"I knew the era of large market gardens in the Var plain, what little remains must be saved": the Metropolis is making 2 hectares available to help future market gardeners get started

The country setting is both anachronistic and promising.

On a miraculous plot of land stretching out across Nice Lingostière, the rural accents of a farmhouse, reigning in the middle of a fallow field, are out of place in the century. But they give hope.

While the Var plain, the former granary of Nice, has been constantly transformed into a landfill or buried under concrete for 60 years , these two still fertile hectares will welcome a pair of future organic market gardeners in the autumn (applications ⁽¹⁾ are accepted until August 31).

Presented to the media at the end of June, this "test site" , located at 528 rue Marcel Vissian, was pre-empted for 2.8 million euros ⁽²⁾ by the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis, which designed it as "an incubator for farmers in training wishing to experiment with their activity in real conditions, with tailor-made support and infrastructure made available."

For a period of one year, renewable twice, the next occupants will benefit from everything they need to get started: a brand new tractor, a hangar equipped with a cold room, staff apartments in a villa, ^500m2 of greenhouses, ^7,000m2 of irrigated open fields... "Not forgetting the helping hand from the Chamber of Agriculture," smiles its president, Michel Dessus. Enthusiastic, he "expects highly motivated profiles but not necessarily very experienced. We ask at least to have a diploma related to agriculture, or to have spent six months in market gardening. As for organic production, we take care of additional training." In total, thirteen local partners are joining the project to ensure its success.

This is enough to make Christian Estrosi, president of the inter-municipal authority and mayor of Nice, jubilant: "Creating local jobs that cannot be relocated is crucial for the middle and upper regions. It's also a food proximity issue. That's why we'll do everything we can to keep these farmers in the Metropolis once their incubation period is over."

But where will they settle in an area facing real estate pressure? "In the Var plain, there are 271 hectares of agricultural wasteland that can be rehabilitated," notes Camille Nicols, head of the metropolitan area's agriculture department. "These plots are mostly privately owned, and acquiring them takes time and money. Since 2019, we have gained 23% of agricultural areas (i.e. 5,900 hectares for a budget of 18 million euros invested in the sector). " We will still have to find candidates to occupy them: between 2012 and 2024, the metropolitan area lost 25% of its farms.

A young market gardener from Castagniers as a neighbor

What does it mean to be a young farmer in the Var plain? Future market gardeners at the "incubator" will be able to ask their neighbors directly. Carole Spinelli has just planted her first tomatoes on her new plot. The forty-year-old, who cut her teeth in Castagniers, where she still cultivates a few plots, benefited from the valuable support of the Nice Côte d'Azur Metropolis to set up in February.

Just two years ago, the 8,600m² of fertile land, equipped with 3,000m² of greenhouses in the Lingostière district, was to accommodate the rubble of a construction company. This was without counting on the Société d'aménagement foncier et d'établissement rural (Safer), which was able to pre-empt at the last minute. The site was then sold for €877,000 to the inter-municipal authority (which allocated four plots of land to farmers: two in Nice, one in La Gaude , and one in La Roquette-sur-Var).

With this rural agricultural lease (nine years renewable), Carole Spinelli can finally think bigger: "Faced with growing demand, I was quickly running out of stock. Now, I have the potential to increase my sales directly or in stores. Eventually, I would also like to grow citrus fruits."

A vast program that requires unfailing determination: "In summer, the day begins at 4 a.m., in the cool of the day. Often, what we harvest has to be sold within 48 hours, it's a very tight flow. And to think that more than ten years ago, I worked in an office... I'm not going to complain." Her broad smile soon spreads across the faces of her husband, Jean-Luc, and her aunt Monique. At 73, the retiree had to take part in the adventure: "I knew the era of large market gardens in the Var plain. What little remains of it must be saved."

1. Apply by email: [email protected]

2. Subsidies: €1.4 million under the France Relance Plan and €700,000 from the Department. The Metropolis also invested €350,000 in development and €220,000 in agricultural equipment.