DEPT. OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES DIPSA (IT) – ALMA MATER STUDIORUM - UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA
The University of Bologna, Alma Mater Studiorum, (Unibo) is one of the most important institutions of higher education across Europe. Unibo offers a vast array of programmes, both at the first, second and third cycle of studies and is fully committed to the implementation of the Bologna process action lines. The Department of Agricultural Sciences (DipSA) provides state wide leadership in research, teaching and extension in the subjects of horticulture, crop production, sustainable agricultural systems and environment and applied plant ecology.
DipSA has a world leading experience in the area of urban farming in Europe and in developing countries especially in the development of sustainable small scale horticultural cropping systems.
In 2009 DipSA organized the 2nd Int. Conference on Landscape and Urban Horticulture, focused on the relationship “People – Plants - Quality of Life”.
The Research Centre in Urban Environment for Agriculture and Biodiversity (ResCUE- AB) was created in the Dept. of Agricultural Sciences in 2013 with the aim to turn the city into a widespread ecological-laboratory that connects the different experiences of agriculture and urban ecology for a better urban environment. The ResCUE-AB main activities include:
Promotion of Urban Agriculture (UA) studies and researches on socially sustainable ecosystems including soilless crops, agro-ecology and biodiversity in urban environment.
Organization of training opportunities, conferences, seminars and meetings
Coordination of innovative and viable UA grassroot initiatives involving multiple stakeholders (governamental and nongovernamental actors, civil society and SMEs)
Support to the definition and implementation of policies and programmes at local, regional, national, and international level
Web site:
http://www.scienzeagrarie.unibo.it/it
Contact person: Dr. Francesco Orsini f.orsini@unibo.it
HORTICITY (IT)
Funded in 2006, HORTICITY aims at putting together different and qualified expertises in order to provide products and services for preservation and valorization of the horticultural production, adopting a multidisciplinary approach and orienting efforts to the improvement of food security. HORTICITY is involved in several international cooperation activities, promoting home and community gardening, offering training to disadvantaged populations and social groups (elder, women, children). It has collaborated with several NGOs developing projects of social horticulture in Brazil, Peru, Myanmar, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. Projects ranged from the creation of community gardens for income generation to improving nutrition and for social/educational purposes. HORTICITY is also involved in educational horticulture, with projects of school gardens in primary schools and nurseries. Currently it takes part to a project held by the Bologna city council and the university of Bologna for the installation of community gardens on the roofs of the popular building, involving elder and immigrant residents
Website:
http://www.horticity.it/
Contact person: Giovanni Bazzocchi giovanni.bazzocchi@horticity.it
MAMMUT FILM (IT)
Mammut Film is a society of authors, directors and independent producers established in 2005 in Bologna from five partners, active for over ten years in the fields of cinema, literary and theatrical production. Mammut Film is a very motivated and active production company, capable of developing and producing high quality and original creative documentaries, thanks to the experience of its production and creative team. To date Mammut Film has worked with different television networks and with several partners, which includes distributors, independent production companies and institutions. Mammut Film's production is mainly focused on environmental and social issues documentaries. Among its production: Health for Sale, One metre below the fish. Mammut film's last production is the documentary God save the green directed by Michele Mellara and Alessandro Rossi, about green and garden community around the world.
Website:
http://www.mammutfilm.it
Contact person: Michele Mellara mellara@mammutfilm.it
STEPS (IT)
STePS pioneers approaches to formal and non-formal learning to enable personal growth as well as inclusive and sustainable change in organizations and territories. To this purpose STePS elaborates and manages demand-driven projects aiming at the empowerment of individuals through personalized, collaborative and participative forms of learning. We favour equitable learning opportunities by using museum, libraries, theatres, gardens and even supermarkets as alternative learning environments but we do not renounce fundamental activities like proper training need analysis, assessment and validation of competences. STePS regularly cooperates with DipSA - UNIBO and its network of SMEs, associations and local authorities in different European, national and local projects for the promotion of urban agriculture.
Web site:
www.stepseurope.it
Contact person: Francesca Magrefi fmagrefi@stepseurope.it
AGREENIUM (CONSORTIUM NATIONAL POUR L'AGRICULTURE, L'ALIMENTATION, LA SANTE ANIMAL ET L’ENVIRONNEMENT) - (FR)
Agreenium is a legal entity bringing together the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (Inra), the French Agricultural Research Center for Development (Cirad), the Paris Institute of Technology for Life, Food, and Environmental Sciences (AgroParisTech), the Institute for Higher Education in Agricultural, Agrifood, Horticultural and Landscape Sciences (Agrocampus Ouest), the International Centre for Higher Education in Agricultural Sciences (Montpellier SupAgro), and the National Veterinary School of Toulouse (ENVT) which has been replaced by the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (INPT).
To strengthen the coordination of French actions and to foster synergies between research bodies, the public authorities created the Agence Inter-Etablissements de Recherche pour le Développement (AIRD) in 2008, followed in 2009 by Agreenium, a consortium of research and higher education bodies, with the aim of facilitating access to research and higher education facilities in France. Its purpose is to promote the role of agronomic and veterinary research to meet the challenges of food security and sustainable development.
Agreenium implements actions and programmes linking research, training and development, representing the best that France can offer at the international level.
Web site:
www.agreenium.org
VEGEPOLYS (FR)
Located in the Pays de la Loire, VEGEPOLYS has been recognised in France as the international plant cluster.
The cluster brings together companies involved directly and indirectly in plant growing with trade associations, unions, and development bodies as well as local chambers of trade and commerce.
Its goal is to become an international reference for innovation in the world of plants.
VEGEPOLYS is founded on a historical tradition of production in the Pays de la Loire region of France.
The pedoclimatic conditions in the region and the vitality and know-how of its companies have attracted national and local government support for several decades, enabling the region to become the leader in specialised plants field.
As a competitive cluster with international reach, VEGEPOLYS is open to the world, is developing its own network and making partnerships with other French and non-French clusters.
Web site:
www.vegepolys.eu
RUAF (STICHTING INTERNATIONAL NETWORK OF RESOURCE CENTRES ON URBAN AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY) (NL)
The RUAF Foundation is an international network and leading centre of expertise in the field of (intra- and peri-) Urban Agriculture and City Region Food Systems. RUAF seeks to contribute to the development of sustainable cities by facilitating awareness raising, knowledge generation and dissemination, capacity development, policy design and action planning for resilient and equitable urban food systems.
For more than 15 years, RUAF has supported governments, urban producer organisations, NGOs, CBOs, research centres and other stakeholders with training, technical assistance, action-research and policy advice in over 40 cities around the world. In addition, we support local, national and international knowledge exchange, advocacy and learning activities.
The RUAF network is oriented towards the delivery of practical and high-quality results, applying a demand-driven and participatory approach while remaining flexible and providing room for change and innovation.
Experiences of RUAF and its partners are systematised and published in the form of books, working papers, policy briefs, guidelines and training manuals, and disseminated to various types of users, through the RUAF website. RUAF is publishing the Urban Agriculture Magazine, reaching about 800,000 readers globally today (29 Volumes since 2000). All publications can be downloaded from www.ruaf.org.
Director: Ms. Mariëlle Dubbeling
Contact: info@ruaf.org
Website: www.ruaf.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruaffoundation
SWUAS - FACHHOCHSCHULE SÜDWESTFALEN (DE)
Fachhochschule Südwestfalen – the South-Westphalia University of Applied Sciences (SWUAS) – offers education in engineering sciences, electrical and information technologies, economics and agronomy. The head of the University of Applied Sciences is located in Iserlohn; which is one of in total five places (Hagen, Iserlohn, Lüdenscheid, Meschede and Soest). The Department of Agriculture, which is situated in Soest, educates students on bachelor and master level for different purposes. While some of the graduates run farms, others use their acquired skills to work as advisors, for agricultural companies, associations or public institutions close to agriculture. Besides education, they are also active in international, national and regional research activities on urban agriculture, like the EU COST-Actions “Urban Agriculture Europe” and “The EU Aquaponic Hub”.
Web site:
www.fh-swf.de
HEI-TRO GMBH (DE)
hei-tro GmbH is a german enterprise founded 1984 in Dortmund and for decades working on commercial real-estate project development. Since 2013 the company is focused on producing and improving new aquaponic systems and products. The company also offers services in project management and monitoring of aquaponic-systems. Another future aim of their business is to develop commercial prototype-systems for science needs and researches.
Web site:
www.hei-tro.com
GROW THE PLANET S.R.L. (IT)
Grow The Planet is a social network dedicated to anyone who loves good healthy food, anyone who has a vegetable garden or simply wants to learn, in a fun way, how to grow some of their own food.
With Grow the Planet horticulture becomes a game and the results will be delicious; you'll manage to grow things even if you live in a city, have very little space and… limited time. Grow the Planet adapts to your climatic zone and is able to personalize the cultivation diary according to the average seasonal temperatures that affect your vegetable garden.
Web site:
www.growtheplanet.com
