Context
The Nantes municipal wholesale market (in French “Marché d’Intérêt National - MIN”), the second largest in France, had been established since 1969 on the island of Nantes. Today, the island district is getting urbanized and it becomes incompatible with the traffic of heavy trucks transporting goods. In addition, the former market was no longer meeting the standards in terms of energy consumption. Finally, more than 70% of employees of the market live in the south of the metropolis. Thus, a new market has been built in the periphery of the city, in autumn 2018, near Rezé, to facilitate access.
Project
This new market was conceptualized to be the output of the Nantes Food Strategy and to meet the challenges of food quality and distribution efficiency. It is a new agro-food center with an interregional and national dimension, hosting food processing and preservation facilities. A first plot of 22 hectares includes the markets, hosting wholesalers and sellers of fresh products, a space dedicated to private companies providing services such as decoration or packaging, etc.) and the administration office and cafeteria of the market. A second plot of 24 hectares allows new businesses to set up. This project is both a transfer from the previous market and an internal reorganization designed with economic players. It has also been designed to facilitate and develop short food chains, reduce transportation between distribution and processing area, and put producers, sellers and consumers in contact more directly.
Project leaders
The metropolis of Nantes invested 148 million euros in the new market, including 9.5 million euros funded by the State through the State-metropolis pact. An investment support system for companies wishing to set up has also been set up with the help of the Pays de la Loire Region.
The Little Extra
In addition, a whole part of the MIN is dedicated to organic farming in order to enhance the production, create a link between producers and encourage the sector.
Written by Mélanie Girault, LFC volunteer - December 2018
Last modification : 27 Apr 2020.
Nantes Métropole wholesale market
Like many cities, Nantes Métropole is a food consumption area with its 600,000 inhabitants compared to its agricultural area. The metropolitan territory is included in a production basin which benefits from a great diversity between products of land and sea and between animal and vegetable products.