In 2021, the great metropolis of Bordeaux had a painful revelation: local food production from the region's 5,500 hectares of farmland and 148 local farms could only feed its inhabitants for one day a year, meaning that the metropolis depended a lot on imports. Today, the numbers are a little more reassuring: food autonomy in the metropolis of Bordeaux has increased to seven days a year, and 65% of the inhabitants of the metropolis consume local products at least once a week, but the road is still long and full of obstacles. One of the innovative measures the metropolis implemented in order to find solutions to food-related problems was the establishment of the Consultative Council for Sustainable Food Governance (CCGAD).
In 2017, the metropolis was the first territorial body in France to establish such a council as a three-year pilot project. "We wanted to connect all the parties involved," explains Carla Quiviger, Project Officer for Food Governance at Bordeaux Métropole. "As a local government, we wanted to connect and support them in their work." The council brought together around 130 local actors in the food system – from agriculture to processing and distribution, from consumer organizations to specialists involved in trend analysis – all relevant players had their place on the council.
Source: Eurocities