This is perhaps one of the ways to respond to the agricultural malaise. For 20 years, the Bleu-Blanc-Coeur association has succeeded in satisfying farmers, distributors and consumers. The good practices it promotes make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions and improve health without suffocating producers. By what miracle? Pierre Weill, founder of the association, explains his method.
Bleu-Blanc-Coeur today brings together 7,000 farmers and 30,000 consumers. She achieves the feat of fighting for the environment without endangering farmers financially. How did you achieve this feat?
We’ve been working on it for 20 years! The growth of our association shows that there are ways out of the current crisis. When engaging with us, farmers must respect a certain number of rules, which we established with them: ban on the use of palm oil to feed livestock, progressive limitation on imported soybean meal for the benefit of legumes grown in the territory requiring few phytosanitary products, etc. The additional cost must not exceed 5% of turnover. This is the limit we set for ourselves. This may seem like a lot. In reality, the consumer can absorb this surplus, which makes it possible to consolidate good practices. To better understand, I will give you an example: if a farm produces 100,000 eggs per year and it produces super quality eggs, it will perhaps only sell 10,000 eggs due to a price that is much too high. It will therefore find itself with unsold stocks and additional logistics costs. Conversely, if the additional cost and price remain measured, all the eggs will be sold, which will allow the producer to be properly remunerated. This is the model we are trying to put into practice. Without accessibility, no impact!
Bleu-Blanc-Coeur also uses science to verify its effectiveness. For what ?
Because we need a compass, a clear direction, that science can give us. We have carried out seven clinical studies and implemented something that does not exist elsewhere: an obligation of results for the farmers who are part of the association. Three times a month, for example, our producers’ milk is analyzed by an interprofessional laboratory. We receive the results and we check their compliance with the Bleu-Blanc-Coeur standards: maximum saturated fatty acids, minimum omega 3, etc. Scientific studies also allow us to show that a Bleu-Blanc-Coeur chicken generates 1.94 kilos of CO2 per kilo, compared to 2.57 kilos for poultry from conventional farming.
All this measuring and verification work is vital. If we want a health benefit, it must be measurable. Today, when I read the fatty acid profile of milk, I know what the cow ate, what the farmer did, whether it will be good or not. We have also developed the same type of tool for tomatoes. A producer can no longer cheat. And above all, there is no longer any need to multiply standards, or pile up prohibitions to have a good product. Just analyze them! The exact opposite of what is happening today since farmers are bowing under administrative constraints and injunctions from Brussels.
Who funds your scientific work and where can you find your products?
Not all distributors play the game. Some still communicate on the 1% of their premium products in short circuits, while offering a hellishly low cost on the rest. Others, however, welcome our products. At Super U, the fourth French distributor, all eggs, chickens, pork and milk are stamped Bleu-Blanc-Coeur. For our research, we benefit from significant funding from the State. But paradoxically, this restricts us in our communication. We do not have the right to publish on our website the results of our clinical studies, although published in the scientific press. We tick all the boxes: better protein autonomy, benefits for the climate, decent income for producers, better public health… And all of this has been precisely measured. Last year we managed to increase our sales by 14% in the first half of the year. Our reputation therefore continues to grow. However, the day we can truly communicate our scientific results, we will move up a gear. In any case, that’s my hope. Even if the situation is difficult, it is still possible to find solutions!
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