University Farms and Cetral (FERM)

Picture credit : Aurore Delsoir - Yvan Flamant - Cétral

The FERM platform consists of two entities:

the university farms at Corroy-le-Grand and Louvain-la-Neuve
Cétral - Transdisciplinary Centre for the Study of Food Changes and Food Transition

Technical and scientific expertise

Expertise in different agricultural sectors
Co-construction of experiments to validate innovative agricultural practices
Infrastructure, machinery and specialised skills to conduct field trials

Expertise in nutrition
Development of food products and comparison with competitor products
Analysis of the nutritional composition of foods
Expertise in
- legal requirements
- nutrition and health claims
Studies
- environmental impact
- digestibility
- oxidation of fats
Consumer acceptability

Main infrastructure

Two sites
- Alphonse de Marbaix Centre
- Lauzelle Farm
100 hectares of agricultural land, in conventional and organic farming
- Permanent grassland
- Fodder crops
- Sales crops (cereals, maize, beetroot, potatoes, etc.)
- Diversified organic market gardening
Livestock
- Limousin cow herd
- Sheep and other typical Walloon farm products

Get an overview of the university farms via a virtual tour.

Professional kitchen (in the university canteens)

Equipment for
- ageing tests
- preparation of raw materials, biscuit products and other recipes

Applications

Technical itineraries towards the reduction of pesticide use
Soil conservation and organic farming practices
Valorisation of agricultural products on the farm
Nutritional value and differentiation of products (with other partners such as the CICN Platform)
Adaptation of crops to climate change
Biodiversity in agriculture

Nutritional characterisation of a new ingredient (co-product of the oil or fruit industry, etc.) and integration into different food matrices
Improving the nutritional properties of a food (reducing salt, reducing sugar, increasing fibre, increasing omega-3s, etc.)
Developing local agricultural production and studying the link between agricultural practices and nutritional composition in partnership with university farms
Studying the health impact of an ingredient or food in partnership with the CICN
In vitro study of the digestibility of different foods
Improving the nutritional profile of an animal product (trout, eggs, etc.) based on the animal's diet

Services available to

UCLouvain students and researchers
Non-UCLouvain parties

Testimonial

March 2024 - Mrs Clotilde de Montpellier, founder of Farm for Good, a cooperative of Belgian farmers who have decided to work together on their transition toward organic and conservation agriculture, talks in a video about her collaboration with the university farms.

29 March 2024

Farm for Good, GSK, Isomatex and VOCSens : testimonials

Watch the video testimonials of Farm for Good about its collaboration with the Fermes universitaires, Isomatex about its collaboration with P2C, GSK about its collaboration with SMCS and VOCSens about its collaboration with WINFAB.
15 December 2023

FERM launches the Baillet Latour Prize for Innovation in market gardening 2024

For the fifth year, the Baillet Latour Prize for Innovation in Market Gardening will be awarded to an innovative project in sustainable vegetable production on a farm located in Wallonia or in Brussels Capital Region.