WP 2 – Identification of Best Practices in the Collective Commercial Valorisation of Alpine Food ICH WP leader: Kedge Business School Activity A.T2.2 Field Study of Relevant Cases of Success: Ökomodell Achental e.V. Involved partners: Florian Ortanderl Munich University of Applied Sciences This project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg Alpine Space programme. Abstract The initiative Ökomodell Achental started in 1997 to coordinate regional food marketing activities under a common label to support the small-scale farming operations in the region. In the agricultural part of the initiative, a survey was conducted to create an overview of the regional farmers and food producers, the farming businesses received professional consulting for the diversification of their businesses and the possibility to change to certified organic production. A quality label certifying regional ingredients, as well as authentic and close-to-nature production within the region was created. Even though the initiative does not focus explicitly on Alpine food intangible cultural heritage, it had a significant impact on safeguarding and valorising traditional techniques of farming and food production, shaping the cultural landscape of the region. The association has been working on the subject continuously and manages to achieve effective visibility and awareness building for the associated farmers and food producers. Kurzfassung Die Initiative Ökomodell Achental began bereits 1997 mit der Koordinierung regionaler Lebensmittelvermarktung unter einem gemeinsamen Label, um die kleinteilige Landwirtschaft der Region zu unterstützen. Im landwirtschaftlichen Teil des Projekt wurde zunächst eine breitgestreute Befragung durchgeführt, um sich einen Überblick über die regionalen Landwirte und Lebensmittelproduzenten zu gewinnen. Die Landwirte erhielten anschließend professionelle Beratung bezüglich der Diversifizierung ihrer Betriebe und dem Umstieg auf ökologische Produktion. Ein Qualitätslabel für Lebensmittel wurde entwickelt, das die regionale Herkunft der Zutaten, als auch eine authentische, naturnahe Produktion in der Region garantiert. Obwohl sich die Initiative nicht explizit auf das immaterielle Kulturerbe der Lebensmittel im Alpenraum fokussiert, hatte sie einen entscheidenden Einfluss auf die Erhaltung und In-Wert-Setzung traditioneller Arten der Landwirtschaft und Lebensmittelherstellung, sowie die Kulturlandschaft der Region. Der Verein Ökomodell Achental e.V. hat an diesem Ansatz kontinuierlich weitergearbeitet und erzielt damit effektiv Sichtbarkeit und Bewusstseinsbildung für die involvierten Landwirte und Lebensmittelproduzenten. 1.1 Case typology, geographical scope and main goals The Achental is a pre-Alpine/Alpine region in southern Upper Bavaria with more than 33,000 inhabitants. About 30% of the area are nature reserves and roughly half of the area is covered by forests. The agriculture in the valleys and on the alps (high-mountain pastures) is organised in small rural structures and consists mainly of dairy cattle farming. Apart from agriculture, the main local economic sectors are tourism, small handicraft businesses and commercial enterprises. The Association Ökomodell Achental e.V. was founded in 1999 to address the difficulties of the region during the 1990s with preserving the local small rural agricultural operations, which originally shaped the cultural landscape of the region and made it attractive as a holiday destination. The challenges included ensuring the attractiveness of the Achental as a living area for residents and especially young people and promoting value creation within the region. The strategy was based on four pillars: • Preservation of the natural and cultural landscape; • Safeguarding of small farming operations and marketing of products within the region; • Promotion and development of sustainable tourism and trade; • Reinforced usage of renewable energy sources from the region. 1.2 Methodological Procedures For this case study, the following data have been collected and analysed: - 1 interview with the manager of the association; - 1 interview with one of the associated producers; - Photo documentation of the offer of one of the regional supermarkets; - Report: Ökomodell Achental/Leuktental, Abschlussbericht für den Bereich Landwirtschaft zur INTERREGII Förderphase 1998-2001 - Communication materials provided by the association; Web sites of the association and the regio-app monitored and analysed: http://www.oekomodell.de/ https://www.regioapp.org 1.3 Evaluation 1.3.1 Key Internal and External Processes Main actors involved The Ökomodell Achental e.V. is an association. The Municipalities of Bergen, Grabenstätt, Grassau, Marquartstein, Reit im Winkl, Schleching, Staudach-Egerndach, Übersee and Unterwössen are members of the associations, and are represented in the plenary assembly by their mayors with 3 votes per municipality. About 70 regional farmers and food producers are also full members of the association and entitled to vote on decisions. The association employs a manager and two permanent employees, and is supported by permanent work groups on specific topics with broad involvement of the local population. Temporary work groups for different projects are also coordinated by the association. Figure 1: Organisational chart of the Ökomodell Achental source: simplified English version, based on original from oekomodell.de Internal and external processes In the beginning phase of the initiative from 1998 to 2001, the focus was laid on structural changes in the business model of the region’s struggling small-scale farming operations. The initiative organised individual consulting for the farmers for development options, including the change to ecological farming standards and diversification through added branches like farming with mother cows, sheep, goats, horses and deer, offering farm holidays, direct selling of their products and firewood or public contracts for landscape conservation. To support farmers and food producers’ direct selling, a regional quality label was developed. The association certifies local products and provides promotional material with a common design (stickers for products), adds the producers to their online registry and prints/distributes a brochure for farmers and producer which sell directly to the consumer. The quality criteria for each product group have been co-developed with the local producers through dedicated workshops, which have been organised and moderated by the Ökomodell Achental e.V. In the workshop, the regional producers participate in a discourse to define standards of production which they consider authentic, close-to-nature and regional. This approach contributes to the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage by including traditional production techniques and agricultural practices. While the standards also include the production of new and innovative products, the use of regional primary products as ingredients still contribute to the safeguarding of the cultural landscape. Until the end of 2001, standards had been developed for the following products and categories: A standard for beef/mutton/poultry (for direct marketing farmers/producers, as well as suppliers to other users of the brand), an own standard for butchers, for gastronomes, for fruit/fruit products/fruit brandy, for bread, for game meat, for honey and other apiculture products, for fish, for retailers of Qualität Achental products, for processed goods from mutton and poultry. The specifics of these standards could not be found publicly available. Figure 2: Cheese products labelled Qualität Achental source: oekomodell.de To have their products certified, producers have to apply for the quality label and show that they meet quality criteria. Subsequent quality control is carried out on a random basis only, since the farmers are already subject to a large number of controls and the initiative is voluntary and based on trust. A promotional brochure, showcasing the associated farmers and food producers is designed in cooperation with the initiative “Direktvermarkter im Landkreis Traunstein” (direct marketers in the district of Traunstein). Many of the farmers and food producers are interconnected and source their ingredients from each other. The association is active in a mediating role in this regard, the development of the value creation chain within the region is still subject to the managerial responsibility of the individual producers. When the initiative started in 1999, one of the goals was also to engage in a dialogue with food retailers in the region to facilitate local producers’ access to distribution. While this was not possible for all products/producers, the Edeka stores in the region (Edeka is a German supermarket chain, which also franchises owner-managed stores) offer various local products, sometimes explicitly displayed and communicated on a “regional shelf”. A broad spectrum of on- and offline communication channels (website, brochure, print newsletter, social media, and advertising on regional/local newspapers and regional radio stations) are used to raise awareness and promote the producers and their products. A storytelling approach has been adapted in the form of monthly articles in the regional newspaper about specific producers and their product mix, combined with a recipe with one of their products. The association also initiated a weekly farmers’ market for regional producers in 2002 to boost sales, and also promotes