What do we mean?
when we talk about regionality?

Where I grew up, in the west of Austria, people didn't go to a morning pint after Sunday mass - it would have been unethical, wasteful. The neighbors sat together after mass - without alcohol - and talked about God and the world. As soon as the conversation turned to God, the stereotype came up: "What God has separated with a mountain, man should not connect with a tunnel." And we are already in the middle of the topic: what do we actually mean when we talk about regionality?

Let me explain the cornerstones of regionality with a few thoughts on my region of origin:

1. Obviously, the region is a geographical space, which in this case is bounded by a high mountain.
2. The region is a social space:
   "We are different from those over the hill."
   We have a common set of values: Catholic, hardworking, hard-working, disciplined, neighborhood-oriented -> if a neighbor needs help, we stand together! The social space was shaped by a consensus in value judgment, but also in the common defense against those behind the mountain!
3. The region is perhaps also a language area: "Those over the hill don't understand us because they don't understand our language." If you are not understood, there is no sense of belonging.
4. The region is definitely an economic area: "We are efficient, create value and have to hold out with our hard-earned wealth."
5. And all these reservations bring us to the dark side of regionalism: chauvinism! It makes us destructive, feeds mistrust, blocks us and prevents economic prosperity in the region, the economic prosperity of the region. Chauvinism is the greatest enemy of regionality!
   Prosperity can only be created by being a part of it. If the lifestyle, the rural culture, does not lead to segregation.
6. Regionality is based on a cultural space that strengthens our uniqueness and nourishes our self-esteem - so that we can also open ourselves up to what is foreign and enriching.
7. Regionality happens above all in a relationship space, in a connection with the regional circumstances. Trust develops through familiarity. You learn that commitment and effort are worthwhile, and you experience respect and esteem. In short: you are accepted.
8. But regionality is also a health space: we learn how to relate to others, we develop our empathic senses. We understand our region as a whole and from this security we can also accept contradictions.
   Diversity is experienced as enrichment, it arouses curiosity and interest, which are prerequisites for feeling connected to a region.

The space developed in this way promotes personal resilience and thus enables regional resilience.

Only people who are healthy in this sense are likely to be able to cooperate in the long term.

We are only at the beginning of a vibrant regionality. We are nothing more than heralds of the future.

A new generation will be needed to develop new forms of regional economic activity - cooperative forms of economic activity. Participation will be the way forward. No more competition, but radical solidarity - this is the only way to overcome the challenges of the future.

This new form of cooperation will be the breeding ground on which mutual trust and commitment will grow. No trust without commitment.

In America, there is a branch of philosophy that deals with trust. The quintessence - trust is the greatest capital, the greatest economic capital. These philosophers predicted years ago that powerful, overpowering commercial enterprises will implode if they only play with the trust of consumers, users and if they deceive consumers. Today we are witnessing everything that is happening and will happen if trust is abused.

• Trust must be earned anew every day!
• Trust is not a pillow to rest on!
• Trust requires fairness and openness!

Regionality also means food sovereignty.

In the near future, we will be facing food supply problems.

The reasons: Global warming -_CO2 is still being emitted unchecked. A large part of this is due to the protein consumption of high-performance animals in agriculture. Most of the feed is grown in third countries for Europe, which means that intensive, high-performance livestock farming requires additional space for protein cultivation that is at least half the size of the whole of Europe!

Further reasons are the energy consumption of agriculture, the dependence of industrial agriculture on the petroleum industry, herbicides, fungicides, insecticides, in a word the entirety of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, supplementary feed such as propylene glycol etc., all types of high-performance machinery in agriculture, loss of soil fertility, humus contamination, massive soil compaction due to completely unsuitable machinery and equipment, massive loss of soil life in conventional agriculture, breathtaking loss of biodiversity due to intensified agriculture and all this in the face of climate change and the rapidly growing world population.

By 2050, we can expect to have 9.5 billion people on our planet.

In order to feed our population in the future, we need authentic - lived - regionality. This is the only way to create a kind of food sovereignty. That is why we need to think regionally, act regionally, manage regionally and strive for far-reaching regional development.

This will still be of great value to the population! Because we only have the right to self-determination over our food if we have food sovereignty. Only in this way can we have a say in what food we eat and what agriculture is practiced for us.

Small and medium-sized farms are far, far more productive than intensive farms. On an intensive dairy farm, the input to output factor is only 0.37. Only 37 percent of what the farm has to spend is produced.

"Investing in smallholder production is considered the most promising and safest way to combat hunger and minimize the negative impact of agriculture on the environment."

Quote from the World Agricultural Report of the World Agricultural Council (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, abbreviation IAASTD)

Only ecological, solidarity-based and participatory agriculture will be able to feed people in the future, only agriculture that enriches the regional area, is economically viable and strengthens the region's social network.

Authentic regionality stands for: Vibrancy, home, diversity, beauty, uniqueness, a unique taste, tradition, relatedness and responsible action.

Authentic regionality is the counter-proposal and at the same time the salvation for all those who have to pay the tribute to modernity - losing their home, being uprooted, living an accelerated lifestyle. All of this gradually leads to excessive demands and a loss of orientation.

The original, living relationship space, the region, is the place where you can find yourself again. The region as a health space - as a place of rediscovery, the place where you can be related to again.

Regional action out of responsibility for oneself and others and out of responsibility for future generations.

Werner Lampert (born 1946 in Vorarlberg/Austria) is one of the pioneers in the field of sustainable products and their development in Europe. The organic pioneer has been intensively involved in organic farming since the 1970s. With Back to the origin (Hofer) and Ja! Natürlich, he developed two of the most successful organic brands in the German-speaking world.

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