For over 10 years, Rémy Martin has been working to create a pioneering model in its fields in order to develop responsible farming practices. In 2007, the Domaines were certified Agriculture Raisonnée1. In 2012, they were among the very first in France to obtain the High Environmental Value (HVE) certification.
Since 2014, the House and the Alliance Fine Champagne cooperative have aimed to increase interprofessional momentum towards environmentally friendly practices, through the HVE certification.
Our aim is to gradually mobilise the members of the Alliance Fine Champagne cooperative towards environmental excellence:
In 2020: 100% of members will be involved in the HVE approach.
In 2022: at least 50% of members will be HVE level 3 certified.
In order to encourage good practices on a wider scale, Domaines Rémy Martin are members, since 2011, of the Ecophyto network, a national initiative led by the Ministry of Agriculture, and of the DEPHY2 farm network.
“This pioneering approach is based on a logic of shared efforts to strive for environmental excellence”
In 2007, the House of Rémy Martin and the Alliance Fine Champagne (AFC) cooperative set up training sessions in order to answer winegrowers' questions.
Since 2014, Rémy Martin and the AFC, in partnership with the Chambers of Agriculture, have set up a training program in two stages leading to obtaining the Environmental Certification of Agricultural Holdings, supervised by the Ministry for Agriculture and Food.
The first stage of training is a collective approach. It enables the cooperative's members to obtain the RVD* certificate of conformity and the Level 1 Environmental Certification. Winegrowers can then individually continue towards the Level 3 or High Environmental Value (HVE) certification awarded by an independent certification body.
The majority of AFC member farms are involved in the Level 1 or 3 environmental certification process. Within 4 years, all delivery members will be HVE certified.
“What matters is that our partners take ownership of this certification”
The High Environmental Value Agriculture certification (HVE) is a public initiative which identifies and promotes farms which use environmentally-friendly practices. It is designed according to a gradual certification process in three levels, the highest of which is qualified as High Environmental Value (HVE). The HVE is based on environmental performance indicators, which apply to the whole farm.
This certification attests to the preservation of biodiversity elements (hedges, grass strips, trees, flowers, insects) for example, but also to the controlled pressure of agricultural practices on the environment (air, climate, water, soil).
To pursue environmental excellence, Rémy Martin naturally chose the rewarding HVE certification. It unites the profession around common standards and promotes this environmental progress initiative to consumers, thanks to a logo that can be affixed on raw and processed products (minimum 95% of raw materials produced by HVE farms).
“Certification calls into question Man's practices and aims to promote a balance”
The High Environmental Value certification includes a comprehensive reflection on the cultivation of the vine. In a continuous improvement process, the aim is to encourage winegrowers to reflect on their practices and to promote alternative methods.
In terms of biodiversity, HVE certification enables the pooling of savoir-faire and the preservation of natural balances. The Chambers of Agriculture and the House of Rémy Martin also help winegrowers to develop agro-ecological practices on their farms: planting old varieties of fruit trees, flower fallows or hedges acting as insect reservoirs and protecting crops. Bee fallows encourage, in particular, the cultivation of green manures to encourage a floral recovery from the beginning of spring, which is necessary to restart bee activity.
“We have everything to gain from environmental certification, both individually and collectively”
The HVE certification is one of the conditions for the durability of the Cognac activity. It is part of an overall approach of progress and promotion of the terroir and its products. The House of Rémy Martin supports individual and collective winegrowers throughout the environmental certification process. The training courses enable the cooperative's members to identify the strong points and areas for improvement of their farms, to give full meaning to the efforts made in terms of the environment and to obtain advice on the administrative procedures linked to the process.
The cost of the investments is paid off by transferring curative expenses to preventive expenditure for the vineyard. In the long term, the benefits of certification materialize in a better knowledge of the vineyard. In the practice of the profession, the HVE approach requires winegrowers to be precise and to take into account the overall environment of the vine: weather conditions, topography of the ground, humidity and hydrography. These analyses are facilitated by the existence of increasingly reliable decision support tools.
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