In south-western France, a cluster of 31 municipalities is tackling one of Europe’s most pressing food challenges: how to keep farmland in use and attract the next generation of farmers. The Communauté d’Agglomération Pau Béarn Pyrénées is demonstrating how local governments can take concrete action where national policies often fall short. During a recent Cleverfood peer-learning visit, cities from Turkey and the Netherlands discovered first-hand how Pau is transforming its relationship with food.
Rethinking local agriculture from the ground up
At the heart of Pau’s food transition is the understanding that preserving farmland and enabling new generations of farmers to thrive is essential for both environmental sustainability and food security.
“We realised that 25% of farmers would retire in the months to come, and we needed to act to renew and support agriculture in our region,” explained Thierry Gallerand, Project Manager for Circular Economy and Agriculture at the Communauté d’Agglomération Pau Béarn Pyrénées. “This was one of the driving forces behind launching our farming policy five years ago.”
A key outcome of that policy is the Ceinture Verte (Green Belt), an innovative public-private cooperative that makes land and farming equipment accessible to new farmers through affordable leasing. Established in 2020 and awarded the Eurocities Award in 2024, the Green Belt today operates eight organic farms of two hectares each, entirely focused on short supply chains. Importantly, the initiative brings together public, private, and civic funding: 25% of the cooperative’s capital is public, while the rest comes from private actors and individual citizens.
We realised that 25% of farmers would retire in the months to come, and we needed to act to renew and support agriculture in our region.
The Green Belt is more than a farmland access scheme. It represents a systemic approach to relocalising food, preserving soil, and fostering new models of agriculture in a region traditionally dominated by corn monoculture and industrial farming. “We are surrounded by intensive agriculture and large cooperatives,” said Gallerand. “But we wanted to create an innovative approach for the city and its citizens, one that reflects our ambitions for carbon neutrality and biodiversity.”
From field to fork: building the infrastructure for local food
To make short supply chains truly viable, Pau’s local government is not just supporting production but also managing infrastructure for distribution. One flagship initiative is Les Halles de Pau, the central market owned and operated by the Agglomération. Here, Green Belt producers and other local organic farmers are given dedicated, affordable space to sell directly to consumers. A producers’ committee reviews applications and ensures that stalls are reserved for local producers. “We receive more than one million visitors per year,” said Gallerand. “That’s huge for a city of our size and it shows that people value local, organic food.”
The city is also investing in food education and equity. In the disadvantaged Saragosse neighbourhood, urban gardens are being created with support from Pau’s Green Spaces Department and local non-profits. Meanwhile, the Parcelles Solidaires – solidarity plots managed by CIVAM Béarn on a site known as Parkway – offer space for community growing, ecological awareness, and social inclusion. Each week, local residents gather to work the soil, learn together, and build community.
How do we create more dialogue between old and young farmers, citizens and the rural area? How do we help people understand and accept this food revolution?
Other initiatives include support for school canteens to increase their share of organic and local food – already above the national minimum – and backing for the VRAC association, which promotes bulk purchasing groups in low-income neighbourhoods to improve access to quality, fairly priced food. As Laurence Orliac, Agriculture and Food Policy Officer at the Agglomération, put it: “How do we create more dialogue between old and young farmers, citizens and the rural area? How do we help people understand and accept this food revolution?”
A collaborative governance model with teeth
None of these changes would be possible without robust local governance. The Agglomération’s food strategy is structured around five pillars: protecting agricultural land, supporting new farming business models, attracting young agri-talents, fostering ecological transition, and building inclusive dialogue between citizens, farmers and politicians.
Yet in a context of limited municipal budgets and competing priorities, achieving consensus has not been easy. “Convincing 31 mayors to dedicate land to farming rather than housing or industrial projects is an ongoing challenge,” admitted Gallerand. “But we’ve made it work through constant dialogue, shared ownership, and by assigning thematic responsibilities to mayors – such as the Mayor of Meillon, who leads on farming and presides over the Green Belt.”
The city also meets regularly with stakeholders to encourage joint work. The result is a multitude of initiatives just waiting to become a structured network. “We have all the actors,” said Gallerand. “Now we have to put them together and start shooting the movie.”
Peer learning in action
The Cleverfood study visit to Pau brought together municipal representatives and local actors from Nilufer (Turkey) and the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Netherlands), sparking valuable exchanges on both structural solutions and cultural approaches.
We have all the actors. Now we have to put them together and start shooting the movie.
For Maarten Klop, Community Builder at Amped in Amsterdam, the visit offered much more than policy insight. “What stood out most was Pau’s bold, proactive approach to treating food not as a commodity, but as a human right and a shared public good,” he said. “The city is not merely implementing food policy, it is embedding food into the heart of urban planning, social welfare, and ecological regeneration.”
The visitors recognised parallels between their own contexts and Pau’s. In Nilufer, where industrialised farming is also dominant and farmer renewal is a concern, Pau’s cooperative Green Belt model offered inspiration for adapting local infrastructure to support short supply chains and new entrants. In both cities, participants saw value in Pau’s school meals model and its structured collaboration between public institutions and grassroots groups.
Looking ahead: building a food lab for the future
The Pau team is now looking to take its work further by formalising its community of practice around food into a ‘food lab’ – a structured platform for innovation, participation and cross-sector dialogue.
What stood out most was Pau’s bold, proactive approach to treating food not as a commodity, but as a human right and a shared public good.
“It’s still informal today, but we would like to organise the network of local actors and create a real local committee for farming and food,” he said. “We want to scale up our initiatives, strengthen partnerships, and find new ways to attract both funding and talent.”
EU support will remain essential to this ambition, but Pau’s approach also shows the power of local leadership in times of uncertainty. With the future of EU funding unclear, particularly in the post-2027 budget framework, cities like Pau are exploring mixed funding models that combine public investment, citizen contributions, and green finance. “We need to think a little bit out of the box,” said Gallerand. “And we cannot do this alone. That’s why sharing good practices and building strong European networks is so important.”
