Liège is undergoing a process of democratisation, relocation and decarbonisation of its food system

Following an initial impetus from local stakeholders
and citizens
active in the Cities in Transition movement, the Liège City and province have
been successful for nearly 10 years at developing a large-scale project
promoting local, sustainable and resilient food production in the Liège ‘Food Land’ belt.

This is an ambitious goal, since it involves the ‘democratisation, relocation and decarbonisation of the food system’ within a single generation: it aims to meet 50% of food demand in Liège locally, in the best possible ecological and social conditions, within the next 25 to 30 years.

The platform has been in constant development
since the initiative was launched in 2013, and several structuring projects
were built at every level of the food chain, including:

• Creating 20 new cooperatives throughout the food sector (production, processing and distribution),
• Doubling the number of market gardens in the Liège Province,
• Holding artistic and educational events about food, awareness-raising days and the annual ‘Nourrir Liège’ (feeding Liège) festival,
• Creating a self-managed agricultural collective and progressively transitioning school cafeterias to organic produce,
• Creating a local currency to encourage local food systems.

This dynamic plays into a larger strategy of
food sovereignty and local sufficiency/resilience, led by a strong commitment
from local public authorities, including funding from the Walloon region.
Simultaneously, the academic world is contributing to discussions about
long-term project planning.

Governance lies at the heart of this dynamic,
as it aims to foster relationships between agri-food professionals and consumers
and to promote the understanding of their respective needs. As explained by Christian
Jonet, Coordinator of the Liège Food Land Belt, and Claire Wiliquet, Permanent
member of UniverSud, in this article exploring this
fascinating topic, one of
the foundational principles behind the Food-Land Belt is ‘creating a city-countryside
alliance based on the countryside feeding the city, which in turn
supports local agriculture with its consumption, saving and investment
choices’.

This strategy was co-constructed over the
course of several participatory workshops that gave all stakeholders and
citizens an opportunity to identify challenges and key issues (e.g. economic,
social, property, etc.) related to the project and to define the main projects
to implement and action plans. Strong citizen participation from the inception
of the project was essential, as it provided the needed funding to launch the
cooperatives.

This dynamic gave the city the opportunity to become aware of possible drivers for local food production and to change its internal organisation. For instance, it created an interdepartmental group to address this question and improved the city’s position as an applicant in Walloon and European calls for projects in order to acquire new funding.