Urban nature, the largest vegetable patch in Paris

Audio 02:33

By: Florent Guignard

Urban agriculture is on the rise, all the more so after the coronavirus crisis. In Paris, on a roof of the Parc des expositions, a giant urban vegetable garden has just opened. 14,000 square meters of fruit and vegetables over time, to become the largest urban farm in the world.

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Here the strawberries are shameless , and landless: bare, roots in the air. It is the technique of aeroponics, used in urban agriculture, and in the spotlight at Nature Urbain, the largest vegetable garden in Paris, Europe and soon the world. Placed on the roof of hall 6 of the Paris Exhibition Center, where the Agricultural Show takes place every year.

Automatic and multi-daily showers, enriched with nutrients, for these soilless plants. In a closed circuit, 90% of the water is recycled. About fifty strawberries are thus coiled in the cells of a plastic column. This makes the square meter very productive. Vegetables and fruits vertically, like humans in their buildings, in a graphic setting.

In the mood of time

The urban farm is modern and ecological. It is more than ever in tune with the times, after the coronavirus crisis, which revealed the perverse effects of globalization. "  I believe that Urban nature indeed embodies the famous world after  ", underlines Sophie Hardy, the director of this urban farm which has just been born, and which aims, in two years, to be the largest in the world, with its 14,000 square meters of roof. Already 4,000 square meters of vegetable patch, strawberries, tomatoes, eggplant, chard or coriander ... but also flowers. “  We have nasturtiums here and there, borage flowers, to attract pollinators, and also to attract aphids, which will collect on nasturtiums, and which will not attack plants.  "

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All of these plants grow without soil. On an urban farm, we grow light, because we are on a roof. Here with a bird's eye view of the peripheral boulevard, right next to it, with its incessant flow of exhaust pipes. A nice paradox. "  No, these are not polluted vegetables  ," exclaims Sophie Hardy. “  Here we are on a roof 15 meters high, so at this height, we no longer have heavy metals. By definition they fall back. As for the fine particles released by cars, it suffices to rinse fruits and vegetables with water to be able to consume them. There's no problem !  "

A little more nature in town

About twenty species are cultivated. Next to the strawberries grows a pretty field of tomatoes. No land there either. Just a coconut fiber substrate, because it's light. Kalia Gauthier, a young market gardener who works here, had to relearn how to work. “  We were very happy when we first received our coconut buns, because it was our only relationship to the land, which is not the land… It changes a lot, and it also changes a physical point of view. All the plantations are at breast height, we are no longer on all fours, we are no longer on our knees, and it is much better for the back!  "

Urban farms do not of course have the ambition to feed all of Paris. For lack of surface, and because everything does not grow without soil, like carrots or potatoes…. But at least it's a little more nature in the city, as Sophie Fleury says. “  What surprised us when we got to the roof was that there was no insect at all. There was nothing. We were even a little worried. But a few months after our installation, we realize that we now have bees, ladybugs, aphids, butterflies ... lots of little things!  "

Pollination is underway, and soon the vegetables will land on the plates of the restaurant located next door on the terrace, the Perchoir, whose chef only has to do a few meters to pick tomatoes and basil: the short circuit the shortest in the world. The urban farm also opened a few vegetable plots to its neighbors, who can rent them year-round to grow their own vegetables.

" I stepped on a snail. Does that make me a murderer? "

Ouch! The snail's shell, which serves as its home, offers limited protection to the gastropod. As the chicken egg protects the fetus from the chick until it is born. For the snail, the shell is until death. Useful against predators, heat and cold. But against shoes, under the weight of a man, it's more complicated. If your foot breaks the center of the shell, the vital organs will be affected; it is assured death. If only the edge is crushed, the shell can reform, thanks to the calcite that the gastropod secretes, limestone. But for that, the snail drooling. 

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• Biodiversity
• Agriculture and Fisheries
• France
• Paris