The Bassetti Foundation is pleased to announce its involvement in the Utrecht University ‘𝐅𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝: 𝐋𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐅𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬’ Pathways to Sustainability Signature Project.

The project aims to challenge the globalized, unsustainable and unfair agri-food system (especially for smallholders and subsistence farmers) by studying and enhancing the potential of Geographical Indications (GIs). The study hopes to challenge and improve one purported alternative to the dominant market-based globalized food system: Geographical Indications (GIs). The key question is: “How can GIs enable and empower smallholders and subsistence farmers to realize sustainable agriculture and transform the current system?”

GIs are well established in Europe (examples including Champagne, Parmesan  and Feta cheeses), where they are a clear tool to differentiate food and generate higher prices than generic alternatives, e.g. Champagne versus sparkling wine. GIs however often primarily benefit trading companies and multinationals, which is one concern that this project would like to investigate. The project explores how GIs can be reimagined as tools to empower smallholders, protect cultural heritage and promote sustainability.

With case studies on cheese in Italy, coffee in Indonesia, and dried fruits in Tajikistan/Kyrgyzstan, the project connects economic, ecological, and social dimensions of food production. Keywords for interventions include re-addressing colonial exploitation; different governance modes and counter-hegemonic practices; revitalizing and valuing farmers’ skills; cooperative forms; knowledge exchange; bottom-up organizing; empowerment.

Through its involvement, the Bassetti Foundation will add a critique of GI practices and interventions from a responsible innovation perspective. We look forward to seeing the impact this project will have on empowering producers, informing policy, and shaping conversations around food, sustainability, and justice and to working with our new colleagues from Utrecht University Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Geosciences, and Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance, Leiden University, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Consorzio Strachitunt, Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property IGE IPI and the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Pathways to Sustainability Signature Projects serve as a testament – a signature – to Utrecht University’s focused dedication to investigating and fostering sustainable pathways and driving just sustainability transformations, an aim that the Bassetti Foundation is proud to share, as our involvement in the FETA project demonstrates.

Readers wishing to learn more about GIs can download Worldwide Perspectives on Geographical Indicators, whose aim is to reflect the variety and density of topics regarding the nature of GIs and their development in various contexts. Several of the authors participate in this signature project.