Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise (CATL)
CATL has been promoting sustainable food and local supply chains in Liège since 2013. It focuses on raising awareness, organising local events, structuring supply chains and providing information on sustainable food to businesses.
Overview of the project
To improve the scale ofshort-circuit operators, the missing links in the supply chains concerned need to be created, in particular the infrastructure required to process and distribute products. In Liège, the city and the Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise (CATL) have joined forces to create a short-circuit agri-food cluster based at the Liège Morning Market.
In 2022, the City of Liège acquired the first building, which now forms the logistics area of the Liège short-circuit centre. This has enabled the creation of a grouped housing facility for several distribution cooperatives in the CATL network (Les Petits Producteurs, La Coopérative ardente, Hesbicoop, Terre d’Herbage and, soon, The Food Hub) with storage, order preparation, office and meeting facilities.
By mid-2025, a second 3,000 m² building will be constructed, under the responsibility of SPI, to house two processing workshops: a “vegetable factory” and a canning facility, designed in particular to supply the kitchens of local authorities in Liège with plant products that are as local, healthy and in season as possible.
The Bressoux-Droixhe agri-food zone, which includes the Marché Matinal and the current abattoir, is currently being reinvented as part of a master plan. This will undoubtedly provide an opportunity to further develop the Short Circuits Centre, in conjunction with the players in the sustainable food sector in the Liège region.
Development of a food processing and logistics hub, focusing on sustainable local produce.
Ongoing research
Project still in progress
- Creation of a new professional B2B distribution service: the Circuits Paysans platform
- Creation of a new range of products for local authorities
- Creation of a legal structure for mutualisation between distribution cooperatives in the CATL network: ASBL Horizon PAACC
- Creation of a dedicated WG of the Food Policy Council involving around thirty grocery shops in the Liège region
- Creation of a dedicated WG of the Food Policy Council involving around ten community kitchens in the Liège region
Bringing together a number of distribution cooperatives from the Ceinture Alimentaire-Terre Liégeoise network in the logistics zone of the Pôle circuit court has enabled them to strengthen their position through a growing number of shared initiatives (supplies, storage, order preparation, transport, IT, etc.).
It has also enabled them to roll out a full range of products and services more effectively, for both professionals and local authorities. The launch on 6 October 2023 of the Circuits Paysans platform (https://circuitspaysans.be/), co-created by the Ardente Cooperative, Hesbicoop and Terre d’Herbage, illustrates this dynamic.
The City of Liège purchased the first (logistics) building in the cluster. The Walloon and European recovery plans (sheets 198 and 199) have financed the construction of the future vegetable-preserving building, as well as part of the cost of fitting out the logistics building, and economic support for the project.
organisation
The Ceinture Aliment-Terre Liégeoise (CATL) is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to promote the development of sustainable food and short, local supply chains in the Liège region. Launched in November 2013, this initiative is structured around the development of a network of citizen food cooperatives. Today, the CATL’s five main missions are to raise awareness, with the Nourrir Liège Festival and campuses, for example, as well as continuing education activities; to promote local and regional initiatives, mainly via the Liège Métropole Food Policy Council; to structure and promote supply chains, with the development of the Liège Short Circuits Cluster in particular; and to provide information and advice to businesses on sustainable food.
in collaboration
- All the short-circuit distribution cooperatives based at the Centre: Les Petits Producteurs, La Coopérative ardente, Hesbicoop, Terre d’Herbage and, soon, The Food Hub and Circuits Paysans.
- The umbrella organisation responsible for managing the logistics zone: ASBL Horizon Pôle Agro-Alimentaire Circuit Court.
- The Liège Métropole Food Policy Council, which has 120 members, including many players in short-circuit distribution, and the largest community kitchens in the Liège region.
- Wallonia and Europe, which are funding the project via their respective recovery plans.