Launching Of Its Start-Up: Agricool Prepares Its Meeting With The Public
Launching Of Its Start-Up: Agricool Prepares Its Meeting With The Public
NICOLAS RAULINE Le 30/05 à 01:00
Strawberries that grow in Agricool containers require neither pesticides nor GMOs and consume 90% less water compared to a conventional crop. - Photo Tony Trichanh
A part of the future of agriculture is perhaps taking shape, at this moment, in the heart of an industrial zone in La Courneuve. It is there, in the suburbs of Paris, in Seine-Saint-Denis, that Agriculture has set up its quarters. It must be said that the start-up needed space to grow its strawberries . Since its creation less than two years ago, its young founders, neither farmers nor agronomists, but themselves sons of peasants, claim to want to revolutionize the sector with a new process. They recycled containers, arranged them for deployment of strawberry walls, separated from LED lighting walls. Temperature, humidity, light ... Everything is measured, controlled. With one goal: "get the best taste in the end". Subjective, The objective? "When we test 10,000 people, subjectivity no longer exists," says Guillaume Fourdinier, co-founder of Agricool. "In our approach, we wanted to eliminate all certainties. This is why we constantly test the sugar content, the vitamin content and so on. If tomorrow we realize that changing the culture temperature by one degree has a positive impact on taste and nutritional value, we will do it. Everything is possible. In containers you can even create shorter days! " We wanted to remove all certainties. This is why we constantly test the sugar content, the vitamin content and so on. If tomorrow we realize that changing the culture temperature by one degree has a positive impact on taste and nutritional value, we will do it. Everything is possible. In containers you can even create shorter days! " We wanted to remove all certainties. This is why we constantly test the sugar content, the vitamin content and so on. If tomorrow we realize that changing the culture temperature by one degree has a positive impact on taste and nutritional value, we will do it. Everything is possible. In containers you can even create shorter days! "
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For example, in the 1,500 square meters of warehouses and offices owned by Agricool in La Courneuve, developers, agronomists, workers who build containers, electrical engineers and plant physiologists are active. The strawberries are never far, measured, observed, tasted permanently ... "We were able to build a unique team," welcomes Guillaume Fourdinier. After the recent € 4 million fundraiser (led by Daphni), the workforce grew to thirty-three . And everything is done internally. Even the LEDs: no solution of the market was really adapted to strawberries, the young shoot decided to create his own. It also disposed of hives,
"Reasonable" Rates
The advantages of the developed technique are manifold. The start-up does not use GMOs or pesticides and consumes 90% less watercompared to a conventional crop, in particular because the water used to irrigate the plants is recovered under the vertical walls. And above all, Agricool wants to reduce the distance between the place of production and the place of consumption , to "twenty kilometers at the most" . "This is the paradox of" organic ", adds Guillaume Fourdinier. Since there are fewer production sites, we travel more kilometers to deliver, with all the consequences that may have on the environment. " The start-up do not short a label behind which it could,
After the R & D phase, Agricool is preparing to face the public. The first strawberries will go on sale in early July. Nearly 8,000 people are already registered . A wait that could put Agricool in a position of strength, but the young shoot wants to keep prices reasonable. "We are doing this so that we consume better and that quality is accessible to all," repeats the young entrepreneur. It therefore ensures that the price will, on average, be 15 to 20% lower than that of organic products .
7 Tons of Strawberries Per Year Per Container
At full throttle, the start-up estimates that it will be able to deliver 7 tons of strawberries per year and per container, ie 800 trays per week . "The market is huge," explains Guillaume Fourdinier. To produce 20% of all strawberries consumed by Parisians, we would need 600 containers. " To achieve one day, on this scale, Agricool wants to put its containers available to all those interested: companies, new" urban farmers "... After his first container to Bercy Park, removed from the start-up Has installed one on the site of Vente-privée in Saint-Denis . Another will follow at the entrance of Station F, the start-up campus created by Xavier Niel . "But it will be necessary to fill in a complete specifications , " says Guillaume Fourdinier. "Farmers" will need to be trained, and then engage, for example, to sell locally .