12 students of the Faculty of Forestry of the Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) received appreciation from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, The Netherlands Enterprise Agency, The Netherlands Food Partnership, Kriya, and Nuffic Southeast Asia.

The USU Faculty of Forestry students, under the guidance of Dr. Anita Zaitunah and Dr. Oding Affandi, collaborated with InHolland University Netherlands students in conducting a case study with the theme "Living Lab Sustainable Food Systems in Support of Business Development in Food Estate Regency in North Sumatra". This activity took place from April to June 2023. The collaboration is part of the activities NUFFIC South East Asia, Universitas Sumatera Utara, and SNV supports. Nuffic is an organization based in The Hague, Netherlands. Nuffic facilitates cooperation between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

Living Lab allows students to learn through field activities (real-life business issues). The Living Lab carried out this time is a case study provided by SNV. SNV itself is an international non-profit organization formed in 1965 in the Netherlands. SNV began its activities in Indonesia in 2013 and focused on three sectors, agrifood, energy, and water, which are carried out in several provinces, including North Sumatra.

SNV wants students to explore the needs of a region in contributing to food estate development. In Living Lab activities, students learn a lot from what they encounter in the field. USU Faculty of Forestry students can practice the knowledge they have learned during lectures and gain knowledge directly in the field. Students meet directly with farmers, see the surrounding natural resources, read the existing problems and try to conclude what has been seen. The conclusions drawn can be input for developing food systems in North Sumatra, especially for the welfare of farmers and the preservation of nature, including forests in it.

Collaboration through the Living Lab bridged by Nuffic is a valuable opportunity for the Faculty of Forestry, especially for students to practice what they have learned, open their horizons and develop cooperation and networking with foreign students, especially Dutch students. The SNV case study that has been carried out is expected to begin further cooperation with institutions in the Netherlands and Nuffic, especially within the scope of the Faculty of Forestry Living Lab.

SNV offers two major topics, namely, what policies should be taken and how they can play a maximum role, as well as the role of gender in the supply chain. It also inventoried informal and formal market actors and green investment providers to map stakeholders and assess who is already involved, who has the most role, and who should be involved.

The Faculty of Forestry student team has conducted several Living Lab activities, including preliminary meetings with Nuffic, SNV, Faculty of Agriculture supervisors, Faculty of Forestry supervisors, Polbangtan team, and students and supervisors from InHolland University in the Netherlands. In addition, there were also regular discussions and visits to the Deli Serdang Regency Agriculture Office. The Living Lab of the Faculty of Forestry, Nuffic, and InHolland is active in Hamparan Perak, Percut Sei Tuan, and Pantai Labu, starting 7 May 2023.

Preliminary field activities to several locations were carried out to get an overview of the location, case studies and help plan activities to be carried out, as well as get an overview of the agricultural sector in the Deli Serdang Region, discuss and get direction for field activities to be carried out.

Meanwhile, a coordination meeting between Nuffic, SNV, and students and supervisors from the Faculty of Forestry and Faculty of Agriculture was held at the Faculty of Agriculture USU, attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Forestry and the Head of the Forestry Department. Students conducted presentations and questions and answers with Nuffic and SNV during the meeting. The activity continued with discussions between Nuffic, the supervisor team, SNV, and the USU Internationalisation and Global Cooperation department. (RJ)