How Les Urbainculteurs are advancing urban Agriculture in Quebec
Discover our 1% for the Planet partner, Les Urbainculteurs (urban agriculture), based in Québec’s capital, and their Bassin Louise project. As part of our commitment to the 1% for the Planet program, our team of Québec City beekeepers has joined forces with Les Urbainculteurs, a nonprofit that shares our dedication to sustainability. By promoting urban agriculture in Quebec, they make growing food in urban spaces more accessible and sustainable—an initiative that aligns perfectly with our mission.
WHO ARE LES URBAINCULTEURS?
Their mission is to set up urban gardens throughout our cities: on patios, in the ground and… you guessed it, on rooftops, just like us!
They too are committed to 1% for the Planet, and since 2019, they’ve been working to make urban agriculture accessible to all, citizens and organizations alike, in Québec City. They take a collaborative, altruistic approach to greening our cities, fostering biodiversity, increasing food security and raising local awareness.
A PERFECT MACTH
While visiting various partners to inspect our Alvéole hives, Benoît, our Québec City Beekeeping Team Manager, met the team from Les Urbainculteurs. Their discussions led them to realize that our values and missions were aimed at achieving the same goal: reconnecting city dwellers with nature. As we were on the lookout for a partner for our 1% for the Planet program, the Québec City team naturally turned to Les Urbainculteurs, volunteering to work on their Bassin Louise urban farm project.
SUPPORTING THE BASSIN LOUISE PROJECT
Whenever our Québec City beekeepers have some free time, they help Les Urbainculteurs at their vegetable garden with an educational and social mission in the Old Port. Since 2020, this well-established pilot project has been growing steadily, adding greenery where there was previously nothing but concrete, with the goal of helping those in need. Our team was able to kill two birds with one stone by setting up two of our hives to promote pollination in this ever-greener oasis and giving workshops to their volunteers throughout the year.
“Alex McLean (co-founder of Alvéole) and I arrived a little early for one of our workshops, so we pitched in for a few minutes, working the soil alongside Les Urbainculteurs volunteers. This was a great opportunity to share knowledge, in addition to the workshop right after.”– Benoît Trépanier, Québec City Beekeeping Team Manager
ABOUT 1% FOR THE PLANET
In 2021, Alvéole joined 1% for the Planet, an international movement of organizations that donate 1% of their annual sales to nonprofits working to protect the environment.
