[Press Release] Meet VIVESCIA and its partners from the TRANSITIONS programme at the Paris International Agricultural Show

Three highlights :

• 11:30 AM: Launch of the research chair on “Resilient farms that combat climate change and protect biodiversity” with UniLaSalle

With the presence of Christoph Büren, President of VIVESCIA Group; Philippe Choquet, Managing Director of UniLaSalle; and Christian Huyghe, Scientific Director for Agriculture at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRAE). A scientific collaboration with INRAE, this research chair is in line with the aims of TRANSITIONS, a pioneering programme launched in September 2023 and led by VIVESCIA and its partners to provide tangible support for farmers in North-East France.

• 12:30 PM: Roundtable and debate on TRANSITIONS: “A win-win collaboration between upstream and downstream partners to develop a model for regenerative agriculture that fights climate change and promotes soil health and biodiversity”

With the programme’s partners: Christophe Beaunoir, Managing Director of Saipol (Avril Group); Pierre Garcia, Managing Director of Francine and Grands Moulins de Paris; Xavier Galliot, CSR Director of Roquette; Olivier Hantz, CSR Director of Tereos; Olivier Hautin, Managing Director of Malteurop, Bastien Sachet, CEO of Earthworm.

With insight from Dominique Anract, President of the French Confederation of bakers (CNBBPF); Christoph Büren, President of VIVESCIA Group; Hervé Le Faou, Chief Procurement Officer of Heineken.

With statements from VIVESCIA farmers and employees: Mickael Portevin, Cooperative member from the Marne department; Armand Gandon, Low-carbon expert and programme manager; Valérie Frapier, Group CSR Director and director of the TRANSITIONS programme. Roundtable moderated by Mathieu La Fay (Com’Publics).

• 2 PM: TRANSITIONS, winner of the France 2030 call for projects.

VIVESCIA and its partners will welcome Bruno Bonnell, Secretary General for Investment in charge of the France 2030 plan, for a public discussion to celebrate the officialization of TRANSITIONS as winner of the “food resilience and capacity 2023” call for projects.

About the TRANSITIONS Programme :

Faced with climate change and the challenges of feeding future populations, as well as the need to meet the expectations of our markets, consumers and citizens, VIVESCIA and its partners decided to shake things up with TRANSITIONS, the first large-scale programme of its kind in France.
TRANSITIONS is a collective effort that brings together upstream and downstream plant and grain industries in a programme that is ambitious and innovative in terms of both its agronomic approach and financing model. The aim is, by 2026, to help nearly 1,000 farmers in North-East France transition to regenerative, productive farming methods that promote soil health and biodiversity to protect the planet and combat climate change. 200 VIVESCIA cooperative members have committed to the project for three years, starting with the 2024 harvest.

A programme with impact on soil, carbon and biodiversity – Farming practices will have to adapt to ensure the soil is resilient and capable of storing more carbon, so that our fields produce as little as greenhouse gas as possible, and our farms remain profitable and sustainable. The TRANSITIONS programme aims to mitigate risk for farmers who adopt new practices by ensuring they maintain their yields; it is also about scaling-up these practices and developing a shared language across the industry. On decarbonisation, TRANSITIONS aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2023.

A programme that brings together upstream and downstream members of plant and grain industries, because only a collective solution will enable us to share the cost of the successful, large-scale transition of agricultural and food systems.
Roquette, Tereos, Avril and its subsidiary Saipol, and more recently Etea Sedamyl, have decided to join TRANSITIONS alongside VIVESCIA Industries’ companies and brands – Grands Moulins de Paris, Francine, Campaillette, Malteurop, Délifrance, and Kalizea — to meet the 2030 climate targets (SBTi, SNBC¹) and secure our supply chains in the face of climate change and the threat to biodiversity.

¹ SBTi: Created following the Paris Agreement, and a product of a collaboration between several institutions around the world, including the UN, the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTI) is now the benchmark in terms of companies’ carbon trajectories: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/ - SNBC: The French national low-carbon strategy, currently under revision.

A programme that is innovative in terms of its agronomic approach, its business model, and the support it provides to farmers, TRANSITIONS starts with 200 cooperative farmers for the 2024 harvest

A SOLID, SYSTEMIC AGRONOMIC FOUNDATION 

TRANSITIONS is above all about progress, it’s not just an nth quality label…It was designed to work at the level of the farm and its crop rotation. It has robust technical agronomic foundations based on standards that are recognised by the authorities. It is destined to change in line with the regulations and to reflect the latest scientific evidence. It is based on performance indicators. Farmers sign up for a three-year period and undertake to use an array of methods (cover crops, new forms of nitrogen, crop rotation, etc.) to improve various agronomic indicators and achieve predefined environmental results in terms of GHG emissions, soil resilience, carbon sequestration and the protection of biodiversity. They remain free to choose their farming practices based on their local soil conditions and entrepreneurial project.

A MODEL THAT IS SUPPORTED BY ITS DOWNSTREAM CUSTOMERS AND PARTNERS

THE ENTIRE PLANT AND GRAIN VALUE CHAIN IS INVOLVED: The TRANSITIONS model — which involves training, bonuses for farmers, digital tools, data, and programme management — is based on sharing the cost of the ecological transition between the farmers’ downstream customers.

SIGNIFICANT FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR FARMERS

Each farmer will enjoy significant financial support, which exceeds the additional costs of the agronomic methods adopted. Because their efforts must be rewarded.
This support comes in the form of a premium per tonne of grain, depending on the crops concerned and the progress made: on average €100 per hectare per year for level I (start) and €150 for level II (performance).

CUTOMISED SUPPORT: ONE OF THE KEYS TO THE PROJECT’S SUCCESS

The support and training for farmers involved relies on expert teams on the ground: around 30 trained, expert VIVESCIA sales representatives have volunteered, backed up by agronomic experts. The individual and collective support focuses on agronomic advice and the development of an individual action plan to help the farmers improve on targeted indicators, as well as the traceability of farming practices — which is essential for providing robust information to our customers.

ROBUST DATA AND DIGITALISATION: THE CORNERSTONE OF THE TRANSITIONS PROGRAMME

VIVESCIA Cooperative’s farmers, with the support of the companies of VIVESCIA Industries, would like to thank all its financial, institutional and technical partners who have chosen to join the TRANSITIONS programme. 

Watch interviews with our farmers, customers and institutional and technical partners, and download the TRANSITIONS press kit on vivescia.com