In 1988, Luxembourg’s first organic farmers and gardeners joined forces with responsible consumers to form the Cooperative Association of Luxembourg’s Organic Farmers : Bio-Bauere-Genossenschaft Lëtzebuerg (BIOG) which later became the nucleus of the OIKOPOLIS group. As a matter of fact, the cooperative gave rise to a whole network of organic marketing initiatives which emerged either from BIOG itself or in its environment. The focus has always been to promote and support organic and biodynamic farming by creating and making use of new processing methods and marketing opportunities.
Today OIKOPOLIS is a group of companies (with BIOG, BIOGROS and NATURATA as the core businesses) that brings together all the different actors of the value chain from farmer to consumer under the name of OIKOPOLIS. We strive for an associative economic culture.
This networking reflects the approach of the founders, who wished to act in an associative way, that is by creating associations or mergers at various levels in the value creation chain, even if these levels do not coexist directly, for example wholesale and retail. Communication plays an essential role in this concept. In contrast with the limitations of the conventional economy, in the associative economy communication is not confined to bilateral negotiations, for example between the producer and the processor, or to ad hoc contacts, for example between the salesperson in store and the end customer. On the contrary, it brings together all the partners in the value creation chain and invites open exchange between them, from the producer to the consumer, who becomes a responsible user thanks to the transparency that prevails within this circle.
OIKOPOLIS is the pioneer in Luxembourg with its first Common Good Balance Sheet in 2014. It played a major role in the creation of the network and the dissemination of the vision for an economy for the common good.