“Something unique to our model is that it wasn’t built on consumer insights, but in service to our farming partners”
In an exclusive interview, Jacinthe Brillet, General Manager at Les Prés Rient Bio, shares how the brand is transforming organic dairy with bold sustainability moves. As she prepares to close the “CSR” event at SIAL Paris, she hints at exciting changes ahead.
You are General Manager at the Les Près Rient Bio, the Organic company supported by Danone. Can you tell us more about it?
Our company has been commercializing Organic & Fair Trade yoghurts. It’s a local model anchored in Normandy which was inspired by the Stony Field Farm from the US – a pioneering business that believed that « changing the world can start from a small yoghurt ». For 18 years, we have been fighting along the side of Organic farmers in Normandy for advanced practices in sustainable farming and social justice. Through our popular brand Les 2 Vaches, we have significantly contributed to democratizing the Organic segment in mass market. And more lately as the Organic market seems to be recovering from its worst business challenge, we are proud to see Les 2 vaches come out an even stronger business leader, keeping true to its vocation of recruiter with stronger brand equity and renewed trust among both our clients & consumers.
How did you integrate societal responsibility into your strategy? And what CSR initiatives have you brought to life?
At core, the company was built on 3 pillars of sustainable food production: the Organic standards, the Fair trade certification, and micro-local milk production. By focusing on a specific region, we encourage the development of a close-knit ecosystem that fosters innovation and collective action, creating relevant solutions to tackle the multiple challenges of our farming partners. As a result, we draw a range of unprecedented benefits in favour of biodiversity, such as 50% more hedgerows per farm on average than typical farms, or close to 3 months yearly grazing for our cows above and beyond the organic standards.
Now there has been two singular phases in Les Prés Rient Bio impact strategy development.
In its infant and fast development phase in the early 2000’s, the company grew from a grassroots movement aimed at protecting organic farmers. At the time, organic products were often viewed as niche and somewhat unappealing. The brand Les 2 Vaches was designed precisely to debunk the organic offer from fear-based messaging around health risks and endangered nature using a playful, rebellious brand voice. While serious topics were clearly raised by the brand, it was also bringing joy and desirability to organic food. This was a time to provoke and raise awareness around all sustainability challenges and injustices lived by the organic farmers community. Our company was definitely embracing a posture of activist.
Fast forward to more recent times. In a world where lack of awareness towards climate change quickly turned into sustainability fatigue, we transitioned from rebellious trouble makers, happilly ruffling feathers in the food industry, to a more mature and intentional « pilot fish ». The growing urgency and complexity around societal challenges has led us to morph our activism into a more structured approach, with a metrics-driven impact strategy which takes shape through roadmaps, promoting rigour in our innovation approach. We are committed to tangible progress in biodiversity protection, climate action, and fair trade. With this posture we find a stronger lever as an advocate for innovative solutions to systemic problems.
Can you share some examples of innovations specific to your model?
On the fair trade front, our renewed impact strategy has led us to sign a milk contract in 2022 including unprecedented guarantees for farmers, with twice the French minimum wage secured through our milk price, after coverage of all production costs, regardless of climate or economic fluctuations. Our contract commits us to 5 years garanties. This pioneering initiative provides our partners with the financial stability needed to invest in sustainable farming practices.
On the climate front, Les Prés Rient Bio has set an ambitious goal of reducing its carbon emissions by 30% by 2030, relying as much as possible on natural methods such as expanding hedgerows, enhancing pastures, and optimizing the natural feed for cows to reduce methane emissions.
The company’s forward-thinking approach has earned it the highest B Corp score among food companies in France, a status it successfully renewed in 2023.
Looking ahead, we will continue to push for solutions to the gigantic problems endured by agriculture, in ways that keep us true to our original mission: develop Organic while keeping anxieties at bay through actions that shape tangible reasons to hope for a bright future.
How do you work with farmers to guarantee these sustainable practices and also guarantee the Organic quality of your products? How do you work together?
Something unique to our model is that it wasn’t built on consumer insights, but in service to our farming partners. This is the opposite logic to most successful commercial operations, and that is why it promotes a rather singular relationship. I would split our win-win interactions into four different dimensions, from formal agreements to deeply personal relationships.
At the first level, our fair trade conditions enforce a strict framework that exceeds the standards of the Organic certification. This includes additional practices like more farm-grown feed and extended grazing days for cows, as well as stricter animal welfare standards.
The second level is more dynamic and informal. Many of our farmers voluntarily go beyond these standards, implementing additional sustainable practices. This shows that they are not just suppliers but true partners, committed to pushing the boundaries of organic farming and taking ownership of the project.
At the third level, we put a lot of emphasize in building trust and respect for the expertise of our farmers. We view each of them as an expert and entrepreneur, free to make decisions based on the unique challenges and opportunities of their operation. Rather than impose solutions, we embark and collaborate to test or implement new ideas, especially towards the reduction of methane emissions of our herds.
Finally, our relationship is rooted in proximity and solidarity. Our farmers are located within 50 km of our dairy, allowing us to create face-to-face interactions, strengthening our partnership and creating a dynamic environment for innovation and mutual support.
And when our consumers tell us about how much they love our products, or when we see our encouraging business results after the structural business challenge that the Organic market went through, we know those efforts are paying off, both from a societal and economical standpoint.
You still be closing “CSR” at SIAL Paris, what do you expect from the SIAL this year?
Beyond sharing ideas on how to merely reduce harm – such as cutting plastic use and lowering carbon footprints – my hope is that we are all inspired to radically rethink our business models, so they generate economic value through the positive impact they create. I believe we need models powered at their core by contributions to both nature and society. Every consumer choice should contribute to a better planet and a better society, rather than just lessening existing harm. This shift is crucial to leap beyond traditional CSR practices and put economy at the service of nature and social justice.
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