La Ferme du quartier encompasses two activities. First, it acts as a local facilitator. “We intervene on issues of ecological and energy transition in support of associations, elected officials, ecosystem managers, or even market gardeners, providing expertise aimed at highlighting the challenges and levers of action we can have at the local level, in order to clarify and facilitate the implementation of these actions.”
For example, there is a hydrology project in a village in Oise, where a spring flows at the edge of a forest, which has been used for generations by villagers to meet their needs. Today, this spring is connected to wastewater, and all this drinking water ends up being treated at a sewage treatment plant.
The project aimed to return this spring to the forest using regenerative hydrology methods. This not only allows the spring to replenish the aquifer but also provides water to surrounding trees threatened by climate change, promotes biodiversity, and mitigates floods and droughts through a sponge effect.
Another area of activity is research and development focused on organic waste management, the water cycle, and improving the economic model of small-scale market gardening. This work allows for the recycling of food waste and urine, producing vegetables. All of this is done within a system that is self-sufficient in water and energy, resulting in minimal production costs.
“The fundamental question is how to respond to climate change and the crisis of resource management?,” questions Gabriel Bedoy. “In fact, this means doing two things at once, which is why it is difficult and complex. It’s about adapting our lifestyles to the changing climate while simultaneously implementing sustainable management methods for the functioning of society.”
“What we have created is a fertility engine using these two sources of waste, and we put it to the service of local market gardening, which is very water-efficient because it operates in a closed loop.” A concrete example about to emerge is a territorial demonstrator with a restaurateur equipped with toilets designed to collect urine and food waste, which will allow for the growth of vegetables that will supply the restaurant.
"For us, this is a very positive outcome in the sense that it’s a restaurant that is quite gastronomic. And this detail is important because as soon as we talk about recycling urine, there can be hesitations,” explains Gabriel Bedoy. “So, the fact that a restaurant is engaging with us and embarking on this adventure is a strong signal of acceptance of a new subject that has, until now, been little considered.”
“So today, we have a system that allows us to recycle materials that were previously undervalued in water autonomy, which strengthens local food resilience. It’s an invitation to create an ecosystem of actions that connect to this kind of local proposals.”
