- Agricultural production
- Workforce
- Quality and nutrition
- Natural resources
- Transport
- GMOs
- The supply charter
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Working for sustainable agricultural production.
In order to provide consumers with the healthiest vegetables while preserving the environment, Bonduelle has resolutely chosen to follow the sustainable agriculture path.
To help achieve this goal, the Group has entered into various partnerships in order to reduce the use of pesticides and other agrochemicals and to promote environmentally responsible agronomic solutions.
As the global leader in processed vegetables, more than any other market player Bonduelle has an obligation to promote socially responsible agriculture, complying with both social and regulatory requirements. The technical recommendation forms the Group provided to its farming partners in 2008-09 are entirely coherent with this policy, encouraging farmers to use as few agrochemicals
as possible and inciting them to use tested and environmentally responsible agricultural methods.
Two solutions employed to reduce the use of herbicides are the false seedbed technique (weeds are allowed to grow and then destroyed upon germination) and the use of automated hoeing machines.
Eight pilot farms
In addition to these recommendations, in 2008-09 Bonduelle initiated a group of pilot farms. The project, which is supported by the Chamber of Agriculture of the Picardie Region, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) and Agro-Transfert (an entity that serves as intermediary between the research and agricultural development worlds), seeks to promote use of the integrated production model. Eight farms in the Picardie region of France are participating in this five-year program, during which time the operators will implement and test an assortment of agricultural techniques designed to control the threat to crops posed by the appearance of biological pests. Ultimately, the system should enable the most convincing solutions to be extended to other farming operations.
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Promoting risk analysis
In order to provide the best possible analysis of potential risks and reduce the use of agrochemicals, in 2008-09 Bonduelle also intensified the setting up of a network for the monitoring of crop pests. The traps perfected by the research scientists of the INRA are placed in fields and use pheromones to attract and capture insects. By studying the biological characteristics of the pests caught, the farmers can arrange for the most effective selective treatments, thereby avoiding the systematic spraying of crops.