In France, urban farms and social groceries offer food and dignity
In Marseille, France, nonprofit urban farms and volunteer grocery stores help poorer families cope with the cost-of-living crisis
By Frey Lindsay
Context
Jan 20, 2025
Excerpt:
MARSEILLE – On a sunny winter’s morning, Etienne Griffaton walked around the Graines De Soleil urban farming project, near Marseille airport.
“It’s hard work here, people have to do a lot of different things,” said Griffaton. “But I think people are happy to have their hands in the soil.”
Graines De Soleil is part of a network of non-profit organisations fighting food poverty around France’s second city, Marseille, where around 26% of the population live below the poverty line compared to the French average of around 14%.
Across Graines de Soleil’s three hectares (7 acres), 18 employees and around 30 ‘apprentices’ grow fresh produce, which is then sent to grocery co-operatives, restaurants, food banks, and to Colibri, a ‘social grocery’ in the industrial town of Gardanne, north of Marseille.
The apprentices include recently arrived immigrants and prisoners on day release. Graines, with funding from the state, prepares them for the labour market, French society, or both.
On this day, there is a mix-up with a delivery to Colibri and Caroline Plas, project director with the NGO La Cité de l’agriculture, has been drafted in to help.
“I’ve actually never been the delivery guy before,” said Plas, loading several boxes with cabbages, pears, leeks and parsnips into her car. “But I’m glad we can help.”
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Source: https://cityfarmer.info/in-france-urban-farms-and-social-groceries-offer-food-and-dignity/
