Ari van den Brand

Ari van den Brand has worked his whole life at the intersection of agriculture and society. The son of a Dutch family farmer, he earned a master's degree in agriculture from Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He was very involved in the development of farmers' unions and cooperatives, and was one of the founding fathers of Dutch sustainable agriculture. He was elected to the Dutch parliament as a Green Party representative and served several years. Currently, Arie is a part-time farmer, consultant and President of Biologica (www.biologica.nl), the Dutch national umbrella organization for organic agriculture. He is also active with the Groupe de Bruges (www.groupedebruges.eu), an independent think tank on European agriculture and rural development, and AlimenTerra (www.alimenterra.org), a new network of European organizations committed to developing practical and cooperative actions leading to the creation of a truly sustainable European food system. (2009)