Agricœur, your one-stop shop for all things food and more…
The mission of the Agricœur cooperative is to promote local and sustainable food, to give producers the means to grow such produce, to give everyone access to this kind of food and to bolster the links between food producers and citizens in the Charleroi Metropolitan Area. We visited this friendly one-stop shop for tasty, locally sourced food and delicacies.
When they started the cooperative in 2022, Agricœur’s founders came up with the term ‘tiers-lieu nourricier’ (literally a ‘third party site that nourishes’, i.e. a one-stop shop for all things relating to food) which they defined rather beautifully: the idea being to provide a third party place that acts as a facilitator connecting home and work and all activities that revolve around food, from production to consumption, as well as sharing knowledge and learning. This feature is also the very thing that makes the project original and serves as the project’s strength, as it covers the entire chain from farm to fork.
Practical training and real-life testing
In actual fact, the adventure begins ahead of the production of healthy, local food by providing training courses and workshops in connection with local trades, entrepreneurship and food for those who wish to set up in business and develop an economic activity in this sector. This includes: management in line with the Federal Agency for Food Chain Safety standards, food processing techniques, market gardening methods, analysing the financial feasibility of the project, exploring communication tools, etc.
Job seekers and/or budding entrepreneurs also benefit from valuable advice and an agricultural testing ground where they can try their hand at their (future) farming or market gardening activity for one to three seasons, with personalised support. An ideal way to get to grips with the realities of the field… both literally and metaphorically speaking!
Forging links
Once trained and launched, the producers are not left to their own devices either. If they so wish, they can use the work tools made available by Agricœur at very affordable prices. These tools range from actual farmland to processing workshops and storage and sales areas, as well as meeting places and networking activities.
All of which revolve around the core values which Agricœur holds dear: people, cooperation and sociability. The cooperative enables these entrepreneurs to take part in the events it organises and to meet people from their own or complementary sectors. The idea being to forge and strengthen links that enable them to work together and develop their respective businesses.
Taking over
As a veritable fount of new ideas, the Agricœur team does not stop there, offering a wide range of initiatives and services. Entrepreneurs can organise their own events, festive activities, meetings, training courses or workshops by hiring one of the indoor and/or outdoor spaces provided by the cooperative. And they should not worry about thinking big: this exceptional setting has 1,100 m² of indoor space and 1.5 hectares of outdoor space!
Sourcing healthy, local produce
But what about people who simply want to eat healthily, with food from local, environmentally friendly farmers? Needless to say Agricœur thought of them too: through its food outlet, residents living in the area around Bons Villers, north of the Charleroi Metropolitan Area, can buy quality products grown with passion and respect for nature. They can pick up these products by shopping at the Back to Vrac local grocery shop, online at epicoeur.be – a short supply chain retail cooperative – or directly from the producers.
Treasures worth tracking down
This article would not be complete without a few examples of the kind of things you can expect to find at Agricœur to cook up mouth-watering dishes, embellish your home or to roll up your sleeves to get stuck in yourself. There is something to suit everyone and every creative idea. Try flower and fruit wines, edible flowers, herbs and beehive products from La Petite Cueilleuse. Sacrées Végétales offers herbal teas, flavoured salts, seedlings for transplanting, as well as artisanal products such as joss sticks. Feeling thirsty? Discover the Belgian and artisanal beers from the Beaux Jours brewery. Cueillette Buissonnière in turn grows over 100 varieties of flowers to create bouquets and decorations for events and organises fresh and dried flower workshops.
Now is as good a time as any to discover the many treasures on offer at your tiers-lieu nourricier!
For further details, go to www.agricoeur.be
8a Rue de Sart-Dames-Avelines
6210 Les Bons Villers
Contact
Hire space? location@agricoeur.be
Join as a volunteer? bénévoles@epicoeur.be
Questions? info@agricoeur.be
Phone: 0471 91 59 94