Understanding the emerging phenomenon of food forestry in the Netherlands: An assemblage theory approach

In the Netherlands, food forests have been appear­ing by the dozens since 2017, resulting in calls by Dutch national and local governments, as well as civil society organizations, for evidence of their parameters and profitability. This paper focuses on the former, mapping and analyzing food forestry (FF) in the Netherlands by drawing on assemblage theory. A survey, and unstructured interviews with five FF experts from the field, resulted in descrip­tive FF data as well as a map of 231 food forests. The main conclusion from the survey data from 109 participants is that food forests are incredibly diverse and versatile in terms of goal or orientation, although few initiatives focus on profitability. Some similarities include age, as most food forests were planted after 2017, and size, as most are between 0.5 and 2.5 hectares (ha), or between 1.2 and 6.2 acres. The demographics of practitioners, however, are rather homogeneous: university-educated individuals between 40 and 60 years old are the norm. Many practitioners state that the FF community at large has contributed to their access to knowledge and network, as well as their enthusi­asm, sense of pride, and hope for the future regard­ing FF. Moreover, a shared ontological posi­tion, the distribution and exchange of knowledge, the institutionalization of FF, and infrastructural conditions both foster cohesion within the FF assemblage and embody exclusionary and disrup­tive processes. These complex relations confirm the importance of descriptive and contextualized evidence to support FF.