Sustainable development

Euralis is one of the largest employers in south-west France. Its role as a co-operative puts the emphasis on its social and regional approach. It is investing in eco-friendly and conservation-aware development and gradually building towards a full position of sustainable development. Across the whole Group, priority areas for development have been identified for our agricultural and food industry activities.

The following major labour and environmental initiatives have been implemented over the last few years:

•  Labour initiatives: integration of seasonal workers, integration of disabled workers, profit sharing, training plans, the company's Prisme scheme, improving employer/employee dialogue, contractualisation.
• Environmental initiatives: compliance with good agricultural standards, reducing the environmental impact of its activities, a commitment to responsible production, re-using waste, plant protection products waste collection, protecting water quality.

 

LABOUR INITIATIVES

Integration of seasonal workers

From October to December every year, 550 seasonal operators join the Euralis Gastronomie facility at Maubourguet (65) to help us deal with the peak period of demand for foie gras during the Christmas holidays. A partnership agreement was concluded with the state employment agency NAPE to facilitate the recruitment of jobseekers with no formal qualifications. Information sessions were organised in town halls and at ANPE offices by the Group's HR managers. To resolve transport problems, a shuttle bus service was provided throughout the period from Tarbes and Lourdes. Finally, particular attention was paid to the quality of the induction, integration and training of these new arrivals.

Integration of disabled workers

Enabling disabled people to access work is a priority for the Euralis Group. In 2006, an agreement was signed to facilitate the integration of disabled people. The Group has been working closely for some years with specialist employment agencies. Euralis has set itself the objective of increasing the number of disabled people it employs from 4.7% to 6% by 2010.

Salaries

The Group is in regular negotiations with its social partners on the putting in place of a profit-sharing scheme, creating a closer link for employees with the company's performance. In 2008, most employees received the equivalent of one month's salary. As the Group develops, it will be negotiating more and more profit-sharing schemes.

Annual training plans developed from annual appraisal interviews

To enable every employee to take full charge of his or her career, training plans are developed which reflect both the needs of the company and the ambitions of its workers. The appraisal interview is the forum at which the employee and his/her line manager together define the relevant themes and priorities.

Prisme

In place since the year 2000, the PRISME (Performance, Results, Involvement, Sense, Management, Euralis) scheme is aimed at the Group's managers. Its objective: to develop their management skills to improve their communication with their teams. More than 250 managers have benefited from this training scheme since its inception.

Improving employer/employee dialogue

The Group is committed to providing its employee representatives with the clearest and most relevant information it can. In this context, most managers responsible for operational units are involved in employer/employee dialogue. They regularly contribute to the various works councils, explain the strategies they are implementing and answer questions directly.

Contractualisation

Euralis Semences first initiated contractualisation with its seed producing farmers in the 1950s. The advantage of this approach: it defines the relationship between the co-operative and its members in the long-term and guarantees a stable income for its producers. In addition, Euralis Semences assists with the work of production and harvesting: monitoring by the Group's technicians, provision of equipment, sharing of good industrial, social and agricultural practice.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES

Compliance with good agricultural practice

Each member is supported by a technician from the Group specialising in the sector.

His/her role:

• Advising
• Monitoring compliance with legislation and specifications
• Providing technical and health monitoring of plants and animals
• Supporting farmers in implementing the new CAP

Information sessions are organised to help members to implement or improve their agricultural practices:

• Vegetables: irrigation practice,
• Poultry: compliance with the Farm Health Plan for poultry,
• Cereals: Nitrates Directive

 

 

Charters and certifications

In addition, each sector is governed by Charters and/or Certifications:

• Vegetables: a supply charter sets the criteria for selecting agricultural land and cropping programmes
• Maize: the SW France Quality Charter guarantees traceability from seed production, growing, harvest and transport through to final storage
• Seeds: Agri Confidence Seeds Certification certifies "the quality and environmental management of agricultural production ";
• Vines: Certivigne certification guarantees production methods.

 

Hemp: eco-friendly cultivation and biomaterials

The Euralis Group began its hemp-growing project in association with Coopéval, the Toulouse co-operative which joined it in 2007. An excellent break crop, improving soil structure, hemp is disease resistant, needs no pesticides and very little nitrogen fertiliser, has a low water requirement and is used in the manufacture of a number of biomaterials. The Group moved on to a second level in June 2008 with the opening of a primary processing plant, Agrofibre. Located at Cazères (31), this plant is the only one of its kind in southern France. 

Biofuels, a renewable energy

The Group is also an active supporter of the biofuels plant at Lacq: some of the maize collected from our members is used to supply the production plant. In partnership with Abengoa Bioenergy France, the Lacq site is supplied with maize by OCEOL, a company comprising the largest maize companies in the Aquitaine and Midi-Pyrénées regions (including Euralis, Maïsadour, Vivadour, Lur Berri…).

Re-using agricultural waste

The Euralis Group is also involved in the Biogasyl project launched in late 2008 by Gaby Bonnin. This methanisation plant opened at the Euralis Group Vendée foie gras production facility at Les Herbiers. Each year the plant will enable 20,000 m3 of waste, slurry and sludge to be converted into electricity. Some of the energy produced will heat the abattoir's hot water. The remainder, some 6,000 kilowatts a day – enough to supply 500 homes for a year – will be sold to EDF.

Collecting plant protection product waste

For more than five years, Euralis has been an active participant in the collections organised by Adivalor in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, Landes, Hautes-Pyrénées, Gers and Gironde Departments. Objective: to offer its members safe and environmental solutions for disposing of plant protection product waste. Result: collection rates for empty rigid plastic plant protection product containers increased from 9% in 2002 to 26% in 2007 from the cereals sector and by over 50% from vineyards. Collections of unusable plant protection products, which Euralis has supported since 1999, have enabled the safe disposal of over 800 tonnes of old plant protection products. The Group is now opening its collection service to big bags and fertiliser bags.

Protecting water quality

 While irrigation is needed for crops grown by Euralis, the Group is combating over-consumption and pollution by:

•  fitting all irrigators with a meter
• carrying out water audits to adjust use as closely as possible to the needs of the crop
• promoting audits. In 2008, the Group signed a number of partnership agreements designed to promote good practice amongst its members in the use of plant protection products and nitrogen fertilisers: the Agriculture Environment convention with the Landes Chamber of Agriculture, the Water Quality Plan in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the initiative by the Committee to combat diffuse pollution in Hautes-Pyrénées.
  

 

Optivigne, towards eco-friendly winegrowing

Optivigne is a monitoring programme for winegrowers which offers them tools and personalised advice to assist with eco-friendly winegrowing. Each plot designated by the winegrower is monitored by a technician who helps him to optimise his plant protection programme whilst reducing the number of treatments required.