Sustainable food: 3 questions for Cyril Melin, Investment Director at Sofiprotéol

Cyril Melin is Investment Director at Sofiprotéol, the subsidiary and investment fund of Avril. In this interview, he explains the positive impact of each operation on contributing to sustainable food, in particular through the example of the development of a soya sector in France  

How do you define sustainable food and how do you contribute to it? 
Sustainable food is, above all, local. Sofiprotéol invests in more than 80 partner companies that roll out solutions for French food production, which we also call “La Ferme France”. For example, we invest in the development of organic farming in France to reduce imports of organic raw materials.  

Sustainable food is also quality food that respects the environment and the health of consumers. Finally, sustainable food must be accepted and acceptable to the citizen. 

We see our challenge as twofold. Firstly, the consumer must have access to quality products at reasonable prices. Secondly, it’s necessary that farmers and agri-food companies are paid their fair value. It’s the reconciliation of these two objectives that allows us to participate fully in the agriculture, food and environment’s transitions.  

Sofiprotéol is particularly involved in the development of a French soya protein production sector: can you tell us more?  

Soya proteins are mainly used as animal feed, especially for poultry and cattle. They are mainly imported. To reduce our dependence, in addition to the national availability of rapeseed and sunflower oilseed meal in particular, it’s necessary to produce local soya. This presents several advantages: in addition to being made in France, it is guaranteed non-GMO and deforestation-free.  

To meet this challenge, Sofiprotéol has contributed to the capital of several crushing plants in France, such as Extrusel in Burgundy, Sojalim in the south-west and Oleosyn Bio in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Created by Avril and Terrena, a French agricultural and agri-food cooperative, its objective is to produce, from organic oilseeds: on the one hand, 100% French organic sunflower and soya oils, and, on the other hand, organic plant proteins to feed the animal sectors.  

Oleosyn Bio is now organized around a crushing plant with a capacity of 40,000 metric tons, located in the Deux-Sèvres region of France, in the heart of a major sunflower seed production basin and in the immediate vicinity of livestock breeding areas. 

This initiative makes it possible to develop sustainable industries that offer local outlets for organic oilseed producers (rapeseed, sunflower, soya) while contributing to the structuring of the organic oil and protein industry in France.  

This funding has contributed to meeting the need for French soya proteins with significant production volumes. And it has done so at reasonable costs, made possible by the pooling of industrial equipment among several partners.  

How do you connect your activities to Avril’s purpose, “Serving the Earth”? 

“Serving the Earth” is very inspiring. All our actions aim to feed people while respecting the planet. This is reflected in the positive impact of our investments, the development of local industries and virtuous agriculture. I personally manage a farm. Within Avril as well as in my fields, “Serving the Earth” takes on its full meaning every day.