Les Jardins de Cérès
Les Jardins de Cérès is a consumer group which wants local farmers to produce food organically. To do this, the group orders the produce in advance, before it is even planted, and guarantees to buythe crop. The association is inspired by the AMAP (Association pour le Maintien d’une AgriculturePaysanne) system, well known for some years in southern areas of France.
An AMAP is basicallya group of customers (organised by the farmer) who buy goods from one particular farm. In thissystem the customers adjust their demand to what the farmer can offer seasonally.
Members of Les Jardins des Cérès have persuaded a cereal farmer, with about 250ha, to use onepart of his farm to grow organic potatoes the simplest crop. The members of the association helpthe farmer during the process they cleaned the 400-year-old cellar and created storage places,and helped plant, tend and harvest the potatoes and in doing so develop a close relationship.
Palaiseau is a small town in the suburbs of Paris, which has becoming more and more built up,with shopping malls and industrial areas eating into farmland over the past few years. Severalgroups formed to protest against these developments. Isabelle Morgan, living in Palaiseau, joined a demonstration organised by a group campaigning against the construction of a new shopping centre on a huge stud farm.
She realised that just protesting was not offering any solution, soshe contacted existing associations to increase the impact of their actions. During this processshe heard about the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) in the USA and saw the model as asolution to the problem. Looking for similar organisations in France the group found the AMAP.After contacting several farmers in the region, Isabelle and her friends met Emmanuel Vandame, afarmer willing to try such a venture.
Les Jardins des Cérès was founded in December 2003. For the first year of its existence its 150members ordered a batch of three tons of potatoes, which were grown on the Plateau de Saclayclose to Palaiseau. The process created a social network, where people share their environmentalconvictions, experiences and ways of life.
The farmer was paid in three parts: first third in advance to pay for the plants and the tools; the second third half-way through production, and the thirdpart when the potatoes were harvested. The price for one kilo was evaluated in advance by takingthe average price of organic potatoes.The association doesn’t get any external financial support.
