Faced with increasing urbanization and the need to meet food needs, urban agriculture is expanding. In developing countries, urban agriculture already provides food for a quarter of the world’s urban population
An interesting story about new ways of cultivation that can develop in an urban environment, without land, destined to increase our agricultural production to feed the French and the planet. In Lyon, in a robotised vertical farm, water, light and temperature control are automated for optimal growth without pesticides. In New York, salads grow in an old disco at Aerofarms. In Singapore, the concept of vertical farm should soon be tested on the sea. The commentary on factual images alternates with the interview of Christophe LACHAMBRE, director of the "Lyon urban farm" and Jack NG SOON, inventor of vertical farms.
Report on the urban farm that settled in Colombes, in the Paris region. This 3,000-square-metre farm allows city children and their parents to discover agriculture and ecology, all in a participatory way. The comments on images of the places alternate with the testimony of the inhabitants, especially of a retired woman delighted with this initiative.
Report dedicated to the initiative of a hypermarket in the Paris region that inaugurated its first vegetable garden on the roof of the parking lot. The latter is cultivated in collaboration with the neighbouring agricultural school. The objective is to market the products of the roof in the store. Feedback on images of the garden and the store’s fruit and vegetable department alternates with an interview with one of the planters and Sandrine MERCIER, Carrefour France, as well as a microsidewalk of customers.
Discover one of the last farms in the Paris region, in Bois Colombes. Raw milk is purchased and cows are fed not with grass from the fieldss but with grass from nearby stadiums and race fieldss. According to the farmer, the neighbours are used to the smells and sounds of the farm.
Report devoted to urban agriculture projects in France, through the example of the town of Romainville, in Seine-Saint-Denis, which wishes to transform a building of a city into a vegetable tower. All these projects are being tested on the roofs of INRA. Comments on CGI images and plans of the project alternate with interviews with Pierre SARTOUX, architect agency SOA, Corinne VALLS, mayor (Left citizen) of Romainville and Nicolas BEL, engineer, association "Un potager sur le toit".
In Pin-Balma, near Toulouse, social landlords offer tenants to reduce their costs by maintaining and cultivating their land. Once a month, the founders of Terr'eau ciel help the inhabitants to manage their plot and to maintain their vegetable garden together. Comments on images of inhabitants gardening alternate with interviews with Florian CHAMPOUX, co-founder of Terr'eau Ciel, a tenant and Marie PEYROUX, in charge of sustainable development mission at Habitat Toulouse.
Report devoted to the official opening this morning in Annecy of "social gardens", a modern version of what used to be called working gardens or family gardens. At the beginning of the year, the city made available to 70 families living in apartments, drawn by lot, plots of land to allow them to cultivate a vegetable garden in an ecological way, but also to create social ties between neighbours and encourage mutual help between gardeners. Comments on images of the gardens alternate with interviews with amateur gardeners and Christophe FERLIN, manager of the green spaces of the city of Annecy.
The roof of the Groupama de Vaise building houses a garden with about forty vegetable and aromatic varieties. The production is harvested and used in the kitchens of a solidarity association. Most of the vegetables are local ancient varieties whose cultivation is controlled by the applied botanical centre. The comments on images of the places alternate with the interviews of Lucille GARRIC, development manager "La Marmite Urbaine", Emeric DUCLAUX, market gardener "des toits" "La Marmite Urbaine" and Francis THOMINE, general manager Groupama Rhône Alpes Auvergne.
The municipality of Toulouse has more than 400 hectares of cultivated land, which it wishes to preserve in the face of rapid urbanization. The SCOT (territorial coherence scheme) are now forcing mayors to reintegrate agricultural areas into the city. Comments on images of vegetable gardens, fieldss and wasteland alternate with interviews with a gardener and Elisabeth BELAUBRE, assistant to the environment, health, catering at the Town Hall of Toulouse, which speaks of the urgent need to preserve agricultural land in urban and peri-urban areas.
On Île Lacroix, in Rouen, the citizen movement "Les Incroyable Comestibles" decided to plant an urban garden in self-service. This concept was born in the 90s in England but does not please all the residents of the island. Interview with a local woman, the initiator of the project and a member of the movement.
Report on the working gardens in Besançon through the meeting with two inhabitants passionate about gardening, Armando BURATTO and Auguste ATTARD, who rent each to the city a plot of arable land.
Report on the growth of vegetable gardens on the roofs and terraces of Paris. Lucie Monthioux, from Topager, collects ancient vegetable species and then offers it to the chef of the restaurant on the ground floor of the building. The agroparistech school also has a vegetable garden on its roof, which allows agronomists to study the impact of Parisian pollution on vegetables. According to Nicolas Bel, another Topager representative, there is no pollution risk for rooftop vegetable gardens. Comments on images of the gardens alternate with interviews with Lucie MONTHIOUX, Nicolas BOUCHARD, chef of the restaurant Le Terroir Parisien and Nicolas BEL.
Report devoted to the first strawberry harvest in Asnières sur Seine, fruits grown above ground in a container with artificial light, guaranteed without GMOs and without pesticides. This commune of the Hauts de Seine is indeed launching into urban agriculture. Comments on images of the container and a fruit tasting offered to passers-by alternate a microsidewalk of the latter and with the explanations of Georges BEAUDOIN, agronomist Agricool engineer.
Report devoted to the working gardens awarded by the municipality of Les Mureaux, in the Yvelines, to the inhabitants of the HLM. The city turned wastelands into gardens, cut them into plots and equipped, then drew forty candidates to be beneficiaries. Interviews and testimonies of two inhabitants, Frédérique DOERLER and Issa NIARRE, happy to have this little piece of garden.
Report on beekeeping in Paris. Hives are installed in the premises of a communication agency in the 11th arrondissement, on the rooftops of the Opéra Garnier or in the gardens of the Senate. The comments on images of these places alternate with the interview of Henri MEYNADIER, director of the communication agency and Henri CLEMENT, in the offices of the Union nationale d'apiculture française.
The department of Seine-Saint-Denis has several urban agriculture projects aimed at reintroducing certain practices in the heart of the city, in an ecological and social dimension. In Bagnolet, a shepherd raises goats at the foot of the buildings. In Saint Ouen, the inhabitants can cultivate the land in a park of 12 hectares. The comments on the images of the places alternate with the interviews of Gilles AMAR, shepherd creator of the association "Sors de terre", José MAGALHAES, retired and organic gardener and Mathieu GLAYMANN, director of the large park of Saint-Ouen.
One of the rooftops of the RATP headquarters in Paris has been vegetated in order to test different types of agriculture in the city: vegetable crops, farming of crayfish and chickens... Comments on images of the sites alternate with the interview of Emeline BECQ, EXP'AU mission manager and Grégory ROHART, responsible for sustainable development at the RATP.
In an abandoned underground car park in the heart of Paris, the farm "La caverne" produces 300 kilograms of mushrooms per week, as well as young shoots of radish, mustard and other vegetables that are sold to organic markets and grocery stores. This new organic agricultural era is joining urban cultivation. Comments on images of the premises alternating with interviews with Olivier AKESSO, manager of the start up "La Caverne", Caroline BASSANO, agricultural engineer and Théo CHAMPAGNAT, co-founder "La Caverne".