Page 52 - Biorefinery 2030

3 First Steps in the Development of the Bazancourt-Pomacle Site 19

The cereals sector, following a succession of cooperative mergers 11 is today
known as VIVESCIA (with an industrial holding group Siclae ´). The sugar beet
sector is today placed under the umbrella of CRISTAL UNION. We will encounter
these two major cooperative players throughout the remainder of the book.
A third sector, that of alfalfa, should also be kept in mind, for Champagne-
Ardenne is the leading alfalfa producer in France, and the plant has many
advantages: in terms of soil conservation as mentioned above, but also because it
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is rich in protein. This sector is however for the moment much less powerful than
the other two.

3 First Steps in the Development of the Bazancourt-Pomacle
Site

The development of the Bazancourt-Pomacle platform is closely linked to the
growth of research. Research really began to develop at the end of the 1980s,
when overproduction provided the opportunity to offer farmers new non-food
outlets for their produce.
However, this kind of plant use was a notion that still lacked credibility for many
farmers, even though progress had been made in this field before the war. For
example, alcohol fuel had been produced from sugar beet at the Be ´theniville
distillery.
The factors were therefore in place to encourage farmers and their leaders to
begin to consider plants differently and launch new industrial ventures.

3.1 Towards Collaborative Research

The first joint initiative between academic research and agro-industry was launched
in February 1983, and was initiated by Jacques de Bohan. It consisted in the launch
of the Association for the Development of Research in the Food and Packaging
Industries (Association pour le De ´veloppement de la Recherche dans les Industries
Agro-alimentaires et dans le Conditionnement—ADRIAC), specialising in pack-
aging science and techniques, to provide the food industry with new outlets via the
development of bio-based and biodegradable packaging for meat products.
At the same time, the sugar industry, on the initiative of Alain Delaunoy, the
founding chairman of Sucre Union, and Re ´gis de Baynast, who had worked as a
researcher in the oil industry, launched its own research activity. In 1983, it created

11
This trend towards concentration can be observed throughout the agro-food sector. We could
cite other cooperatives in a similar situation, such as TEREOS and ACOLYANCE.
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Alfalfa, as a legume, captures atmospheric nitrogen and transfers it to the soil. Subsequent crops
therefore require less nitrogen inputs. In the winter, alfalfa acts as soil cover, protecting it from
erosion. It is also a niche for biodiversity and is a source of protein production for animal feed.