Alpine FoodLab and innovation center for mountain agriculture

Camila Zamora, Katharina Jans, Larissa Muzica, Samuel Mueller

The Creative Department

1. AlpenWeitBlick
AlpenWeitBlick is one of the main parts of the Regional Development Project (PRE) in Safiental. It is
based on four pillars: Innovation and Competence Centre for Alpine and Mountain Farming (IKZABL),
an Alpine FoodLab, Institute for Land and Environmental Art (ILEA) and the mountain hotel Alpenblick.
The target is to bring those pillars together in the renovated Alpenblick hotel which is situated in Tenna
in a rural valley of the canton Grison. For the promotion of the intended changes that want to be
achieved the project group already collaborated with staff from the ZHAW, PlantaHof, Agroscope and
others.
The AlpenWeitBlick project is currently funded by the PRE until 2022. The funding only considers the
planning and not the ‘’implementation’’ and other building or material costs. It is therefore important to
apply for other rural development and food innovation funding. To ensure that the project can sustain
itself and has enough resources, it would be advisable to rent the spaces (e.g. as co-working spaces
for research), have conferences and seminars and connect with the local farmers and stakeholders. As
a highlight, it is suggested to organise an annual festival where all the pillars of the project can be
merged.

2. FoodLab
The FoodLab of AlpenBlick is situated on the 1st floor. The Kitchen should provide everything that is
needed for cooking and baking for 25 people. There should be a gastronomy oven with the possibility
to steam, bake and roast meat, bread and other food items. Several stoves allow using the kitchen for
different lectures and educational reasons, for example, intercompany courses of Gastro Graubünden.
In between the production site and the kitchen should be a washing facility. Because of the accessibility
to the road, the storage and distribution rooms are located nearby as well.

The infrastructure includes rooms for storing the

products under different conditions (room temperature,
cold and frozen). The vision behind the large production
space is that farmers, using different agricultural
management methods, can process their raw materials
and add value to the final product. This also includes
space for innovation, which is why the production space
is planned in such a way that it is truly flexible. That’s why
the idea is to rent the needed machinery for each project
instead of buying it. A packaging plant is not planned
because of the lack of space, but it could still be
implemented later if needed. Overall, stakeholder
analysis and a survey with the farmer community should
be done to find out more about their needs and wishes
how the FoodLab should look like. To fill the FoodLab with
life, it is suggested to use the already existing network of
the project group. For example, local chefs can rent the
facility to develop new foods or offer courses in the large
kitchen and researchers can use the facility for their
research projects. The products from the foodLab are to
be sold directly to consumers at the Volg in Tenna and in
various farm shops as well as in some organic shops in
Chur.
3. FoodFestival
As an additional source of funding, the hotel offers various events throughout the year, which focus on
the low season. As the main event, a Sustainable Food and More Festival is organised once a year.
This is not only a platform for the actors of PRE, IKZABL and ILEA, but also for the producers working
in the FoodLab. It brings together international producers, farmers, and consumers to exchange their
ideas, incorporating local products and promoting various research projects in the region.

The idea of the festival is to offer different kinds of activities over a whole weekend:
● market stands with local dishes, FoodLab products or artworks
● Street music & concerts
● Art exhibition in the hotel as well as outside
● Interactive trail with information about the different ecosystem services of the region
● Courses that focus on art, sustainable production and transformation of local food and
biodiversity
● Presentations by researchers, farmers, and others

In addition, there will be events all year long which can also be promoted at the festival.
● Food walks
● Congresses (food, sustainability, business, universities, research groups and more)
● Monthly street music and market dinners on weekends
● Monthly courses (Food+Art) on weekends
● Presentation of new local products (tastings)
● Weekend dinners with live music
● Destination for school excursions