Eco-grazing: Sheep in the City—Activities and Awareness-Raising on Agriculture and Ecology

LES MOUTONS MARSEILLAIS is a mobile urban sheep farm based in Marseille since 2022. With its flock of 17 ewes, the organization offers eco-grazing and educational activities. It promotes and encourages a reconnection with nature and works to preserve biodiversity.

Les Moutons Marseillais carried out their first urban transhumance in the 11th arrondissement, accompanied by the Germ association, which works to explore the role of nature in the city.

Their names are Blanquette, Ezmeralda, Elizabeth… about a dozen ewes roamed the streets and paths of the Valentine neighborhood on Wednesday, October 19. The Germ association (Integrated Solutions for Ecological Management and Environmental Restoration) joined forces with Les Moutons Marseillais to organize a militant urban transhumance, just a few hundred meters from one of Marseille’s largest commercial districts.

A group of about thirty local residents, members, and friends of the associations followed this route from the La Denise brownfield site to the Grain de la Vallée third place, passing through the Buzine crossing and the Reynarde hill.

The goal of this collective of urban planners, ecologists, and naturalists from Marseille: to question the place of nature in urban environments. “This transhumance is a call for effective green transportation, urban walking, and the place of animals, biodiversity, and nature in the city,” the association states.

Under the amused gaze of motorists and passersby, the flock of Merino sheep is led by shepherd Arthur Aude, founder of the Moutons Marseillais association. “Germ and I were thinking about better ways to manage green spaces in the city, and grazing came up,” explains Aude, who completed his final internship as a horticultural engineering student at the Germ association. “I saw that it was being done in other major cities like the Paris region or Lyon, and I thought to myself, ‘Why not try it in Marseille?’”

Indeed, “if done right, grazing helps regulate plant populations in meadows and increases the number of species that can thrive there. Wildlife and insects follow suit.” According to him, these urban brownfield sites have “real potential.”

Eventually, Arthur Aude hopes to expand his herd to about fifty head, which he is currently raising on private land in this part of the city. In addition to maintaining green spaces and meadows, he plans to offer educational activities and raise environmental awareness. And why not, once the herd is large enough, produce “made in Marseille” wool.