There is the Garden of Eden… and in Toulouse, there is Edenn ! This new place located on the Launaguet road, north of Toulouse– away from the popular district of Izards and close to the ring road – has become in the space of a few years a major center dedicated to urban agriculture and responsible food.

Winner of Draw Me Toulouse

Edenn is therefore the name of a collective grouping together a dozen structures that share an area of ​​1.7 hectares in this former market gardening district of Toulouse. There are offices, meeting rooms, storage sheds, a greenhouse, a market gardening area and a composting platform.

The project germinated in 2018, during the “Draw Me Toulouse” call for projects, and responds to a strong ambition: to make this wasteland belonging to Toulouse Métropole a real “ecopole”halfway between the farm, the third place and the business cluster.

“We occupy one of the last agricultural areas located inside the ring road in Toulouse. One of the reasons for this project was precisely to protect this land by setting up a place that would be a showcase for urban agriculture and responsible food initiatives, but also a place for raising awareness and reconnecting with nature for inhabitants”, explains Jean-Baptiste Assouad, coordinator of the site.

“Here, different but complementary projects have found an interest in working together on this place,” he adds.

A place that brings together around fifty employees

The Edenn collective regroups 12 structures and around fifty employees. Winner of several calls for projects (“Drawing Me Toulouse”, “Toulouse Impact”, “Territorial Centers for Economic Cooperation” and “Fertile Neighborhoods”), this project started in 2020, when the first structures were able to invest in outdoor spaces. , who had become a construction waste dump in this rapidly changing neighborhood.

“One of our strengths is that we cater to all audiences! To communities, businesses, individuals, residents of the city center or those in neighborhoods. We call it an ecopole, halfway between third places and business clusters… It’s a place of experimentation, support and awareness! We are experimenting and testing new forms of projects and cooperation and in the long term, we would like to develop the site to make it a place more conducive to raising awareness among the general public. We will try to offer film screenings, film debates, workshops for people in the neighborhood. “, adds Jean-Baptiste Assouad.

Market gardening, food, composting…: a hybrid place

But then, who occupies this vast hybrid space? The site coordinator visits us.

In the “Urban Agriculture” pole:

• The Milpa : this association brings together market gardeners who set up vegetable gardens at the foot of buildings or on urban wasteland. All the production of the vegetable gardens is available to residents and inhabitants of the district. We put food production at the heart of neighborhoods! “In Edenn, they have a greenhouse of 500 m², which is an integration project. With 10 employees who produce plants, summer and winter”.
• earth to sky : a landscape design office that developed market gardeners. The principle ? A market gardener is in charge of the main work: tillage, cultivation, irrigation, nursery… He also manages crop planning. But the plot is leased to families who can help grow the vegetables and harvest them. 37 families are currently benefiting from it.
• Sprouts at shelters Promotes the diversity of local species and the objective of installing urban nurseries throughout the city.
• Bordebio Farm : well known in Toulouse, the only organic farm in the intramural city participates in a solidarity market gardening project set up with the inhabitants of Izards. In Edenn, a plot is cultivated, maintained, weeded and made, according to the charter of organic farming, by anyone motivated and curious to discover the world of market gardening. A project that will start in the spring of 2023.

In the “Responsible Food” division:

• Bulk : here is an association that met in place of purchasing groups in different priority areas of the city. “Today they have five distribution points and their objective is to make bulk, local, organic and seasonal products accessible to residents at cost prices”.
• A bite : this association delivers fruit baskets to companies to replace sweet snacks. “Fruits are local, or organic and if possible both”.
• Ultramarinos Ana : a Franco-Spanish grocery store in the city center whose warehouse is in Edenn. “Everything that is not going to be sold is transformed for the catering part, so it produces practically no waste. We are on almost zero food waste! »
• synethics : this company “accompanies the “greening” of public markets by supporting local communities, whether in food, with organic in canteens or the circular economy in construction”.

In the “Waste Management” division:

• Recovery Occitania : “This association collects organic waste from private individuals in the city center by cargo bike. The compost is reused here in Edenn”.
• Humus & Associates “This structure promotes and develops local composting in Toulouse and Haute-Garonne. It supports communities, companies and individuals in the implementation of recovery solutions for their organic waste”.
• Citizen Compost Network and Occitanie Citizen Compost Network : these two structures are linked and federate the actors of the prevention and local management of bio-waste in Occitanie (community, association, company, project leader, establishment producing bio-waste, volunteer, etc.).

Edenn even cultivates a plot located on the edge of the ring road belonging to Vinci. “La Milpa plants wild flowers there, a beekeeper has planted beehives there and the association Les Mains sur Terre also composts the excrement resulting from the dry toilets of Toulouse festivals”, explains Jean-Baptiste Assouad.

A social food security project

But the Edenn collective also carries an ambitious project of social security of food in Izards.

“The idea is to support a local fund and try it out with residents who want it. They would contribute to the height of their income to receive each month a scholarship of an amount equal to all. This amount will only be usable on previously agreed products,” says Jean-Baptiste Assouad. Comment ? “It will be the citizens themselves who will decide which criteria they think should be highlighted the most in food choices”.

This project is supported by Edenn, Inrae and the “Dynamics for social food security” collective. “By January, we will create the citizens’ committee which will follow training courses and visit farms. At the end of 2023, we will have specifications defined by the citizens in order to launch the entire agreement phase”.

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