Products purchased and packaged in bulk.

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Daina Le Lardic / Isopix / SIPA

  • To reach as many consumers as possible, the VRAC Toulouse association offers products in short circuits, at lower prices thanks to grouped orders.

  • The association, which began the first distributions in June 2019, works with 17 suppliers in the region.

  • With this initiative supported by the Departmental Council, around a hundred people in the neighborhood thus benefit from quality products.

Even for residents of priority neighborhoods in Toulouse, it is possible to eat organic and local.

This is the message conveyed by the association VRAC (Towards a joint purchasing network) which organizes product distributions in short circuits every six weeks in five districts of the Pink City.

On Friday, a hundred residents of the Izards pushed open the door of the social center on Place Micoulaud to come and collect their food products, ordered in advance from the association.

It therefore offers group orders from farmers with whom it works.

Nearly 500 members

Alex, a retiree living at the Barrière de Paris, regularly comes here to stock up, thanks to his basket filled with empty jars which will serve as containers for his products.

“I took durum wheat flour, almonds, powdered sugar, tea, coffee and shampoo,” he explains.

It is cheaper than in a regular supermarket and of better quality.

What I also appreciate is the associative side, which allows exchanges with other people ”.

The VRAC association, which began the first distributions in June 2019, works with 17 suppliers in the region.

During the lockdown, she saw demands for members increase.

Today, they are nearly 500. “Half live in priority neighborhoods but the other half come from other neighborhoods, because eating well interests everyone”, explains Cathy Mazoyer-Bongesse, director of the association. BULK Toulouse.

Valuing for farmers

Jonathan Izard, a young farmer from Les Moulins de Perrine farm located in Auriac-sur-Vendinelle, produces cereals and transforms them into finished products such as pasta, flour… “There is real satisfaction in producing in the Laurageais and to sell in Toulouse, very close to home, products that we have cultivated and processed, assures this producer, installed since 2010. It is more rewarding because we see the consumer ”.

Volunteers from the VRAC association help members during the distribution at the Izards social center in Toulouse.

- J. Rimbert

In 2021, VRAC Toulouse is receiving aid from the Haute-Garonne Departmental Council of 10,000 euros.

Committed to supporting the short circuits and farmers of Haute-Garonne, the Departmental Council wants to show that eating well is accessible to everyone, even in priority neighborhoods.

"This makes them aware of another consumption, more responsible since the beneficiaries place their order, weigh and serve during distributions, underlines Marie-Claude Farcy, departmental councilor.

It is social support, an approach of better food quality but with a human dimension ”.

This year, the VRAC association hopes to hire a third employee to meet the growing demand.

It plans to open three new distribution points in priority neighborhoods in Colomiers, Blagnac and Cugnaux.

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  • Society

  • Toulouse

  • Consumption

  • District

  • Association

  • Organic

  • Food