2021-2022 was a turbulent and complicated year of relentless weather events, including torrential rain during the 2021 harvests and unseasonal drought in the spring of 2022, not to mention the conflict in Ukraine, soaring prices in global grain markets, hyperinflation driven by unprecedented increases in the cost of energy, transport, butter and packaging, and tensions over the availability of nitrogen-based fertilisers... All these events have impacted both our agricultural and production businesses. Nevertheless, the exceptionally proactive response delivered by all its teams enabled the Group to achieve a remarkable level of resilience; a word that is sometimes overused, but which accurately describes VIVESCIA, and evidences the fact that the transformation projects implemented by the Cooperative and the companies of VIVESCIA Industries in recent years are going in the right direction. For the third consecutive year, we have delivered on our budgets and banking ratios. And the level of trust placed in us by all our stakeholders and partners continues to grow.

Admittedly, the headwinds we faced during the year have prevented us from moving forward as quickly as we would have liked. But they have had the advantage of further strengthening our growth model and our ongoing transformation trajectory. The Cooperative’s ‘My Coop 2025’ strategic plan has been rolled out across every area of the Group, including logistics and its new farm delivery services, and the new challenges posed by low-carbon agriculture. At the same time, our VIVESCIA Industries companies also pressed ahead with implementation of their own progress plans. Market share gains and volume growth at our frozen Bakery-Viennoiserie-Pâtisserie (Délifrance) and milling (Grands Moulins de Paris) businesses and the Francine brand, and good progress in expanding production capacity at Malteurop and our biotechnology business (ARD) are all successes for which everyone involved deserves congratulations. The complex trading environment we now find ourselves in after two years of pandemic has prompted us to be increasingly mobile, determined and united to work together and build our businesses more collaboratively.

A united Group spirit that embraces both agriculture and food processing is clearly emerging. The value chain initiatives and CSR projects brought together under our new LINK Sustainable Development strategy launched during the financial year are the catalysts for this encouraging trend.

Of course, as with most businesses, geopolitical upheavals and hyperinflation can make the paths to achieving our goals a little longer and less direct. Nevertheless, we already have the talent, energy and resources needed to continue moving forward.

An essential step forward. All our teams are driven by the same conviction and desire: to make their own personal and active contribution to providing the robust and innovative solutions needed by our cooperative farmers for successful farm management, by our artisan bakers, and by our brewery, restaurant, hotel, manufacturing and agrifood industry customers.

The future is now synonymous with uncertainty. The new status quo demands that we become even more adaptable in the day-to-day management of our companies, and ensure even closer cooperation between every link in our VIVESCIA value chain.

A l’heure de ce que nous pourrions appeler, la révolution carbone, notre position nodale nous engage à relier davantage l’amont, l’aval, les pouvoirs publics, les partenaires et les territoires pour avancer plus vite vers notre ambition commune de neutralité carbone.

At a time of what we might call the carbon revolution, our nodal position commits us to more closely linking upstream and downstream activities with public authorities, partners and territories in order to move faster towards our common ambition of carbon neutrality. Our model and unique position in the grain and plant-based food sectors are most definitely a valuable strength in terms of fulfilling the new expectations of consumers and the wider public. Our strong commitment to achieving these goals will be intensified going forward.

Agriculture and food are central to the challenges we face as a planet, and we know that the grain industry and its supply channels have a fundamental role to play in meeting those challenges. But the future is also inspiring, because we are now entering a period that promises so many (r)evolutions, transitions and innovations. Our united VIVESCIA collective of cooperative farmers and employees is fully focused on the future.