Urban Micro-Farm

1) Context
The project, which began at the end of 2021, is a new concept of urban micro-farming, described as permaculture and community-based with and for local residents. The participation of the inhabitants is a key success of community building.

2) Description
The micro-farm is an entity whose complexity must reflect the complexity of the socio-economic environment in which it is immersed. In our case, the micro-farm must achieve needs for a population with low income. Consequently, the micro-farm combines both agricultural and social activities according to a symbiotic relationship. In other words, agricultural activities feed off social activities and vice versa.

Implementing the farm involves a series of phases, logically beginning with the immersive phase. This not only enables the researchers to identify the needs of the local population, but also to create the climate of trust necessary for the project to be taken on board by and for the local population. The next phases are the farm's ramp-up, moving from mock-up to prototyping to validate the proof-of-concept, and then the implementation of the micro-farm in the neighbourhood, based on the assumption that its use will lead to the creation of daughter entities that will consolidate each other to amplify territorial resilience. The following figure symbolises the rise of the micro-farm through its agricultural and social activities, while reducing urban socio-economic pressure.

3) Structure
The structure of the micro-farm is presented bellow.

4) The life at the micro-farm

Videos created by the Multimedia department of the Troyes University Institute of Technology (IUT de Troyes).

Explanation of the social and agricultural activities

Interview of Serge ROHMER, coordinator of the micro-farm.

5) Photo Gallery : some activities at the micro-farm
2025- April: A micro-exhibition by OLHA, from Ukraine, creating textiles from fabric scraps using a circular economy approach.

2025 - February : Students from the Lycée forestier de Crogny (10) came to discover the urban micro-farm. Presentation done by Mohamad et Hana, volunteers of the micro-farm.

2024 - October : Hosting a group of walkers for the fight against cancer as part of the "Pink October" event.

2024 - October : A micro-exhibition by Alain GIACOMINI, local artist who presents origami using structured crumpling to create elasticity in simple sheets of paper.

2024 - September : Senator Vanina Paoli-Gagin meets the micro-farm volunteers.

2024 - August : ADPS FLE (French as a Foreign Language) learners visit the micro-farm to choose a subject that will be presented after several days' work to validate their language certificate.