FARM2FORK-05 | Organic farm on a Benedictine abbey estate in France: demonstration site for Cluster 6 2027

Who we are. The Abbaye Saint-Pierre is a Benedictine abbey estate at Mas-Grenier, in the Garonne valley between Toulouse and Montauban, Occitanie, France. Two organisations take part:

• SAS Abbaye Saint-Pierre owns the whole estate and opens it as a real-world experimentation site (www.abbayesaintpierre.org).

• The farm, SCEA Abbaye Saint Pierre de Lacour, works the land (ferme.abbayesaintpierre.org).

The house is attested from 993 and was refounded in the 17th century by the Congregation of Saint-Maur. Its 18th-century buildings offer sixty rooms for researchers and trainees, teaching and workshop rooms, and a training worksite.

What the site offers to a Cluster 6 consortium

The farm:

• 12 hectares certified organic (Ecocert) and HVE level 3 (high environmental value);

• orchards of 26 fruit species, 20 vegetables, 22 aromatic and medicinal plants, field crops, grassland and an apiary of ten hives;

• since 2015, a host site of the Conservatoire Végétal Régional d'Aquitaine for old fruit varieties.

Soil and land:

• land use documented since 993 and surveyed in 1686;

• a laboratory soil baseline with an archived sample series, which gives a rare long-term reference for soil and carbon studies.

A diversified small farm as a test bed for:

• diversified crops and short value chains (FARM2FORK-05);

• farmland biodiversity: hedges, orchards and pollinators (BIODIV-08);

• carbon farming measurement and monitoring (CLIMATE-03);

• the contribution of organic farming to sustainability (FARM2FORK-04).

Rural community and governance:

• co-design with local farmers, craftspeople and trainees;

• a rural case for resilience to economic, climatic and demographic shocks (COMMUNITIES-01).

Our role in a project

• Demonstration and pilot site.

• End user and farmer partner.

• Living-lab site within a territorial living lab.

• Field trials and data collection on farm practice.

• Hosting of field days, training and stakeholder workshops, with accommodation on site.

The estate is also a candidate site and lighthouse for a Mission Soil living lab.

We are looking for:

• coordinators preparing 2027 proposals on the topics above;

• research organisations needing a temperate south-west European organic demonstration farm;

• partners for monitoring (biodiversity, soil, carbon) and for value-chain innovation.

Contact: Arumugam Amruthalingam, aa@abbayesaintpierre.org, +33 7 71 40 88 98.