A festive march in Toulouse to support the urban ecological farm project
More than 500 people marched this Saturday afternoon to support the urban farm project in the heart of the Pradettes district of Toulouse. The town hall owner of the 2 hectare land has not yet been chosen between buildings and market gardening.
It is one of Toulouse’s last municipal wastelands in the very dense area of the Pradettes district. For 3 years, a collective of residents and associations has been mobilizing to ensure that this 2-hectare site is occupied by fruit and vegetables and not by buildings.
The NATURES association mobilized the entire Pradettes district and its surroundings. A hundred design or fine arts students have been working on costumes and wooden constructions for several weeks.
At the beginning of the afternoon, many families joined them to parade. There is Julie, 22 years old, student at the Beaux-Arts in Toulouse. “There was a lot of screen printing and costume work to bring the story we wanted to tell to life. At school, we don’t always carry out projects that come true. Here, there is also a good atmosphere and it’s for a good cause!”
It almost feels like carnival, with music and colorful costumes like Romain disguised as a bee. This resident of the Pradettes district came to defend the project that interests him for several reasons. “There are several important objectives for the district. Firstly ecological with this organic farm, a shared garden and an educational garden. Thus we preserve a space of greenery and freshness in the district. This urban farm will also allow people from the corner to reintegrate by working. There is also an objective of food resilience because with the confinements, we saw that Toulouse was not autonomous for its food. With this farm we hope to have biodiversity and bees in the district. “
A mother is also there with her children. “It’s an important project for them, so that they can discover what a farm is, how plants grow… The districts of Lardenne and Pradettes are highly urbanised. On a desire to defend more greenery in the city.”
For 3 years, the collective of inhabitants and associations has been fighting. Because the town hall of Toulouse has another project: to build between 230 and 300 additional housing units. She does not intend to let go of potential property income so easily, as Jean-Luc Moudenc had declared in January 2020. “The creation of an urban farm on 20,000 m² would result in the loss of 3.8 million euros in revenue in the balance sheet of the PAE Bordeblanche, i.e. an overall deficit of the operation of 13.1 million euros. Without these revenues, the town hall of Toulouse is no longer able to finance the construction of future public facilities, nor the construction of roads and infrastructures still to be developed.
At the beginning of 2021, the town hall grants a period of 15 months to theassociation to prove itself and present a solid and viable project. “For 5 years, several hundred housing units have been built here. The urbanization is already very dense, affirms Philippe Lebailly, co-president of‘association. We have a solid file that we sent to the town hall on Thursday March 24th. We meet with the elected officials on April 8. Either the market gardening project is chosen, or the construction of 230 additional dwellings. For the district, which already has significant densification, it is a vital issue to preserve this island of freshness and to bring about a change in food practices with the production of organic products.”
In the procession, the former PS candidate for mayor of Toulouse Nadia Pellefigue brings her support.
September 2021, the district mayor of Since Les Pradettes has given her authorization for the sale of organic food baskets on the central square. A signal but not a definitive green light.
The project is also supported by the European Commission, which has awarded it the “Climate Ambassador” label.