Policy of Quality & Social Responsibilities
Quality policy and social & environmental commitment
Organic Farming, the pillar of our commitment
Organic Farming is an alternative agricultural system that involves best environmental practices, respect for biodiversity and preservation of natural resources, as defined by stringent specifications. For field crops, this mode of production prohibits the use of chemical fertilisers, GMO seeds or chemical pesticides.
Managing quality to satisfy customers’ demands
Created in 2003, our Quality Department is responsible for implementing the Analytical Monitoring Plan, as well as enforcing the ISO 9001 standard and the HACCP plan. Grain is controlled, analysed and traced all along the production and supply chain from the field to the customer.
Every year, the whole staff on every site is trained on storage and preservation procedures for human foodstuff and animal feed, as well as on applicable regulations, sanitary practices and quality control.
Social & Environmental Responsibility to improve our practices
AGRIBIO UNION has gradually committed to an approach of Social and Environmental Responsibility (SER).
The co-operative and the values it upholds, such as organic farming and desire to improve producers pratices and storage operations , are the driving forces for the sustainable development for AGRIBIO UNION.
A commitment reflected by several labels and certifications:
Our fair-trade commitments:
Agribio Union is a major player in Organic agriculture since nearly 35 years. Over the last decade, Agribio Union has been developing in ethical and responsible sectors, through French and/or international fair-trade labels such as, Biopartenaire and more recently AgriEthique.
We are members of the Biopartenaire association since 2014 and we already manage 3 supply chains with this certification:
• SOYBEANS supply chain
• PULSES supply chain
• MILLING WHEAT supply chain
And soon Flaxseeds, Sunflower seeds, Rapeseeds…
BIOPARTENAIRE® label guarantees organic farming and fair-trade practices. It guarantees both producers and cooperatives, long-term partnerships through a remunerative price and regular volumes over several years contracts. Counterparties are committing for organic, sustainable, equitable and responsible supply chains.
More information is available at www.biopartenaire.com
We are also a member of the AgriEthique association since 2020 and engaged in MILLINNG WHEAT AND RYE supply chains.
AGRIETHIQUE, is the first French fair-trade label, which guarantees French farmers: a fair and sustainable income, the employment preservation in our regions and it does supports responsible, social, and environmental best practices.
Additional information can be found at www.agriethique.fr
Production Management and Traceability
Our focus: production monitoring and quality management
Managing production from the field to the silo
Every year, AGRIBIO UNION updates its production plan and sets up its 40 types of crops over its entire territory.
The purpose is both to limit climate-related risks and to offer crop diversity adapted to the characteristics of each farm.
Identity Preserved grains
Identity Preserved crops are made up of all our productions that are contractually bound to customers within specific partnerships and for specific purposes.
An AGRIBIO UNION operator is dedicated for co-ordinating the implementation of these productions on farm, and maintaining the traceability of produce and the technical follow-up of land plots in relation to customer specifications.
Watch this video of an interview with Frédéric LEPAGE, Facility Manager at BARCELONNE-DU-GERS (32)
Innovating techniques for 100% organic storage facilities
Efficient
sorting
Innovating
equipment
Cold
storage
Thermal
insulation
Pest control / Deep freezing
Efficient sorting with appropriate cleaning facilities (rotating & flat cleaner-separators, optic sorter, densimetric table [gravity separator], stone remover, alveolar sorter)
Innovating equipment limiting grain breakage
Multiple usage sites for better operational flexibility
Managing products types mixing – gluten-free production
Thermal insulation of storage cells and implementation of refrigeration units
Thermal pest control / Deep freezing
Drying at low-temperature to preserve the quality of certain types of produce
Map showing locations of facilities
Specialised Technical Support
A service dedicated to providing agronomic expertise to producers
In total, a staff of 11 field advisors support producers daily
Implementing productions with systematic crop rotations
Advice on organic farming compliant input referenced by AGRIBIO UNION
Individual and specific technical follow-up for organic field crops operations
Working out appropriate technical process
On average, 5 visits per year per producer, for a total of almost 5,000 visits per year
Contracts signed upstream, and follow-up of supply-chain specifications
Innovation & Development
Innovations to reinforce technical support
Experimentation and implementation of new varieties
Testing and adapting new crops
Testing new equipment (tillage, mechanical weeding, etc.)
Analysing the efficiency of organic fertilisation
Building a network of 30 pilot farms to collect and assess technical and economical references for organic field-crop systems since 2011
New
varieties
New
crops
New
equipment
Evaluation
of inputs
