On November 23, 2020, at this year’s autumn meeting, the German Bio-Städte network appointed two new spokespersons. Ronny Meyer, the State Councillor for Environment and Transport from Bremen, and the Augsburg-based Reiner Erben, Officer for Sustainability, Environment, Climate and Health, were chosen to represent the 21 German organic cities. The new dual leadership bridges the north – south divide across all of the organic cities.
The two new spokespersons are experienced politicians with ambitious goals for agricultural policy and the organic sector. It is becoming increasingly apparent that cities are able to make an important contribution to more regionality and increasing the quality of organic food in Germany. Both see the networking of urban and rural as a key issue.
In the coming years, the network will continue to work on its core topic of “more organic in out-of-home catering,” particularly in day care centres and schools. Currently, training centres for kitchen and catering staff are being established in many organic cities, following the example of the “House of Food” in Copenhagen.
“This is an exciting development that will be of immense benefit to all member cities. Through raising awareness and education, expanding the uptake of organic food in urban settings is achievable,” said Reiner Erben. “How to feed urban populations healthily in the future while working closely with regional organic producers and distributors? This is an issue facing many municipalities, particularly large cities, today,” said Ronny Meyer.
The two new spokespersons fundamentally endorse a municipal agricultural and nutrition policy, the importance of which has grown in light of the Corona crisis. Ronny Meyer will focus on the interests of organic cities in the Conference of Agriculture Ministers, while Reiner Erben will make good use of his strong network connections in the German Association of Cities.
About the two speakers:
Reiner Erben, City Councilor in Augsburg since 2014, currently responsible for the areas of sustainability, environment, climate and health. He was previously a managing director, and a political scientist
Ronny Meyer, has been the State Councillor for Environment and Transport since 2015. He was previously Managing Director of the Wind Energy Agency WAB e.V., and is a physicist
Contact person and Managing Director of the German Biostädte Network:
Dr. Werner Ebert
Biometropole Nuremberg
Tel.: +49 911 231 4189
Email: werner.ebert@stadt.nuernberg.de
