On 2 December 2025, Agroecology visited the farm La Ferme du Peuplier, located in Gottechain, east of Brussels (Belgium). Agroecology Europe was invited to participate in this visit by the Belgian NGO, Iles-de-Paix, which is behind a project aimed at ensuring vulnerable populations have access to healthy food. For Agroecology Europe, it was an opportunity to visit an organic vegetable farm, which produces vegetables on 54 hectares (ha) and sells its produce directly at 18 markets in the region.
Gwenaël du Bus has always been an organic farmer, and started La Ferme du Peuplier a decade ago, on 3 ha. Now that the farm has grown to 54 ha and employs around 50 people (full-time equivalent (FTE)), it’s worth asking what are the elements that made it a success story. For the farmer, the reason is that he has always put special emphasis on the commercialisation of the farm’s produce. To ensure farm resilience and business sustainability, he made the choice to sell directly to consumers and thus to avoid, as far as possible, a reliance on big retailers. Nowadays, the farm produces a huge variety of vegetables through both greenhouse and open field cultivation. With produce ranging from carrots and potatoes to pumpkins and ginger, the farm employs around 15 FTE on the production side, around 30 FTE on the commercial side, and 5 FTE for management and logistics.
Despite the farm’s success, the organic sector is not booming in Belgium, so how does Gwenaël see the future? He says the organic sector has reached a level that it is “locked in”: organic farmers, conventional farmers, and retailers don’t need to increase organic production and sales, as all stakeholders benefit from the current state of the market. Consequently, it will not be possible to increase the organic proportion of agriculture without a strong commitment from policymakers (at both national and European levels) to challenge the status quo of the sector.
Another interesting aspect of La Ferme du Peuplier’s model is that it relies on direct selling, although the farmer acknowledges that big retailers represent unavoidable food system stakeholders. Gwenaël believes that direct selling should be better developed and supported but will never replace the role and importance of big retailers; therefore, these companies need to change and embrace agroecological food system transformation. It remains a tense topic for agroecology, as agroecology is also about challenging the governance and structure of the current food system.
Many would argue that we must acknowledge that certain stakeholders (such as big retailers) have strong interests in maintaining the current food system and keeping hold of their bargaining position. It means that they have little interest in developing an agroecological food system, but rather in continuing to gain profits. Nevertheless, the agroecological movement should take on board the successful valorisation, marketing, and commercialisation of agroecological produce that has been exhibited by La Ferme du Peuplier, and find ways to develop agroecological value chains and markets.
Finally, it was worth exploring the understanding and the advancement of agroecology at the farm. Gwenaël believes that agroecology is the end goal for food system transformation, and he is always trying to make his farm more agroecological. He will soon work with an advisory company to identify possible agroecological improvements. Now, relying on this kind of service remains an important cost for farmers, and the return on investment is not certain.
Therefore, farmers might still be reluctant to engage in this kind of transition. He also participates in farmers’ exchanges and welcomes students and other stakeholders to his farm to present his model. Assessing agroecology (through tools such as OASIS) was also discussed, and he found the approach of assessing a farm based on agroecological principles interesting. He agrees that the replication of the assessment in time is a good approach for evaluating the transition process. However, he feels that the current tools are sometimes not well developed and do not well represent the reality of farms.
Agroecology Europe wants to thank Gwenaël du Bus for welcoming us to his farm and for the fruitful discussion. As a follow-up, Agroecology Europe will share information regarding the OASIS tool for feedback and gauge possible interest about applying it on the farm. Moreover, Gwenaël is open to welcoming Agroecology Europe again and to organising farm visits in the future.
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