Terralim was founded by Gilles Maréchal. He always coupled his professional work with volunteering within international solidarity NGOs. He also gained experience as an elected representative in a City Council and as a member of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council of Brittany. Since the 80s, Gilles Maréchal has worked on local food systems and short food chains. He was one of the architects of the renewed interest for short food chains in Brazil and in France. He co-ordinated the first book in French on short food chains. Meanwhile, he designed and managed several co-operation projects supported by EU programmes (Interreg, Erasmus, FP7, ERDF, EAFRD, ESF). He directly managed part of the ESF budget targeted towards inclusion projects at local level on behalf of the French State.