Kringlooplandbouw in de praktijk: Analyse en aanbevelingen voor beleid

Op verzoek van het ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit is een analyse gemaakt van de kringlooplandbouw anno 2019 in Nederland. De opdracht was te onderzoeken welke verschillende vormen van kringlooplandbouw in Nederland in de praktijk voorkomen en wat belemmeringen en succesfactoren zijn voor de kringlooplandbouw om zich verder te ontwikkelen

The Courts:Criminal Trials as Strategic Arenas

In this chapter we analyze cases where social movement activists are prosecuted in the courts for protest actions. The courthouse is a significant arena for social movement strategy, a symbolic site for the arbitration of collective disputes, the legitimization of political action, and the production of social meaning; the court is “one of society’s most sacred institutions since its role in defining, interpreting and enforcing the law puts it in close proximity to the moral basis of society” (Antonio, 1972, p.291-2). The outcomes of trials depend on the organization of the criminal justice system but also the responses and strategies of multiple other players, inside and outside the court, including social movement activists, allies and supporters. In common with the other chapters in this volume, our argument here is about “breaking down the state”, about thinking through the relationships of power and agency which define the interactions between state and non-state players. We seek to go beyond conceptualizations of state-movement relationships which might cast criminal trials merely as “state repression”, setting out the architecture of the court as an arena for political interaction and tactical choice, identifying the players who act within it, and arguing that more attention be given to the courts in analyses of protest action

Re-balancing soil-plant-animal interactions: towards reduction of nitrogen losses

The practice of farming implies a continuous process of re-moulding and re-balancing of resources. Normally, this process is slow and hardly noticeable, but in times of transition towards sustainability it is accelerated and becomes more visible. Re-moulding and re-balancing require a careful and multifaceted monitoring as well as a high degree of involvement of the farmers concerned. This article is an overview that documents several aspects of the changes realized by two farmer co-operatives in the northern Netherlands: Vereniging Eastermar’s Lansdouwe (VEL) and Vereniging Agrarisch Natuur en Landschapsonderhoud Achtkarspelen (VANLA). It is shown that farmers process and manage manure, silages and diets. Emphasis is given to indications that the newly emerging balances are characterized by high levels of N efficiency. In a final combination of beta and gamma approaches it is shown that the goal-oriented practices of the VEL and VANLA farmers clearly indicate new trajectories towards and prospects for sustainability. Furthermore it is shown that recognition of relevant heterogeneity is crucial and that inter-farm comparisons, careful integration of beta and gamma approaches and multivariate modes of analysis are needed