Agriculture Action Camp 2012

more info: http://landbouwactiekamp.contrast.org/?lang=en

call-out 2012

'Food back in our own hands' (July 5-10)

Graafse Hof, Den Bosch

From the 5th till 10th of July in Den Bosch, in the Netherlands, ASEED will organize a 6 days long camp. The camp will involve workshops, trainings, discussions, and action, for good ecological initiatives, an alternative food chain, alternatives to industrial farming, and against gentech and meat industry, and more..We invite activists, slow-foodies, farmers, gardeners, students, animal friends and anybody else who wants to learn more about sustainable and unsustainable agriculture practices. Mark your agendas

and join in!

Selection from the program

We are getting closer to the date it is all going to start, the location will be in the city of Den Bosch (or 's Hertogenbosch) in and around a squatted community garden project Graafse Hof in a residential area in the East of the city. The workshop program is getting more and more concrete. Confirmed are amongst other things: GMO update by Greenpeace, GMO field liberation movements by FLM Belgium (more contributions/ examples from similar movements in other countries welcome!!), introduction into different forms

of sustainable agriculture systems (biodynamic, agroecology, permaculture), seed saving, natural plague control and healthy soil in your veggie garden, getting to know your gardening tools, action trainings by Vredesactie, tractor driving, talks with and working with farmers, food sovereignty: what does it mean, European movement, concrete examples, and more to come. The program starts on Thursday 5th in the evening and goes on till Monday 9th July. Tuesday 10th is for evaluation and start of breakdown.

Give a Workshop?

Want to come and give a workshop yourself? Great! We are in particularly interested to find people with experience to share in creative activism (adbusting, samba, guerilla gardening, streettheater, banner making and coming up with catchy slogan), and someone who can give a training in being interviewed by a journalist (how to make sure you get YOUR story across in a way most people can also understand it). But anything relevant, you're welcome to propose.

Info stall @ mini alternative agro fair on Saturday 7 July, 13.00?

Saturday we want to focus on getting more mainstream people to participate in the camp. The workshops are more introductory and their will be a small fair. Want to have stall to spread materials from your project or action group? Let us know.

Networking @ Worldcafe on Saturday 7 July, 20.00

Saturdaynight we will turn a tent into a nice cafe, where everyone can come to exchange ideas and examples. Organisations, Initiatives and Individuals have the opportunity for reservating a table, where people can sit around to have informal conversations. Want to have a table your project/initiative/campaign? read more here: http://landbouwactiekamp.contrast.org/?page_id=181

Action

Monday July 9 will have a focus on doing one or more actions. Workshops and suggestions from the first call (see below) can inspire for possible targets/topics for the action(s). The camp will decide collectively what it will

become at the beginning of the weekend.

Help neeeded

We are looking for people that can take on:

- making the kids program and organize the kids area in the camp

- making camp banners in advance

- helping us build up on the 4th,

- translation and editing texts in advance and simultaneous translatin during the camp (NL, ENG, DE mainly)

- facilitation of workshops & meetings during the camp,

- coordination of volunteers for shifts during the camp (bar, cleaning, translation and facilitation, welcome tent etc)

Finances & travel costs reimbursements

We have some funding for the camp but not enough to cover all costs, so we would ask a participants for a contribution of 7,50 if you come 1 day, less per day if you stay longer (see the website under practicalities).
The food cost per day(breakfast, lunch, and dinner, coffee and tea the whole day) is 7 euro.

We have some limited possibilities to (partially) cover travel costs from people coming from far with little money, AND traveling on the 4th of July (help build up) and/or the 11th (help break down). Let us know if you want to come, and travel costs are an issue.

If you can travel on one of these dates, we can probably reimburse (some) costs.

Want to reserve a workshop slot, info stall or worldcafe table, or just know more about the camp, contact us via landbouwactiekamp@aseed.net. let us know if you plan te come, please. But leave your pets at home.

Cheers and hope to see some of you @ Den Bosch.

First call-out

Do you know where your food comes from? Do you want to take food in your own hands and make the food chain shorter between the farmers and consumers? Do you also want to know more about the struggle against GMOs and industrial farming that is dominated by big companies? Do you want to organize actions against the meat industry and the imports of animal feed? But you are also interested in producing your own food on a sustainable,

climate neutral, autonomous and social way? Are you not afraid of getting your hands dirty in a workshop? All of these and more will be covered during the camp. We invite activists, slow-foodies, farmers, gardeners, students, animal friends and people who want to learn and share skills on sustainable agriculture to come to the camp. Mark your agendas and join in!

Last year the first Agriculture Action Camp in The Netherlands took place in the Flevopolder with 70 participants camping on an organic farm for three days. We had a program full of workshops and discussions, and two actions close to the camp against GM crops and soy greenwashing. The participants opted for a replay, so here comes the second camp once again with an interesting programme of workshops, trainings, action and nice atmosphere.

This year we expect more participants from neighboring countries. Therefore there will be more possibilities to talk about international campaigns on issues such as food sovereignty, protection of free seeds and access to land.