On the roofs of the exhibition grounds at the Porte de Versailles (XVth arrondissement), the world’s largest urban farm is being built over 150,700 square feet.
The Pavilion 6 of Paris Expo at the Porte de Versailles is usually seized by all of the city’s fairs, but this time, it will be a peaceful place where freshly harvested products will be sold, and with a bar and restaurant managed by the Le Perchoir chain. “This rooftop venue will offer a multitude of collective activities from the spring of 2020,” announced the event company, Viparis.
The gardens will be designed by Agripolis and Culture en ville. Seasonal fruits and vegetables will be grown, but also nutrients that can be used for organic farming. “More than 20 producers will grow at least a thousand seasonal fruits and vegetables each day, from about 30 different species,” explained Viparis. Moreover, local residents will have the opportunity to rent some spaces for their personal cultures. The pollution from the nearby ring road should not be a problem. “The plants are cultivated in hollow and empty columns to protect the roots,” explains Pascal Hardy, manager of Agripolis. “Pollution only contaminates the plant through its roots.”
The modernization project of Paris Expo goes back to May 2015 and will last 10 years. Several projects have already been completed. The total cost for the urban farm project exceeds 7 million euros [7.9 million USD], while 500 million euros [565 million USD] are invested by Viparis to modernize the infrastructures. Viparis’s total activity represents 1.2 billion euros [1.4 billion USD] in direct profit, and more than 5 billion euros [5.65 billion USD] per year of indirect profit through the Parisian economy.
Source: usinenouvelle.com