Organic farming in the context of transformation impulses towards a sustainable regional food system

The aim of the ÖkoTransRES research network was to develop action strategies for the promotion of organic farming at regional level in exchange with social actors, to evaluate them systematically according to a broad set of sustainability criteria, to provide an ethical foundation in a participatory discourse on values, and to set exemplary transformation impulses towards a sustainable food system. The project was being developed and implemented in close cooperation with the newly created "Freiburg Organic Model Region". As a cooperation of the districts Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald and Emmendingen as well as the city of Freiburg, this region is characterised by an exemplary urban-rural relationship. The strategy of the organic model region is (i) demand-oriented (promoted by an environmentally interested, committed population and a strong tourism and trade fair sector), (ii) networking-oriented (via innovative initiatives across the value chain, bundled, among others, via the "Freiburg & Region Nutrition Council") and (iii) vision-oriented (via the participatory model of a "nutritionally sovereign region").