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rc3 Vorspannmusik: jast another time in paradise, haecksen
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Herald: Hallo zu dem nächsten stream, der
diesmal über unsere Versorgung geht. Und
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zwar geht es genau um Reko. Das ist eine
Graswurzelbewegung aus Finland, die
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Konsumenten und Produzenten zusammenbringt
auf kleiner Ebene um dort einen Einfluß auf dem
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Markt zu gewähren. Julia wird diesem talk
in englisch halten. Anschließend gibt es
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noch einen kleines Q&A, das ist im Raum
Ada, da müsst ihr dann rüberwechseln. The
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folowing talk will be held in english. The
talk is about Reko, it is an agricultural
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grassroot Movement from Finnland. It
brings together consumers and the
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producers of the goods on the direct way without
the mean of market stopping inbetween. I
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hope lot of new information in this talk.
Let's start with it.
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Julia: So hi, everyone. My name is Julia
Westberg, and I would like to talk about
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how to hug agriculture today. Well, more
specifically about how to create small
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scale, self administrated farmer markets,
and the concept is called Reko. So let's
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have a look. Oh, very shortly about me.
I'm an environmental scientist, an
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engineer living in Sweden on a small farm,
growing a few vegetables, having some
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chickens, and I have been organizing a
Reko group for the last three years. My
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favorite vegetable to grow is pumpkin
eggplants. And yeah, so farming is an
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interest of mine, but I'm not a
professional farmer or doing that full
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time. I will get back to that detail
later. And what is Reko? Well, Reko means
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really konsumption hole or could translate to
real consumption, and it is a concept that
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came originally from Finland, but has now
spread to almost all of Scandinavia. I
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have a small map there that sadly only
includes the Swedish markets. We didn't
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find a good comprehensive map that
includes Finland and Norway as well. The
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basic ingredients of Reko market or group
or however to refer to them, is the direct
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contact between the customer and the
person that produced the food. So it is a
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small grassroots movement, so it started
from farmers and it's basically very
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unrestricted growing food, selling it
directly to people that want to eat it.
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And there is no actual transactions or,
well, there's no selling at the meetings.
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The selling happens before online and that
is why it doesn't fall under restrictions
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of farmers markets. Because if you want to
sell at least in Scandinavia, if you want
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to sell on a farmers market, that is quite
a lot of effort to make it to like get
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certifications and to meet certain
requirements. And that is hard for small
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scale farmers or, for example, for people
that just have a big garden and some
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overproduction. So that makes Reko
different and interesting. So Reko groups
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are self organized and they're independent
of each other. So as you can see on the
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map, there's quite a few, though they are
independent of each other. There is a
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national wide community for support. So a
lot of the people that help administrating
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those groups are then in a bigger group,
where they can all talk about issues that
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have occurred in the groups or ask how
other groups handle situations. But it is
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important to point out that every group
makes their own rules and decides how to
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handle things on their own. There is a bit
of help. Like, for example, there has been
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material for, for example, the graphical
stuff available from people that wanted to
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share that. So then there is, of course,
experience from neighbor communities
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normally, that where you can turn to and
ask for help. But essentially, every small
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Reko group is, a bunch of people deciding
that, Hey, our village or our town should
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have something like this. Let's do it. So,
I mean, why should you have something like
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this? You want something like this because
you want to know where your tomato is
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coming from, right? Or at least I think
that starting to get more important for
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people again. So for the consumer here and
with the consumer, I mean, that is, well,
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you that's wanting to buy tomatoes. It's
really easy to get super fresh seasonal
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food because the farmers are selling what
they have produced this week, maybe even
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that day. And you can meet the producer
like, you know, that loss has been growing
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your tomatos. And you know how loss is
actually what loss? You can ask loss what
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is using for treatments on his tomato
plants as a use again pesticides. And that
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makes it really interesting and you get
unique products. So the farmer maybe wants
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to try new sorts or specialies old sorts and
all sorts that are really hard to get by.
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And so you can get really this unique
products that are really interesting and
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make for such exceptional food. But a
supermarket wouldn't be able to provide
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you with that, because some supermarket
needs to provide thousands of it. And
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another plus side is really short,
transportation's. Reko is very much built
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on local. So hopefully the tomatoes that
you're buying are just coming from the
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village next. Well, next door, basically.
And that also means that there's a lot
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less waste. You don't need to package
things in plastic. You can recycle. You
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can recycle bags. Yeah, it it just makes
it a lot more efficient. And why should
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you do it? Why should you do it as a
farmer? Well, as a farmer, you have the
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you have it's really it's an easy way to
get started. For example, if you stay with
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the tomatoes, maybe someone just has had a
lot of tomatoes one year and wants to try.
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How is working out selling the tomatoes
and not just giving them away for free?
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And it's it doesn't cost anything to sell
food in the Reko group, so you can just
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put out your tomatoes and be like, Hi, I'm
selling tomatoes, and that can be the
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start. It was also quite time efficient
because there's no middlemen. You don't
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need to meet up with someone else first,
and then they will give it to the
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customers you meet directly up with your
customer and handing them the food that
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they have been buying from you. So that's
very practical. Another point is that you
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can easily sell to positive customers, and
that might be not as selfexplanary as the
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other ones, because the positive attitude
towards food, I think, is really can be
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really motivated for farmers and small
scale farmers that work really hard for
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the products they love. Not really. Quite.
Yeah. Driven people that really want to
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provide great food. And it's really
amazing when you can then actually sell it
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to people that are equally interested. So
that, yeah, that's cool. And you can also
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try out new products quite easily. So as
you can tell, you can grow the specific
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kind of vegetable or you can try to make
the specific kind of cheese. And then you
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can see, are people interested that were
worth actually producing that permanently
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or, well, didn't that really turn off that
great and people that weren't interested
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then? It's not the end of the world
because you can just just make small trial
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run. And the last thing on here on the
slides, but of product planning is
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important as well. Because one of the Reko
groups, you know, in advance how actually
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how much you're going to sell that day.
And that makes it a lot easier to plan.
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And on the other side, it also the groups
can help you, like I said, with
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overproduction. So if you have a lot more
than you can, just try to sell it over the
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group, but easier than ever with
supermarkets. So yeah, that is basically a
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very, very positive things with the Reko
groups and say, let's have a look. That's
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how it's. But I slept there. Yeah. So the Reko
group that I have been administrating is
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in a small village called Tybee. It's a
lower income area, quite conservative
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structures. And by 2021 we have yeah, 2130
members. And we started in 2019. So. Why
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did I mention the small village, low
income area, conservative structures?
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Well, basically to tell you that if it
works in horby, it can work almost
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everywhere laugh because of the
structures here people are not. It's not.
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It's not a hip area. It's not where like
ecological food is driving force.
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It's not like that. But like I mentioned
earlier, Reko groups make it possible to
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connect with people and to connect to food
producers from the area. And I think that
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that is really important and that that has
made a big impact. And when we started in
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2019, there were basically we started with
five people that grew a bit of food and
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maybe 10 people that felt a bit sorry. So
they came. But, Consistency and getting
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out the world, basically telling everyone
that they should check out this group and
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that paid of. So that is that's quite
quite a success, I would say, although
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there is, of course, it's not really all,
it's just easy. What was really important
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for this group was to get a diversity of
products that can be a bit difficult
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because, well, people want to buy more
than just tomatoes. So to get farmers
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interests that sell different products is
really crucial for these kind of groups to
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work. Here's a small comparison that
hopefully illustrates that despite having
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well, not as well as wealth a parking lot
in 2020, we actually haven't gotten a lot
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bigger from just 2019 to 2020. I realize I
didn't have a good picture from 21, so to
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do. Yeah, and one of the important things
here that people talk with each other and
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it's like, you see the farmers are
actually coming in their cars and just
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delivering the products. So because there
can't be any official sales on the spot,
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you don't need any market stance or
anything like that. You just need a kind
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of fast meet up. Normally, the meetings
are around 30 minutes, sometimes an hour.
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Exchange products. People may make sure
everyone is paid and then you're good to
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go. So it's also rather the real. The in-
person meetings are rather rather fast.
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And talking a bit about challenges. Well.
Like I said, Reko is based on online that
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people make their orders, so. I have a
first point accessibility, but I could
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also easily name that in choosing the
right platform. In Sweden most of the Reko
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groups are Facebook organized, which well,
is not optimal, but it is very easy
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accessible for most people and we haven't
been. We have been trying to find a better
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working platform to find a better working
solution and haven't really succeeded so
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far. The point is also that a lot of
customers for these Reko groups, at least
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in the rural areas on countrysides, are
like 50 and upwards and not very technical
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interested. So basically, the internet
itself was a big step for this people, and
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now they have slowly understood how well
this one platform works. So it's what
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works for them. And yeah, that's
definitely a really big challenge, because
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it makes the movement quite dependent on
this platform, which is definitely not
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ideal. Another challenge can be
payment methods. In Sweden, we have a
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system that makes it very easy to transfer
money between people with wireless. But I
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know that, for example, in Germany, that's
not as easy. We have a bit of cash that
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people people can normally pay in cash as
well, but basically no one wants to do it
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anymore. But making sure payment works is
a thing and, well, a lot is really based
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on trust. So upholding trust is also very
important within those groups. And you
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need to have a good location, because when
you're meeting was like a sad, like
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25 producers can easily can. So
25 farmers coming and then maybe
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a 100 people only on a day that on an
evening that's that's quite good,
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quite good. But that also needs space. And
yeah, you need to make sure that you have
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a place where it's OK to park for half an
hour an hour and to have this amount of
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people, of course. But we found that
rather easy because, there was a lot of
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companies or just institutions that were
like, Oh yeah, right, we have a big
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parking lot. You can use that. So ask
around. And while I was around, I mean,
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then it's also very easy to talk to people
and just tell them about this group and
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try to spread the word. That comes to
another challenge, which is, yeah, getting
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the ball rolling, really getting around
things formation let people know that this
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group exists. Let other farmers know that
this group exists, but as well. Tell.
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People, everyday people, your parents,
your grandmother, your neighbors, your
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colleague, tell everyone that these groups
exist and spread the word. And one last
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point of challenges is keeping transport
efficient, because the more the group
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grows, the further farmers kind of are
willing to drive to sell the products have
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a very successful group, maybe, let's say,
50 kilometers away. Maybe it starts to get
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interesting to me to actually go there.
And I think it's important to stay true to
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the values of efficient transportation.
And by that, to quite close you to the
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mission by making sure that transport is
managed efficiently and with as little
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resources as possible. But I mean, here
here, it's absolutely possible to find
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flexible solutions. Maybe some farmers
actually can take a hitch a ride together
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or something like that. And I know that
there is also there have been groups that
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have restricted farmers to a certain range
around the town or village there from to
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make sure that that really stays local.
And talking about those restricting
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someone, normally those Reko groups are
really open, but of course it is a bit of
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a bit difficult where you draw the line
for small scale production. And yeah, when
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is a farmer maybe too big, maybe to too
much into the commertional production to
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really still should be a part of it? That
is definitely an issue that needs to be
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addressed within the group. But normally
you have more than one person managing a
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group and like I said, there is a support
net, so you're not alone of this kind of
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decisions. So what I want to say is, bild
more Reko, maybe try to actually get into
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Germany, try to get it going there. It's
basically quite easy to start. You need to
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have a look into local laws and
regulation. I was hoping I could do that
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before this talk, but I realized that my
knowledge of German law is. Well, yeah, *
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laugh* not not sufficient for that task.
And, but have a look, I really want to
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believe that there is a way to make it
work and then choose a communication
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platform. Choose a good platform and be
aware that most likely the platform you
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choose from the start will be the platform
that you will use for this group. Onwards,
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we have had a few groups in Sweden that
try to change communication platform after
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a while, and that was very hard for them.
So be mindful about it and think about it.
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And. Then, of course, you need to have
farmers that are interested in being a
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part of it, and you need to have farmers
that want to sell their goods, that are
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well motivated to be a part of really,
really cool thing. And like I said before,
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you want to have a wide range of products
and producers. So the more diversity, the
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better. Of course, there is always
seasonal changes. For example, my tomato
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example is kind of a bad example because
there's just so short time in the year
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where actually local farmers can provide
tomatoes, of course. But. Find
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farmers that are interested and then talk
about what products are possible. We have
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realized the farmers very often just very
resourceful of finding alternatives what
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they can sell in the winter, and that's
there's a lot of innovation actually
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coming from that. That is really cool to
see. And yeah, that's basically what you
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need for starting a Reko group. There
would definitely be the possibility to get
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support from the Scandinavian communities
and see how they're doing and maybe just
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try to start your own thing. And laugh I
realize I'm actually today super fast with
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this talk. So I'm already at my sources.
So I was thinking of actually skipping
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this a bit backwards to. Let's go to my
first line and talk a bit more a bit more
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about the impacts for both farmer, for the
farmers, and that is, we have noticed that
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a really strong. A really strong, a bit
unexpected force that happened with these
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groups is the networking effect, because
it helps small scale farmers and people
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that are just hobby producers to connect
and to meet once, twice a week on this, on
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this group meetings give their product to
the customer and then maybe, say, 5 or
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10 more minutes and just chat for each
other and be like, Oh, how is this going?
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Oh, how would you deal with that? How are
your chickens doing? And well, that sounds
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a bit trivial, but it actually makes a lot
of difference, because it helps people to
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connect with their neighbors, a bit more
far away neighbors with people that have
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similar interest in producing really great
food. And it creates a community that is
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really, really resourceful, supporting and
inclusive. And I found that really
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interesting that even in herby, with this
rather conservative population, it's
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really worked. And that was a very, I
think, very healing, almost healing
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program, process for that village to
really see like, Oh, there's so many
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people around here by now making amazing
food, growing organic vegetables and being
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curious about that. So this really
networking effect is super cool and
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something that we maybe didn't expect to
happen that strongly. And of course, it
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works for the consumers as well. They have
started to like the people coming to the
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group started to see it. A bit of a social
event, though. Well, we all know, what also
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happened 2020. So the social aspect has
been no, we were in need of trying to
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minimize that as much as possible. But
still, it's networking is a very big part
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of the entire thing. I'm yeah, 2020
pandemic. I actually didn't do an extra
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slide about it because I assumed everyone
was tired of that already. But from a Reko
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group perspective, it actually did not
that much damage. We were never in the
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situation in Sweden, where the regulations
would have for would have forbidden to
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have our meetings to exchange the
products. So it was more like people
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realized, Oh, this is outside. Oh, here,
it's really easy to keep your distance
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because there's not so many people and oh,
I can still buy super fresh food, even if
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I don't dare to go into a supermarket. So
actually, the pandemic has brought more
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customers to the Reko groups, which was a
bit unexpected in the beginning, but
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really, really fun and really cool. And
now we will see, it's always a bit like a
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seasonal thing because winter here is not
at least in Sweden, not as snowy as one
-
wants to believe. It's a lot of rain and
windy, and people are not that motivated
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to actually go out and pick up their food.
So in winter, normally it's a bit of less
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activity and then picking up on spring
weather. Yeah, about the peak in summer
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and early autumn, when there is such a
wide range of products available. So there
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is always a bit of the seasonal
fluctuation in how many people are
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attending. But that's that's just the way
it is. Let's say. Yeah. So there was a lot
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of good reasons why to actually have these
Reko groups and. I would really it would
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be really interesting if that would happen
to peer groups in Germany. When I did this
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talk, the last time I got a question, if
it was comparable to solawi(solidarische
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Landwirtschaft), which I thought I could
talk a few shortly about. It has some
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similarities, but I would say the Reko
groups are a lot easier accessible for
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farmers than the solawi. So it's basically
everyone can participate. There is not a
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lot of limitations to what you need to be
able to do to sell food on the market. I
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mean, of course, you need to follow
guidelines about food safety and so on.
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But you don't need to be able to promise
to be able to deliver, for example, eggs
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all year round. It's totally OK to be
there just three or four times per year
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and the rest of the year, you just don't
have enough eggs. And so the customer are
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saying different to a solawi, how I've
understood it. You don't need to like,
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have a contract and guaranteeing how much
you're buying every month so you can stay
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flexible if it's the end of the month and
there's really more months left than money
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in your bank account, then you just don't
buy from the group. Maybe just that time,
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but next time you're very welcome to. So
in my eyes, solawi maybe to a farmer more
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long term solution, more of the more
stable income situation. But the Reko
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groups who would allow for a lot more
flexibility and. It's easier to get
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started. Yeah.laugh I only took with me
the positive points, then I sometimes get
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asked, Oh, but isn't it really expensive
to buy so well produced food? And the
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answer is yes and no. Of a lot of products
will be more expensive than in a
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supermarket. But because you buy directly
from the farmer, the farmers are still
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able to make good prices for really
amazing products. So they actually get the
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money they need to be to, to work, to make
a living from it. And you still it's it's
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still affordable and because there is
exchange between the groups. There's also
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a bit of a control about costs because the
farmers basically need to kind of keep an
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even level if there's someone selling
eggs, so certain prize. And there's three
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other people selling a lot cheaper eggs
that will be a discussion between the
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farmers to actually come to come to an
agreement on a fair price for the eggs and
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that self regulate all the regulatory
procedure. It's really a great thing. So
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from an administrative point of view, I,
well, my group, we were never in need of
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telling someone, you should change your
prices or something that is normally taken
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care of more or less by itself and by the
people limit. So like, yeah, like most
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grassroots movement, it really is living
from the people and need some engagement,
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of course. But once that is rolling, it's
really, really great construct, I would
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say, in a really great thing to do. Yes.
Say you and some sources and there one is
-
called who's holding okat hopp, which is
an organization in Sweden that is
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basically something between a club and
some kind of political. How to say that
-
political ministry? Hmm. laugh I'm
actually not really sure about the
-
translation there, but they had gotten
some money from a European Union fond to
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look into these Reko groups and see how
that could support the rural areas and
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countryside in Sweden and how farmers
could benefit. So they were helping out a
-
bit like I mentioned earlier with graphic
material. And yeah, provided provided some
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information. 2020 that man money ran out
and I think they are no longer providing
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any kind of help. But since their help was
very little from the beginning, it doesn't
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seem to affect the groups at all. I would
say so. It was definitely it was nice that
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it was there, but I wouldn't say that some
kind of support from governmental support
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is definitely not necessary to be
successful with these groups. Yeah, that
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was my talk for today, I hope I will see
everyone later for the Q&A and would be
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really great to chat about this. So have a
good evening and see you later.
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Herald: Yeah, done. Sage ich noch mal
danke schön,
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thank you for
watching. That was a very interesting talk
-
about how to install influence on ISO or
consumer. Oh, if you have any further
-
questions you can visit chat in events.
Haecksen the awesome ADA ATM. You can also
-
use the QR code in this window here on at
the right side to get into the room where
-
you can place your questions. Wenn ihr noch
weitere Fragen habt, dann kommt in den Raum
-
. Hex and org slash AIFS
Awesome, wonderful Ada . Da werden weitere Fragen beantwortet.
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Thank you to Julia and
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hopefully see you on the Q&A section.
Getting over there. Thank you.
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