Urban farming and regional food

We bring together stakeholders from the cultivation, processing, marketing and consumption of regional foods in order to establish and further develop regional value chains. Through various event formats, the professional public as well as citizens from Dresden and the neighbouring districts are informed about and involved in regionally sustainable nutrition.

Where can regional value creation cycles be created or optimised, actors along the value chain be networked and general cooperation structures for the production, processing, marketing and consumption of regional products, especially pulses, be created or supported?

What regional co-operation and financing models are needed to ensure that regional businesses remain viable in the long term?

How can public awareness of regional products in the agricultural and food sector be increased in the long term?

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Events, tastings, workshops on the topic of pulses

How the Central Saxon plate lentil from Leisnig came into the Dresden falafel

Developing innovative products with pulses

Sometimes people with the same ideas meet in the right place at the right time. About six months have passed since Veronica, expert for pulses in the OLGA team, met Ali Habiballah at a practical workshop on processing pulses for out-of-home catering organized by OLGA and our cooperation partner NAHhaft. Ali offered his premises for the workshop and, as Zaituna he is a producer of Mediterranean delicacies for the Dresden organic trade and catering for all occasions. The entrepreneur attaches great importance to the quality and regional origin of food. He has experience in preparing products from pulses, e.g. for hummus and falafel. So far, he has processed chickpeas from a farmer in Saxony-Anhalt.

Veronica had already been in contact with Saxon farmers in the run-up to the workshop who have already integrated lentils, lupins etc. into their crop rotation - including Eckard Voigt, who grows and directly markets green plate lentils in Doberquitz near Leisnig. In conversation with Ali, she counted Voigt's lentils, Ali's creativity and passion for good regional food together and asked him whether he could imagine using these ingredients to create an innovative regional product and adding it to his range.

No sooner said than done! Ali didn't need to be told twice and got started. At the beginning of September, there was a world premiere at the annual intercultural meeting and tasting event "Dresden isst bunt": The first falafel made from Saxon lentils were offered to the people passing by through a cooperation between Zaituna (Ali), farmer Voigt and OLGA! The more than 400 falafel aroused a lot of curiosity and enthusiasm and were eaten within a very short time - first test passed!

The next test took place in front of a specialist audience at the ISSGUT! gastronomy trade fair in Leipzig, where we were very lucky to be able to use the stand of the Saxon Agency for Regional Food for the tasting. Here, too, the Saxon falafel was well received: "Tastes like meat" or "Unique taste" were the comments of the tasters!

Since 11.12.2023 the newly created regional product is organic certified in order to go on sale at the beginning of the new year. Anyone who is curious should pay a visit to the stores of the Dresdner Verbrauchergemeinschaft and the city's organic food stores in February 2024. Here and there, Saxon lentil falafel may have sneaked into the sale. Enjoy the taste! ;-)

#Food2045: Vision workshop on future regional value creation with pulses

How is the regional food system developing with regard to pulses in Dresden and the region?

In summer 2023 we developed visions for a regional legume value chain in Dresden and Saxony in 2045 together with people who are committed to a sustainable and regional agriculture and food economy. In terms of content, we moved between existing social, technical, economic, environmental and political problems in designing the value chain, and concerns, hopes and wishes of the actors, as well as their relationships and dependencies on each other.

On the basis of these findings and the participants' evaluation of given future scenarios on cultivation conditions, processing, distribution and the social value of pulses, we developed two future visions for a functioning value chain for pulses using a map of the Dresden region and Lego Serious Play. Model and experimental farms distributed throughout the region and a coordinated integration of diverse varieties into the crop rotation form the basis for a year-round regional supply of pulses in 2045. Canteens, restaurants and private households benefit from consumer-oriented marketing forms in the city - from the farm shop, subscription box, food hub and 24/7 pick-up boxes to the vegetable stall at the weekly market! These are equipped with a CO2-neutral sophisticated logistics system "Farm2Fork". Research, education and communication about the ecological,

climate and nutritional value of legumes is happening on a grand scale. Legumes are (again) an integral part of our regional diet!

We would like to thank Lenard and the Chair of Technical Design at TU Dresden for the opportunity to organise a workshop at the COSMO Science Forum. It was a great experience and lots of fun! We really enjoyed the delicious finger food made with pulses and love by the Palais Café.

What is the importance of pulses for you? How often a week do you enjoy them - as a dried whole fruit or processed into spreads, meat substitutes, vegetable drinks, etc.? Would you like to see a future with more legume products? If so, which would you prefer? Write us your thoughts: projekt-olga@dresden.de!