The animal sectors and their breeding systems are adapting to a rapidly changing environment to meet new challenges.
The challenges of the Chair
The projected growth in global demand for food products (meat, dairy products, eggs) and changing diets represent opportunities for the French animal industries.
In a fast-changing environment, the players in the animal sectors are working to meet key challenges: animal welfare, impact on the environment and biodiversity, competition for land use, product origins, innovative breeding models, etc.
Farming systems must adapt and anticipate these changes in order to meet market demands within a timeframe that allows for these changes to be carried out, while ensuring a sufficient level of remuneration for farmers and all the players in the sector.
In this context, many farmers are wondering about the necessary evolution of their profession and its prospects in the face of a difficult generational renewal, with the number of farmers having decreased by 75% in 40 years and 55% of farmers being over 50 years old today (INSEE, 2019).
A scientific approach over 4 years
The main objective of the first phase of the approach will be to identify possible scenarios and the dynamics of past and future transformations of livestock systems and sectors, starting with an inventory of existing prospective studies. At the same time, consumer expectations, regulatory changes and the impact of technological and digital innovation will be analyzed.
This approach will highlight the major trends and possible scenarios for the evolution of animal production systems in France and internationally. A multidisciplinary team, including economists, managers, sociologists and animal production specialists, will be mobilized.
The second phase will focus on one or more of these themes identified for each of these scenarios. This phase will lead to the implementation of indicators to better understand socio-economic, societal and technological trends. Thus, a finer vision of the current evolutions will allow a better understanding of the conjunctural movements and the structural trends of the consumption and the transformation of the sector, with the objective of a greater reactivity and an increased capacity of anticipation for the actors of the sectors and the breeding systems.
Financed by Avril through sponsorship, this work, of general interest, will be made public through various communications.
Steering committees
A strategic steering committee
The steering committee develops and validates the Chair's orientations and achievements in line with its objectives, and advises the parties involved in their actions. Its composition is decided by the parties. It will meet at least twice a year.
- UniLaSalle:
- Philippe Choquet, Managing Director UniLaSalle
- or Valérie Leroux, Managing Director
- David Houben, Director of the Collège AgroSciences
- Avril Filières d'Elevages: Christophe Le Bars, Managing Director Avril Solutions pour l'Agriculture (ASA)
- Sanders: Philippe Manry, Director, Animal Nutrition
- MiXscience: Jean-Marc Salaun, Managing Director MiXscience
- Feed Alliance: François Quénéhervé, Managing Director Feed Alliance
- Permanent referent of the Chair for Avril Solutions pour l'Agriculture: David Cassin, Director of Stakeholder Relations
An operational scientific committee
The scientific committee supports the preparation of the program, the validation of methodologies, and the implementation of actions and deliverables. Its composition is decided by the parties. It will meet at least twice a year.
- UniLaSalle:
- Jean-Yves Madec, Professor and Researcher in Animal Nutrition and Animal Science
- Loic Sauvée, Director of the InTerACT research unit
- Avril Solutions pour l'Agriculture:
- Sanders: Stéphane Athimon, Deputy Managing Director, Sanders
- MiXscience: Jean-Marc Salaun, Managing Director, MiXscience
- Feed Alliance: Blandine Quénéhervé, Administrative and Financial Director
A chairholder, project manager
He is dedicated to the program and is recruited by UniLaSalle according to a procedure co-constructed between the parties. This incumbent will be in charge of piloting all of the Chair's activities. He or she will have a "chair referent" within the company, a privileged contact person, enabling optimized coordination between the two structures.
The partnership between Avril & UniLaSalle: an obvious choice!
Avril and its subsidiaries Sanders, MiXscience and Feed Alliance, and UniLaSalle have been close for a long time because of their mutual commitment to the agricultural world.
Numerous interns and alumni are regularly welcomed at Avril. The recent establishment of UniLaSalle in Rennes near the Avril campus in Bruz has strengthened this partnership.
Opening to other partners
Depending on the subjects developed, the Chair may welcome other expert and complementary companies co-opted by Avril and UniLaSalle.
Se projeter à 10 ans. Une nécessité pour la profession
« Au regard de l’évolution rapide des attentes sociétales et de la demande en produits d’origine animale, dans des métiers à cycles longs, il est décisif de bien identifier les tendances, pour anticiper l’évolution de nos modèles de production, et en faire des opportunités de développement pour nos filières, tout en donnant des perspectives positives aux éleveurs. »
Le sujet d’étude nous intéresse doublement. D’une part, car il croise les expertises enseignant-chercheur pour répondre aux enjeux de la chaire mais aussi parce qu’il s'agit d'un sujet de responsabilité sociétale. C’est un point sur lequel nous nous sommes renforcés à la demande des entreprises.
La rencontre de deux groupes qui ont pour objectif de servir l’avenir d’une agriculture plus vertueuse se traduit par la signature de cette chaire. Elle permettra de mieux comprendre les transitions nécessaires pour à la fois mieux rémunérer les acteurs de la filière et pour mieux répondre aux attentes de la société, de faire progresser simultanément agriculture, économie et environnement.
Se projeter à 10 ans. Une nécessité pour la profession
« Au regard de l’évolution rapide des attentes sociétales et de la demande en produits d’origine animale, dans des métiers à cycles longs, il est décisif de bien identifier les tendances, pour anticiper l’évolution de nos modèles de production, et en faire des opportunités de développement pour nos filières, tout en donnant des perspectives positives aux éleveurs. »
Le sujet d’étude nous intéresse doublement. D’une part, car il croise les expertises enseignant-chercheur pour répondre aux enjeux de la chaire mais aussi parce qu’il s'agit d'un sujet de responsabilité sociétale. C’est un point sur lequel nous nous sommes renforcés à la demande des entreprises.
La rencontre de deux groupes qui ont pour objectif de servir l’avenir d’une agriculture plus vertueuse se traduit par la signature de cette chaire. Elle permettra de mieux comprendre les transitions nécessaires pour à la fois mieux rémunérer les acteurs de la filière et pour mieux répondre aux attentes de la société, de faire progresser simultanément agriculture, économie et environnement.
Partners of the Chair
About Avril
As France's fifth-largest agri-food group, Avril is the industrial and financial leader in the French vegetable oil and protein sector. Created by the farming community, the Group develops innovative, healthy, and sustainable solutions to feed people and animals and accelerate the decarbonization of the planet. Its purpose, Serving the Earth, guides its actions, in line with its ambition to become the leader in plant-based transformation for the agricultural, food and environmental transitions by 2030.
In addition to its long-standing role as an investor, the company has developed a manufacturing business firmly rooted in plant processing, from seed to processed product. With a presence in human food, animal nutrition and expertise, renewable energies and green chemistry, it has a portfolio of businesses that are all market leaders in their respective fields.
Building on its ties with French agriculture, Avril has based its growth for over 40 years on a unique value creation model: it reinvests all its profits in the dynamics of its sectors and their development in France and abroad.
With a presence in 18 countries and nearly 8,400 employees across 82 industrial sites and sales offices, Avril generated revenue of €7.7 billion in 2024.
About Sanders
Sanders, leader in animal nutrition and subsidiary of Avril, is committed to each link in the chain of all animal productions. Feeding animals well to feed people well is at the heart of Sanders' know-how. For more than 100 years, Sanders has been supporting the development of the animal sector, a source of growth and employment throughout France, thanks to its local organization in the Regions. Every day, Sanders is committed to working alongside animal production stakeholders to ensure sustainable production and quality products, to support all breeders in their life projects, and to help improve human nutrition.
Sanders in a few figures :
- 24 Oqualim-certified factories throughout France
- 6 concessionary manufacturers and distributors of the brand
- 3.4 million tons of feed produced under the Sanders technique
- 1150 employees
- 26 000 customers
- An international presence: Turkey, Serbia, Tunisia, Algeria
About MiXscience
MiXscience is part of Avril and currently employs 520 people in France and abroad. A major player in animal nutrition in France and abroad, the company has a total turnover of 150 million euros and operates in more than 55 countries. Nearly 10 million tons of feed equivalent are produced each year using MiXscience techniques.
Mixscience develops and markets a product offer composed of premixes, minerals, innovative specialties and biocontrol solutions adapted to different species. Expert services enrich this offer. MiXscience addresses feed manufacturers, integrators and distributors and contributes to the development of sustainable livestock sectors.
About Feed Alliance
Feed Alliance is a company that buys and sells agricultural and agri-food raw materials on behalf of its clients. Created in 1999, Feed Alliance brings together economic players in the animal nutrition sector and other partners in the French agri-food industry. Feed Alliance, an expert in agricultural markets, negotiates 5 million tons of raw materials annually on behalf of companies belonging to the Avril Group, cooperatives and private French feed manufacturers.
Feed Alliance's 30 employees provide tailor-made solutions to different clients in order to improve their competitiveness: market analysis, purchasing strategies and risk arbitration in volatile global markets, quality improvement and implementation of sustainable and local supply chains.
About UniLaSalle
UniLaSalle is positioned as the engineering school at the crossroads of the energy, digital and ecological transitions. It has 4 campuses (Amiens, Beauvais, Rennes, Rouen), 3,800 students, 20,000 alumni, 7 research units, 8 company chairs and research platforms and innovation centers such as Agrilab or the GeoLab.
UniLaSalle offers 20 degree courses from Bac+3 to Bac+6 and conducts research activities at the heart of sustainable development issues. Its know-how is recognized by the business world and is reflected in the excellent employability of its graduates.
The school stands out for its teaching methods, which combine traditional methods and innovative practices (learning by doing, new technologies, etc.).
Because of its Lasallian roots, the school pays particular attention to "integral training", which considers the involvement of its students in the life of the school or in the development of personal projects to be a formative experience and a vector of fulfilment. UniLaSalle is a member of the Conférence des Grandes Ecoles and has the EESPIG label.