Agricovert
- Type
- Retailer
- Location
- Gembloux, Belgium
- Industries
- Direct to consumer, Shortening supply chain, Supply chain monitoring & traceability, Food ingredients & products, Out-of-home, Soil health, Crop / plant science
- Domains
- Fruit, Plant based primary products, Vegetables, Ingredients, Beverages, Processed food products, Fish, Animal based primary products
- Technologies
- Digital Marketplace, Platform technology, Restaurant technology, Platform & Service technologies
About Agricovert
Agricovert is a Belgian cooperative based in Gembloux that brings together local organic producers and consumer-members around a short, transparent food chain. It serves both private customers and professionals such as restaurants, schools, crèches, collective kitchens, and businesses through its webshop, physical stores, weekly baskets, and other distribution channels.
The cooperative positions itself as an alternative to conventional retail by emphasizing fair prices, direct links with producers, and a democratic model in which producers, consumers, and workers take part in governance. It also combines food distribution with a broader social mission, including support for social reintegration and inclusion through work.
Agricovert works closely with its sister non-profit, AgricoTiers, which develops the cooperative’s educational, social, and community-facing activities. Together, they aim to reconnect urban and rural communities and promote a more sustainable and responsible food system.
Core Values
- Fairness: Agricovert highlights fair remuneration for producers and accessible prices for consumers, with margins kept to what is needed for logistics and infrastructure.
- Transparency: The cooperative stresses traceability, clear sourcing, and direct relationships with producers so customers know where products come from and how they are made.
- Ecology: Its producers follow organic and environmentally respectful practices, with an emphasis on biodiversity, soil health, and low-impact farming.
- Solidarity and inclusion: Agricovert links food distribution with social usefulness, including reintegration opportunities and support for people in vulnerable situations.
- Collective governance: Decisions are taken democratically by producers, consumer-members, and workers, reflecting its cooperative identity.
Unique Aspects
- Producer-consumer cooperative model: Agricovert is built around shared governance between producers and consumer-members, rather than a conventional retailer-supplier relationship.
- Strong local network: The cooperative brings together around fifty nearby organic market gardeners, farmers, breeders, and processors from Brabant Walloon and Namur.
- Dual structure with AgricoTiers: Its sister non-profit adds a Tiers-Lieu, coworking, events, catering, and educational activities, extending the project beyond retail.
- Social inclusion mission: The cooperative explicitly integrates work-based reintegration and inclusion, including opportunities for people in precarious situations and young adults with disabilities.
- Recent expansion project: Agricovert is raising funds for its “Juste en face” project to acquire and renovate a building that would better serve producers and consumer-members.