AMAP des Lapereaux des Thermopyles: very promising first supportive steps
Paris 14e
Established by Jérôme Dehondt in September 2006, the AMAP (association for the preservation of local farming) des Lapereaux Thermopyles has 90 members who share 62 baskets. It is situated in the 14th arrondissement of Paris and has two distribution areas: in the Pernety neighbourhood (northern part of the arrondissement) at the Château Ouvrier and in the Porte de Vanves neighbourhood (southern part of the arrondissement) at the still temporary premises of the association LAC (link ? activities ? culture).
The choice of location is a key element in the operation of the association, which is not content to be a mere distribution point but regards this as a tool enabling social support links to be forged in the neighbourhood and social cohesion to be strengthened: for example, in the northern sector of the arrondissement, activities abound at the Château Ouvrier.
In the southern sector, the Porte de Vanves neighbourhood, some initiatives have already been taken and many more are planned in this very mixed neighbourhood, which is ideal territory for action.
The AMAP des Lapereaux des Thermopyles works with Jacques Frings, a producer who has been at Cossigny in the Seine-et-Marne for a number of years. He has a mixed farm: orchards and a farm shop selling organic produce, apple juice and cider production and wheat for organic bread. There is an educational farm in addition to the market gardening for AMAPs. Already involved with an AMAP in his department (Ozoir), Jacques employs two farmhands.
The price of the basket was not therefore set in accordance with the principles of the AMAPs charter (whose aim is to guarantee the farmer a fair income), which is to calculate the producer's annual expenses and income and then divide the sum by the number of baskets: Jérôme Dehondt took basket prices in Paris as a basis and kept in line with them in order almost arbitrarily to set the price at €15 after sounding out the future consumers (who consider this a reasonable price for one basket of organic vegetables a week).
From the outset, the AMAP was set up in close cooperation with LAC, which would take care of the management and running of the new social centre in the Porte de Vanves sector, the opening of which is planned for late 2007.
The main objective of this cooperation is to place the AMAP at the heart of the neighbourhood in order to establish a learning process and inform people about the benefits of organic food and this special way of consuming.
For Jérôme, the educational dimension should be the priority: in his experience, it is very difficult to make disadvantaged people aware of responsible consumption and organic food, despite their advantages (economic, health, environmental, social link, etc.). The limited means and the more difficult situation in which such people live delays the development of healthy eating habits. This is why as soon as it opened the AMAP put in place a system of social support baskets.
Social support baskets
Jérôme expressed his wish to open this means of consumption to the whole population of the neighbourhood "and not just the trendy urbanites" by asking the families able and willing to do so either to pay €1 more for each basket or to contribute to the formation of a social support fund at the beginning of each season. One hundred per cent of the members spoke with the same voice and so there are already 2.5 social support baskets.
One basket goes to the Pernety neighbourhood, where it is given to Le Moulin à Café, the community café at the Château Ouvrier, which enables it to reduce the cost of the meals it serves, while the rest is distributed in person by the director of LAC to people in the Porte de Vanves neighbourhood who are in financial difficulty.
No lack of future plans
The AMAP is still in its infancy (it is just beginning its first "real" season), the social centre has not opened yet, but there numerous ideas for cooperation.
Once the centre is open, the AMAP's weekly distribution will take place there, a central place that will give it an opportunity to put down roots in the heart of the neighbourhood and encourage people to join the group.
The fact that it will have a kitchen, for example, will mean workshops can be held with an educational component on organic food, healthy nutrition with vegetables, new tastes, and, quite simply, the joy of cooking.
All of these aspects will help to strengthen the idea that natural, organic food should not be the privilege of the comfortably off, but can be accessible to all.
"SOL Engagement" to establish a link between the young people of the neighbourhood and isolated people
At the moment, with the director of LAC distributing the 1.5 social support baskets to disadvantaged people, there is a strong assistance dimension. In order to remedy this, Jérôme is in the process of setting up a system based on the Involvement SOL (an exchange currency through which, with the aid of a chip-card, hours of voluntary work can be calculated and credited to the card in the form of SOL, which can then be spent at municipal sports and cultural facilities, such as the swimming-pool, the theatre and the cinema).
He hopes in this way to mobilise the young unemployed of the neighbourhood who can play a part in integrating isolated people, by going to their homes to collect them and taking them to the distribution point. This would mean that, in addition to receiving vegetables, they would meet AMAP members and be less alone. In return, the young people would have SOLs credited to their cards.
Permanent social support baskets to come
In order to foster the notion of partnership and social inclusion, for next season Jérôme wants to set up a system of subsidised social support baskets following the Courgette Solidaire model in Lilas (93). There are still some inherent difficulties with this utopian initiative: first of all, how are the families eligible for this system to be determined and, above all, how is the message about the importance of healthy food to be communicated to them?
The experience of the Courgette Solidaire, which launched the system this season and has six permanent and three intermittent social support baskets set aside each week, illustrates this very well: the families that are eligible do not necessarily see the interest of eating vegetables and certainly not organic ones. This is why we come back to Jérôme's priority: education, then demonstration: the AMAP's move to the social centre will help here.
Shared gardens
Similarly, another teaching activity planned in partnership with LAC is setting up shared gardens, in other words, a public space made available to an association that undertakes to have it cultivated by its members, collectively or individually, in this case each choosing the plants and cultivation method.
In return, the association makes certain undertakings: to open the shared garden to the public on a regular basis for educational and social purposes, to limit the use of chemicals for environmental reasons, etc.
Several buildings in the Porte de Vanves neighbourhood lend themselves to this activity: a partnership will be put in place with the OPAC (public planning and construction office) in order to be able to use the areas and then bring in what is needed: soil and water, but also, at the scientific level, knowledge.
This establishes links between the inhabitants of the neighbourhood who cultivate their kitchen gardens side-by-side: there is a strong social dimension which favours the organisation of events.
For J.D., this is a way of raising public awareness of responsible (sustainable) consumption, starting to make it "normal" and making it as widespread as possible.
Limitations and solutions
While the AMAP des Lapereaux des Thermopyles wants to expand to include new families, its producer, J. Frings, may end the partnership next season because of a too heavy workload. The only way of getting round this is to look for one or more producers. The resource: La Ferme de Coubron (in 93), the project of an agricultural activity incubator (organic market gardening, waste-wood recovery, natural composting, etc.) launched by the Agences des Espaces Verts (parks agency) in partnership with the AMAP-Ile de France network. This would enable young market gardeners to start a business with technical support and the advantages of team work.
Another debate concerns the problems and limitations in the AMAP system as defined in the charter. According to J.D., too idealistic an approach runs the risk of becoming a brake on the maintenance of peasant agriculture in the Ile de France and certain principles cannot be applied to the letter. For example, the calculation of the basket price: in addition to consideration of the farmer's expenses and income as defined in the charter, market prices and fluctuations need to be taken into account in order to remain "reasonable" in the eyes of the consumers. It is sometimes difficult to find this balance.
For J.D., it should be affordable by the general public and, for this purpose, the end justifies the means: a great deal of educational work accompanied by an effort at the level of quantities and prices. According to him, the AMAP model requires an active commitment that not all consumers are necessarily able to make: accepting the regularity of distribution and the unknown quantities (climatic, natural and others) that can affect the content of the basket.
- : Jérôme Dehondt
- : +33 (0)1 77 13
- :
Website :
http://lapereaux.ke0.eu/index.php
