Interviewed on laying hen breeding in magazine Ren mat

This Spring I was interviewed for a story in the magazine Ren mat, titled "Alle egg i samme kurv" (All eggs in the same basket). The theme for the feature article is the dominant breeding companies in the egg business. Journalist: Anette Schive. The story links to our article "The Ethics of Laying Hen Genetics".

"The ethics of laying hen genetics" with 2.500 reads on ResearchGate

The article "The ethics of laying hen genetics", which I co-wrote and which was published in Journal of agricultural and environmental ethics, has reached 2.500 reads on ResearchGate. It has been read about 13.000 times on the journal´s homepage.

To take part in panel discussion on animal welfare during Arendalsuka 2023

I have agreed to take part in the panel discussion "Kan norsk landbruk tilby et liv verdt å leve?" (Can Norwegian agriculture offer a life worth living?) which will be arranged by Matprat and others during Arendalsuka 2023, on Wednesday August 16th. I will take part in the panel representing Norway´s Council for animal ethics.

Lunch lecture at the County Governor of Rogaland

Today I gave a lunch seminar at Fylkesmannen i Rogaland (County Governor of Rogaland, a federal function in the counties), for employees in their Agricultural department and their Environmental department, titled "Rovdyr og natur fra Amazonas til Hjelmeland". Some 30 people attended.

Video interview on human-animal relations in agriculture now online

The interview with me - in Norwegian - which figures in Anne Helen Robberstad's video installation "Sårbar" [Vulnerable] (see previous post) is now available online, on Minding Animals Norway's Vimeo channel. Watch it here.

Contents:

• 00.33- Biosemiotikk [Biosemiotics]
• 01.22- Å være bonde [To be a farmer]
• 04.19- Å være tjent med [To benefit from]
• 07.43- Forhold til dyr [Relations to animals]
• 14.31- Kjøttforbruk [Meat consumption]
• 20.04- Interessekonflikt [Conflict of interest]
• 26.59- Gandhi [Gandhi]
• 31.05- Følelser [Feelings]
• 34.37- Fremtiden [The future]

Video installation opened at Hå gamle prestegard; includes interview with me

February 14th I met artist Anne Helen Robberstad in relation to her video installation art project "Sårbar" [Vulnerable], which deals with the topic of vulnerable animals in animal husbandry and vulnerable farmers, particularly in the Norwegian region of Jæren in the South-West of the country. Recordings resulted in a 36-minute interview with me in the form of a monologue. It features as one of 8-10 similar interviews or portraits that in combination (and partly run in parallel, from different angles) make up the video installation.

"Sårbar" opened, along with two other exhibitions in different formats, at Hå Gamle Prestegard Saturday April 20th. 200 people were reportedly present. The exhibitions will be on display until June 2nd.

The interview with me, with deals with different aspects of Human-Animal Studies and relations, was conducted in my capacity as Chair of Minding Animals Norway and Associate Professor in philosophy at University of Stavanger. 

Carnivore settlement? Nope

Tonight at around 3 a.m. the negotiations involving all political parties represented in the Norwegian parliament, which had been aiming to reach a new carnivore settlement replacing that of 2004 (effective from 2005), ended without results. The negotiations were supposed to conclude before Christmas 2010. After several delays, and critique from the opposition for the coalition government's lack of any joint proposal, it was said that the negotiations would conclude before the parliament's summer break. Instead, the negotiations are now over. And after a year or so of conflicting expectations and promises, there is no policy review whatsoever. Nada. There will be no deal. It is totally uncertain as of today when a new attempt will be made - perhaps in a couple of years, when Sweden moves on with their policy review. In the meantime everything is as it was - except that nobody wants it to stay like it is - a status quo that benefits neither carnivores nor farmers nor sheep. In this particular case stasis - inaction - is not an acceptable compromise, but an outright failure to deal with this whole problematique.

Norwegian wolf management is my PhD case study. I am covering historical times before and after the wolf got status as protected species, plus contemporary times (2006-2011).

Chronicle on agriculture reprinted

My chronicle on the development of Norwegian agriculture, and rural perceptions thereof, has now been published online by Kulturverk.

Chronicle on agriculture to be reprinted twice

I have received two requests to reprint my chronicle "Landet som grodde igjen", both of which I have accepted.

Bonde og Småbruker - the member magazine of Norsk Bonde- og Småbrukarlag [Norwegian Farmers and Smallholders Union]. Circulation c7.000. Will appear in no. 3/2011, March 12th.

Kulturverk - an recently established online magazine.

Excerpts from online debate on agriculture and carnivores in Dagbladet

My chronicle in Dagbladet, "Landet som grodde igjen", triggered 90 comments or so in Dagbladet's online debate (same page as the article). Three excerpts were printed in a column in Dagbladet Tuesday 15th of February, along with a brief presentation of my text.

Chronicle on agriculture and carnivores

Today a chronicle of mine, "Landet som grodde igjen" [The country that /overgrew/], is in print in the national Norwegian daily Dagbladet (Norway's third biggest newspaper).

An unedited version of the Norwegian language text has been posted in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme.

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Here's the chronicle on Dagbladet's pages. As of now there are 69 comments.

First Norwegian wolf journal article in process

I have described an idea for an article on Norwegian wolf conservation and agricultural policies for the editor of Samtiden, Norway's biggest general academic journal (dedicated to matters of politics, literature and society). Getting the response that it might be of interest for them, I have started writing it, and given it the preliminary title "Visjon 2040: Fra rovdrift til Utopi Buane" [Vision 2040: From /untranslatable/ to Utopia Buane]. I hope to finish a first draft this weekend.