World Café: Strengthening Farm Direct Marketing – From Farmer to Consumer

In this multi-stakeholder workshop regional stakeholders involved in the short food supply chain domain came together to share knowledge and generate ideas in a relaxed atmosphere. The event took place on 6 July 2018 at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart in Germany and aimed to strengthen regional collaborative short food supply chains.

World Cafés, also known as knowledge cafés, is a widely recognized and defined method for knowledge exchange in a relaxed atmosphere. The method is used to bring together individuals with a similar interest in a trust-enhancing environment. The workshop started with an input session in which the topic was introduced by short presentations. Afterwards the raised questions were explored in small groups.

Christiane Manthey, from the Consumer Centre Baden Württemberg e. V. looked at farm direct marketing from a consumer perspective. Andrea Fromm, from the Agricultural Office of District Ludwigsburg, Department of Agriculture presented current trends in farm direct sales. Dr. Beate Gebhardt, member of the Institute of Agricultural Policy and Markets at the University of Hohenheim discussed how agricultural farms act worlds of experience.

The workshop was organized in the framework of the ISEKI Food Conference 2018 and within the EU-project SciShops. SciShops partner, the University of Hohenheim, is leading on a work package in the project developing and testing formats for stakeholder engagement, including the use of world cafés for collaborative dialogue.