infrastructures, their feasibility and scalability, are tested in practice.

Long abstract:

The current agricultural crisis in the Netherlands is a wicked problem, encompassing concerns about food production, land use, biodiversity, water quality, and economic viability. It is in this context, that new citizen initiatives concerning food production have emerged. Citizen initiatives such as Land van Ons, Aardpeer, and Herenboeren have taken matters into their own hands by aiming to reconstruct the agricultural infrastructure: from land ownership, to food production, to its distribution. However, the (re)construction of agricultural infrastructures poses substantial challenges. There are seemingly small but fundamental concerns such as what biodiversity actually means, to large-scale infrastructural questions concerning how food should be distributed without relying on existing wholesalers and supermarkets.

This contribution studies the challenges, dilemmas, and opportunities of these citizen initiatives and their ambition to (re)construct novel biodiverse food infrastructures. In particular, it focuses on a 'living laboratory' where proxy infrastructures, their feasibility, and scalability, are tested in earthly practice. I am interested in how small-scale experiments, such as the growing of risotto rice, cranberries, and the creation of a 'food swamp,' serve as proxies or roadmaps for future large-scale infrastructures. I am interested in the techno-scientific solutions this living laboratory procures, involving novel methods and technologies of farming and food production that construct in practice what ‘good’ and ‘bad’ biodiversity is.