Green party's plan for rooftop vegetable farm in Paris

Elected EELV (Europe Ecologie Les Verts) officials and municipal electoral candidates met with journalists on the 11th March to reveal the ''vegetable farm in the heart of Paris'' project. The Montsouris reservoir building supplies drinking water to south Paris and currently has a 2.5 ha grass-covered rooftop. The building has ''a great potential'' for those who believe in urban agriculture and a ''more sustainable'' town.

Although the project is only in draft form, the EELV candidates have faith that it will ''Renew the link between urban and rural, between consumers and producers, between nature and town. Highly symbolic''.

Armand Renard from the Toits vivants association (Living rooftops) believes that the project will be ''easy to set up'' as ''the soil is already there''. The farm would have ''three or four producers'' and could have a ''100 basket per week'' turnover. The aim: to provide healthy, organic, quality produce with a short supply chain.

However concrete studies have yet to take place; the building's safety standards are draconian and access to the roof would have to be completely separate.

The journalists had many questions concerning pollution and smell of manure. The Deputy Mayor replied that ''air pollution's root cause must be tackled and must not hold back projects'' and as for manure they would normally use compost in such a situation.