Cristal Union announces the launch of Cristal Vision Empreinte Zéro, the only comprehensive, tangible, measurable and certified sustainability approach that empowers 100% of its member farmers to protect soils and decarbonise their production!

With Cristal Vision Empreinte Zéro, Cristal Union’s 9,000 member farmers are supported in their decarbonisation process from start to finish.

This unique and global approach to sustainability is an extension of Cristal Vision, the first agricultural reference system created in 2015 by Cristal Union. It meets the most demanding standards in terms of sustainability (Sustainable Agriculture Initiative, agroecology) and is third-party certified.

Cristal Vision, an ambitious and evolving reference system, has already fulfilled its mission: Nine hundred Cristal Union cooperative members have been able to generate a simplified carbon footprint report of their farms and have already started to engage in agroecology. The cooperative has also set itself an ambitious decarbonisation trajectory which has been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) !

Building on this solid reference system, the result of ten years of experience, Cristal Union is now able to go much further.  By becoming Cristal Vision Empreinte Zéro, the Cristal Union reference system is taking a real leap forward when it comes to agricultural decarbonisation!

An innnovative tool for the decarbonisation of sugar beet crops

Cristal Union has partnered with MyEasyFarm to create an innovative digital tool to assess the carbon footprint of its 9,000 cooperative members and guide them in their improvement process.

It is a simple tool to use and every Cristal Union member farmer has access to it:

• Twenty minutes are all that is needed to enter their agricultural practices in the tool: type of crops, areas, yield and type of tillage, amount of mineral and organic fertilizers, type of soil cover, amount of biomass produced, results of their last soil analysis.
• Once they have completed this step, farmers will know their carbon score. This is the starting point of their improvement process!
• They can then compare the carbon score of their farm with the average in their area and benefit from personalised technical advice based on their practices in order to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of their farm or sequester more carbon in their soil.

A strategic tool at the cooperative level to manage their agricultural environmental approach

Thanks to the quality primary data collected and mapped, and the numerous dashboards, Cristal Union obtains, for its part, a precise view of the agricultural practices of its members. Alongside its members, Cristal Union has set itself an ambitious decarbonisation trajectory, approved by the SBTi — a 27.5%reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its agricultural activity by 2030, compared to 2019.

Incentive bonuses to reward changes in practices

Over the past two years, thanks to its customers who have chosen the Amplify® offer (marketed by its subsidiary Cristalco), Cristal Union has been able to pay 2.2 million euros to its farmers that are engaging in agroecology. This year, at least €2.5 million will be paid as bonuses to the farmers who have advanced the most in implementing agroecological and low-carbon practices.

The incentive and progressive bonuses for agricultural decarbonisation are calculated as follows:

• 1.50 euros per tonne of sugar beet at 16° if the average annual emissions of the farm are less than 20 kg of CO2* equivalent per tonne of sugar beet at 16°.
• 1 euro per tonne of sugar beet at 16° if the average annual emissions of the farm are between 20 and 25 kilos of CO2* equivalent per tonne of sugar beet at 16°.
• 50 cents per tonne of sugar beet at 16° if the average annual emissions of the farm are between 25 and 30 kilos of CO2* equivalent per tonne of sugar beet at 16°.

* Compared to 38.4 kilos of CO2 equivalent per tonne of sugar beet at 16° (national average, source:  Agribalyse).

Read the press release.

Xavier Astolfi, Managing Director of Cristal Union, François Thierart, CEO of MyEasyFarm, William Huet, Agricultural Director of Cristal Union et Thomas Fleiter, Manager of Agricultural Decarbonization..