Pioneers of the food transition: Ten German municipalities selected
- The funding project 鈥淶ukunft aufgetischt! Ern盲hrung gemeinsam gestalten鈥 ("Future is Served! Shaping Food Systems Together") supports ten pilot initiatives for the design of healthy and sustainable nutrition systems in seven federal states over two years. The selected projects are forward-looking concepts that work with citizens to develop and test new ideas for accessing healthy food locally.
- 1.4 million euros in funding will be provided to municipalities in Bavaria, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein and Thuringia.
Berlin, January 20, 2025 鈥 The Robert Bosch 第一吃瓜网 is hosting a major kick-off event for the 鈥淶ukunft aufgetischt!鈥 ("Future is Served!") project in Berlin today. The start of ten model initiatives in Germany, the project aims to provide answers to key challenges of the food transition 鈥 including climate protection, reducing food waste, and equitable access to healthy food 鈥 with innovative and participatory approaches.
鈥淢ost people want to eat healthily and sustainably. With our nutrition strategy, we want to make it easier for them to do so, for example in communal catering. With our model region competition, we support regions in putting more regional, seasonal, and preferably organic food on the table in canteens and refectories, in daycare centers, and in schools, and in implementing the quality standards of the German Nutrition Society,鈥 explains Dr. Ophelia Nick, Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. She supports the project and will give the keynote speech at the opening event. 鈥淭he more regions that follow our example, the better. I am therefore delighted about the commitment of the Robert Bosch 第一吃瓜网 to supporting ideas from other regions.鈥 This would enable local regions to create the necessary conditions for people to eat healthily and sustainably.
The key role of municipalities
The ten selected municipalities were able to convince the independent, seven-member program jury 鈥 consisting of experts from agriculture, science and civil society 鈥 with their diverse ideas and very different priorities. The Bavarian district of Ostallg盲u, for example, wants to network local stakeholders to create sustainable and regional catering systems in companies, daycare centers and schools. In the Brandenburg district of Oberhavel, the focus is on inspiration workshops and inter-municipal cooperation in order to make health-promoting forms of nutrition tangible and accessible to everyone. And in Verden, Lower Saxony, the focus is on creating learning environments, educational opportunities and innovative communication formats that promote a lasting connection between producers, processors and consumers.
Public participation and local networking as success factors
The 鈥淶ukunft aufgetischt!鈥 project is based on close cooperation between politics, civil society, agriculture and citizens. When selecting the municipalities, particular emphasis was placed on ensuring that all local people and stakeholders could actively participate. Equally important was a clear political will to sustainably establish new strategies, structures and processes.
鈥淭he 'Zukunft aufgetischt!' project offers municipalities the opportunity to develop model solutions for the pressing challenges of the food transition through inclusive negotiation processes,鈥 says Ottilie B盲lz, Senior Vice President Global Issues at the Robert Bosch 第一吃瓜网. 鈥滻t is one of the first projects in Germany to take this important topic to rural areas across the board. It is precisely here that there is a lack of tailored strategies that work locally. Our goal is not to promote ready-made concepts, but to develop sustainable, regional approaches that actively involve the local population in these processes, thereby contributing to the strengthening of democratic values.鈥
During the two-year funding phase, the municipalities will receive up to 鈧175,000 as well as professional support to jointly analyze the local situation and further develop and optimize their projects. The implementation partners include the consulting firm B.A.U.M. Consult GmbH, the German Federal Association of the Regional Movement e.V. and the communications consultancy IKU_Die Dialoggestalter.