A look back at the first edition of EXPOt'ingé

Through a series of activities, Pot'Ingé invited us on Wednesday June 28 to reflect on the role of the university in the food transition. The afternoon was organized around three themes: learning, meeting and collective construction.

The "Pot'Ingé" collective kitchen garden team is thinking big. After 4 years in existence, the family has grown considerably: from 7 founders to a team of 40 students, doctoral students, staff and externs. Together, they grow a vegetable garden on the grounds of the Polytech district, which has tripled in size since its beginnings.

From edamame to hops and medicinal plants, any experimentation is welcome on the B52 grounds. There's even a shortage of space: a second greenhouse, the "showcase", has just been set up a few steps from the first kitchen garden.

Behind this collective project is a desire to raise awareness of the food transition, biodiversity and the virtues of short supply chains. The team is taking this thinking a step further with the first edition of EXPOt'ingé, designed to showcase the practical applications of scientific research in the service of sustainable food.

Tours, local market and conferences

From 1:30pm, visitors could discover the Pot'Ingé plantations. In addition to mounds, composts and greenhouses, the tour also showed the results of scientific collaborations carried out for the needs of the kitchen garden.

These include solar panels and a greenhouse fan developed by the Faculty of Applied Sciences. The latter is also involved in the construction of the garden shed and its recycled concrete wall. The biology department, meanwhile, takes advantage of the pristine meadow at the heart of the kitchen garden for its entomological surveys.

Alongside these visits, B52 hosted a local market featuring short-distance traders. For the "meeting" part of the day, a whole series of local producers and artisans were invited. This was an opportunity for Pot'Ingé to sell the fruit of its harvests, in the form of balm, jelly or mead.

The day was punctuated by seminars led by students, university researchers and field workers. The day ended with a plenary session on the question "The food transition: why and what role for the university?", before concluding with a local buffet with the Dinette Mobile.