It is organic in Anjou: a third culinary place or regional food cooperation hub

Published by xavier on 17 November 2023

France

Introduction

It is organic l’Anjou is a collective of organic professionals committed to organizing short tours of the territory. It brings together local actors in sustainable food: organic farmers, farmers, producers, cooks, trainers, pastry makers, brewers. This third culinary venue provides professionals with a tool and a range of services. This 700m² venue offers a cutting workshop, a professional laboratory that meets standards, an educational kitchen made available for training, a shared office, a meeting room, and a cannery to process the surplus organic vegetables of local market gardeners. Agreements with various regional training centers allow them to use our workshop as a teaching lab, a training support for young people planning to set up. The purpose of the site was worked on and shared by all its members, with the idea that human and ecological values would be the foundations of the project. It was intended by its creators as a shared place of mutual aid, mutualization, social connection. It helps relocate the economy and creates a rural connection.

Presentation of the project

It is bio l’Anjou is located in Rochefort-sur-Loire, south of Angers, on the territory of the Community of Loire Layon Aubance municipalities. Objectives: – To stimulate the economy of the territory by participating in the structuring of the organic farming sector and by helping to install other local structures, – To sustain a cooperative structure in connection with the actors of the territory and create jobs, – To facilitate the linking of the supply of organic and local products with school restaurants to improve the quality of the plate of all the guests, Results: Creation of a third place, incubator of companies dedicated to the cooking and sustainable food and a logistical platform to supply the collective catering. It is open to all stakeholders in the region (producers, processors, cooks, distributors) working to relocate the agricultural economy. It includes: a collective kitchen, an air-conditioned cutting and conditioning workshop, a garden-level storeroom, dry and cold storage facilities, 6 cold rooms, a negative room, shared offices and a training room. It operates under shared governance. Each user comes according to his needs, permanently or punctually. Everyone is committed to organic activity and the obligation to think about their waste so that it becomes a resource for others. C’est bio l’Anjou is a member of the Mouvement des Cuisines Nourrières and as such offers municipalities “à la carte” services to accompany their school canteens or the EHPADs in a global approach, through advice and training and logistics of supply of multi-organic products of Maine-et-Loire. 6 SMEs created, 3 of which are run by women. Leader provided start-up support. The support made it possible to link the project leader with the community of municipalities, the network of SSE enterprises. But also to refocus the project.

The emblematic of the project

The economic system is exhausted. Faced with an extinction of life, a fall of biodiversity, this absurd model encourages infinite growth on a land with limited resources, so it is urgent to rethink society smoothly. These dysfunctional systems, agriculture, distribution, transport, school, we want to rethink them: rebuild a model that is solidarity-based, resilient, cooperative and offers healthy, organic, local food made by peasants who respect life and nature without polluting it, transformed by self-employed craftsmen. This project is exemplary in that it meets all the Leader “principles”: partnership, sustainable development, unprecedented, outreach, transversality… It participates in the territorial strategy (Territorial Food Intercommunality Project, Leader Program – Support for the local economy). Christelle Gasté, who initiated the project, is committed to transmission and intervenes regularly to share her experience. This business model is possible and viable. After 5 years of existence, the project continues to develop and the feedback is rich in teaching.

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