From the soil to our plate – Take a closer look at last week’s PREFS field trip
Have you ever thought about the journey your food takes when you shop consciously and locally? Well, our new PREFS class has, and last week, they had the fantastic opportunity to visit not just one, but three players, all powered with a lot of drive and love for regenerative food systems.
Our PREFS student Andrea Cristancho reports on this day: “First up we visited Pico Lebensmittel AG, established in 1996, today carrying 6.000 products, most of them sourced from within 30 km of Dietikon, as CEO Thomas Zimmermann said: "as close as possible, as far as necessary". Their key to success? Strong partnerships, people-centered customer service; retail is detail! The next time I get my veggie basket, I will think about the journey it just made a few hours ago!
Next, we got our hands and shoes dirty, and traveled to ortoloco, a community-supported agricultural co-operative, run by young farmers aiming for people to come together as active participants in the #foodsystem. As Nathaly from ortoloco said: "collaboration is key"! We discussed the main question: how can we get in touch with where our food comes from? A valuable question, wouldn’t you agree?
Our last visit of the day, certainly the most innovative, was YASAI. They are the Swiss pioneers for #verticalfarming with a focus on #circulareconomy for 2.5 years now. As a new generation of innovative growers, they are in the middle of a pivotal moment in the industry. CTO Philipp Bosshard explained: "to be financially sustainable, you have to produce on a large scale". Furthermore, he also showed us how they are closing loops to remain #sustainable along the way. Kitchen herbs are their specialty and Yasai’s aim is to produce season independently, use less land, and lower its water consumption.
And what do they all have in common? I dare to say that these 3 players are taking over generational knowledge and shifting the status quo towards regenerative practices in food systems. Thank you for that inspirational day!”
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