The "Fruitige Voedselbossen Hageland” (Fruity Food Forests) project works together with local residents on planting and managing four Fruity Food Forests. A food forest is a productive ecosystem, designed along the lines of a natural forest, parts of which can be used for food. This forest contributes significantly to strengthening the whole food production system. The project thus contributes to increasing biodiversity and strengthening the social fabric.
The food forests will be designed, constructed and managed by the district and the target groups themselves with professional support from the project partners. After construction, the sites will also be used for educational and recreational activities.
In order to support, develop and share this, Avansa Oost-Brabant offers its expertise in the form of an educational network. The network brings together people from different sectors who can then visit and exchange projects and thus gain deeper insights. Discussions are also held with local residents, local authorities and farmers, who all share their knowledge about start-ups, organisations, permits, financing, terroir, management, etc.
In the third part of the project called the Hageland Fruit Dialogue, the locations serve as a setting and theme for accessible activities. Avansa Oost-Brabant thus increases awareness about the concept of food forests as a form of agriculture and increases support for it. It organises fruit activities in the participating municipalities and gathers fruit case histories that it then disseminates among a broader public.
