Les Jardins de Cocagne (Geneva, Switzerland)

The first European community-supported agriculture cooperative, started outside Geneva in 1978 by the agronomist Reto Cadotsch with around thirty others. It began experimentally on 2,000 m² attached to a villa in Cartigny, moved through Corsinge (Meinier) in the 1980s, and from 1987 has been based at Sézegnin (Avusy) with a warehouse and greenhouses, later extending to Eaumorte (Avully) and Landecy. Members join in the growing through three or four half-days of work a year and receive organic vegetables year-round in return.

Members are not simply customers: each is required to take part in three or four half-days of work a year. It began in 1978 with around thirty people and one gardener, and by 2014 counted more than 400 member households.

Formally constituted as a cooperative on 29 November 1978 to organise the production and distribution of the vegetables grown. Members subscribe in advance and share the harvest — the model known in Switzerland as agriculture contractuelle de proximité (ACP) and in France as AMAP — and the cooperative is regarded as the first European realisation of it. It employed 13 people in 2014, eight of them gardeners, and has belonged to the Swiss organic producers' association since 1991, carrying the Bourgeon label.

Following the Japanese teikei movement of around 1970, its 1978 founding in Geneva is regarded as the starting point of the CSA/AMAP model in Europe. As of 2014 it involved more than 400 member households and provided employment for 13 people.

Web articles and features that cover this case.

• ArticleJardins de Cocagne — Wikipédia ↗fr.wikipedia.org