ABSTRACT
This chapter starts with a description of the context of Norwegian agriculture, local food and rural development. A brief overview of the socio-economic characteristics of Valdres is followed by a presentation of each case study of traditional food production. The chapter focuses on a report prepared for the EU CORASON project on the topic Local food production and knowledge dynamics in rural sustainable development. As early as the beginning of the regional authorities were developing a strategy for strengthening local quality food production to increase the volume of local, value added produce in the agricultural sector. The authorities established a regional development agency called Valdres Nringsutvikling for the purpose of working towards this goal, among others. The manager of Valdres Nringsutvikling played an important part in this process, not least because of the managerial knowledge he brought to the project. He was also involved in coordinating the financial aspects of the process.
