Terroir-Direct, a farmer’s drive for local, organic or farm products

Project

Terroir-Direct is a distributor with a digital platform which has nearly sixty farmers and artisans from the Cévennes and Languedoc and offers to pool regional products for around a hundred consumers. Consumers are generally from Montpellier, Nîmes, and other municipalities of the departments of Hérault and Gard. Terroir Direct is an example of a cooperative and participative structure, with a collective share capital of 90,000 € provided by farmers, consumers and employees.

Operation

The distribution platform offers households a complete supply of all product families. Local / regional origin is a priority, and additional products from outside the region are present, always well identified. The structure is approved "collective group short circuit" by the Languedoc Roussillon Region.

The association is recognized for its quality commitment:

• 100% of the products come from family farms, or small-scale craft businesses.
• About 80% of the products are farmed: manufactured, processed by a farmer, the main ingredients coming from the farm.
• About 50% of all items are from organic farming.
• A high proportion of the products are “terroir”, insofar as they are strongly linked to a particular territory due to their properties and flavors (history, know-how, race or species, ecological environment, etc.)
• Only a few days between the time of the order online and the delivery. Each product is harvested or prepared as late as possible in relation to logistical constraints. Customers do not wait and do not manipulate the items. The fresh and ultra fresh products are kept in the cold chain between 1 and 4 ° C in a cold room, delivered in a refrigerated truck, and stored in a professional fridge at each of our depots for a few hours.

Traceability and transparency

On the Terroir-Direct website, each item is accompanied by the name of the supplier and the source (department, geographic area). The management system ensures precise traceability of deliveries from each producer each week. Terroir Direct's activity is certified by "Qualité-France SAS 92046 Paris la Défense", concerning the range of products sold under the organic label.

Means

Terroir-Direct is an association, created under the French 1901 law,  with an economic vocation, managed by a board of directors elected from 4 producer and 3 consumer representatives. The president, Laurent Senet, breeds a herd of 130 Aubrac cattle in the open air, around the Séranne mountain (Hérault).

About 80% of the products are local (within a radius of 150km: Gard, Lozère, Hérault, Aveyron, Cévennes, Camargue ...).

20% of the products are from outside (other terroirs in France, in particular AOC cheeses, certain dairy cows, organic citrus fruits from Spain or Italy, and certain organic vegetables or fruit in season, when local production of market gardeners is not sufficient, as well as a small range of tropical fair trade products). These products meet the same quality requirements.

A contribution to the delivery costs to the drop-off points is requested for each withdrawal of order:

• 1.75 € for any order withdrawal on the main premises in Castelnau-le-lez,
• 2.60 € for any order withdrawal from any other relay depot point in their network,
• € 4 home delivery according to specific slots.

These costs help the association finance preparation and packaging, cold chain delivery and maintenance of the cold chain at the depot, and a small partnership fee for the depositary.

Written by Claire Caillaud, LFC volunteer - June 2019. 

Last modification : 09 Apr 2020.