Location: Oosterwold – Flevoland (The Netherlands)
Main activities and expected outcomes
The Cooperative supports the development of urban agriculture in Oosterwold, a 4,000-hectare district near the city of Almere. Within two years, the project aims to have 360 producing members actively engaged in food production.
Rural problem addressed
The Cooperative tackles several rural challenges, including long supply chains, biodiversity loss, and the search for new business models for farmers. At the same time, it addresses urban issues such as food insecurity and access to fresh, affordable produce. Together, these efforts contribute to a more sustainable food production system embedded in the local urban-rural community.
Best practices
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Combine practical urban farming with high-tech tools, including a user-friendly urban agriculture platform
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Use the platform to provide an aggregated overview of current and future production
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Link the platform to a business-to-business webshop, including AI-based insights for the farm-to-fork chain
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Build a community-driven model that, while tailored to Oosterwold, is replicable, transferable, and scalable to other urban-rural regions across Europe
This case demonstrates how community-driven urban agriculture can be successfully integrated into hybrid urban-rural systems, offering a blueprint for sustainable food production elsewhere.
