InVivo and Avril join forces to ramp up the agricultural transformation in France

Soufflet Agriculture – InVivo Group, Lesieur and Saipol – Avril business units - concluded a trade agreement on July 8 this year for commercializing rapeseed and sunflower seed grown using regenerative farming practices. As of the 2024 harvest, this partnership will help supply part of the Lesieur brand's seed needs, as well as part of Saipol's low-carbon biofuel production needs.

This agreement, which sends a powerful signal throughout the chain from A to Z, embodies Avril and InVivo's joint ambitions to step up support for agricultural and food transitions.

An ambitious, groundbreaking experimental agreement from two flagship agri-food groups  

The multi-year rapeseed and sunflower sales contract, concluded between Lesieur, Saipol, and Soufflet Agriculture, covers the 2024 to 2027 harvest period. Multi-year contracts will also see Soufflet Agriculture working with partner farmers, who are committed to crop-rotation scale regenerative farming, to accompany them and provide them with guaranteed, prime opportunities.

From upstream to downstream, all the players in this commitment chain share the ambition, responsibilities, and promises of this wide-reaching agro-ecological initiative designed to explore a new model for promoting more sustainable agricultural sectors.

A new crop-rotation scale approach based on regenerative farming practices, promoting multi-sector opportunities

In addition to the pioneering farmers already committed, Soufflet Agriculture targets all farmers, by offering to accompany them in their transition to regenerative farming through InVivo Group's "Semons du Sens" (Let's Sow Sensibly) sustainable sector initiative. This initiative, which guarantees farmers multi-sector opportunities, promotes crops grown in partner farmer rotations (barley, wheat, legumes, oilseeds, protein crops, etc.) and, as such, ramps up agricultural and food transitions.

Crop complementarity helps ensure a better overall environmental footprint for farms. Placing the focus on opportunities for crop diversity in rotations supports farmers who are committed to a regenerative farming transition, by helping them re-imagine their production systems to preserve soil life and water resources, promote biodiversity and reduce crops' carbon footprint.

By providing farmers with technical and financial peace of mind for their crop rotation, Soufflet Agriculture delivers one-of-a-kind support and real value, based on the implementation of agri-ecological practices throughout the farm, driven by a sound, tried and tested frame of reference.

The Soufflet Agriculture, Saipol, and Lesieur alliance opens up the sector approach.

This novel approach now offers agri-food sector industrial players raw materials which, quality- and quantity-wise, meet their specific expectations as well as their sustainable production requirements.

This ambitious, groundbreaking project aims to bring together all industrial groups that wish to commit to speeding up agricultural and food transitions.

A one-of-a-kind initiative driven by committed players, promoting transitions

« Soufflet Agriculture has already been working for several years on developing regenerative farming through its pilot platforms and through technical and financial support for pioneering farmers in this field. We are committed to "Semons du Sens" (Let's Sow Sensibly), InVivo's sustainable sector initiative, linking upstream agriculture and downstream industry, to help stakeholders create economic and environmental value on wheat, malting barley and other crop opportunities. As such, we are proud of this new partnership with Avril. It marks the first milestone in our ambition to accompany farmers on their crop rotation scale by giving them access to multi-sector opportunities. We are convinced this is a real answer to agricultural and food transition challenges» states Christophe Passelande, CEO of Soufflet Agriculture.  

« Avril, driven by its purpose, Serving the Earth, fully supports this initiative, rolled out hand-in-hand with InVivo. With Lesieur and Saipol, we are embodying our commitment for sustainable, regenerative agriculture, made possible thanks to a vision that's shared by all players from upstream to downstream. Lesieur, with its French seed oils and its target for 100% regenerative farming supplies by 2030 and, Saipol, pioneer in low-carbon initiatives and in tracking down remunerative farming practices, fully illustrate our ambition, in conjunction with grain handling bodies and our customers, to  accompany French food and environmental transitions » declares Emmanuel Manichon, General Director of Avril Consumer Goods and Avril Oilseed Processing & Renewable Energy.