France tries an alternative to organic

While there is an urgent environmental need to reduce pesticides, not every vigneron can go organic. Olivier Thery looks at the HVE alternative.

Photo by David Köhler on Unsplash
Photo by David Köhler on Unsplash

The market for organic wine is booming. But while demand keeps rising, the supply side seems to be lagging. France is still going strong: 12% of its vineyards are now farmed organically, an increase of one-fifth in 2018, according to the French Agence Bio.

In Italy, however, organic viticulture seems to be levelling, with only a 2% growth in 2017, according to Italian agency SINAB. Although Italy still has Europe’s biggest surface under organic viticulture (16.6%), the weak growth rate could indicate a ceiling. 

What’s the alternative?

Still, in the September issue of his ministry’s magazine, French Minister of Agriculture Didier Guillaume left no room for doubt: “The agro-ecological transition is irreversible,” he said. With bold statements come ambitious objectives, including 5,000 certified farms in 2022 – and 50,000 by 2030. If this is achieved, it should also reduce pesticide use, the minister said:“25% less by 2020, and 50% less by 2030.” One way to help achieve these aims is via the Haute Valeur Environnementale (HVE) or “High Environmental Value”  label. 

HVE is an agricultural certification system that has its origins in Nicolas Sarkozy’s attempt to woo farmers during his 2007 presidential campaign. HVE never really took off, however, and the goal of having half of all French farmers engaged in a certification process by 2012 was never met. Given the current “agri-bashing” in France, plus President Emmanuel Macron’s environmental ambitions, France’s renewed support for HVE is an attempt to offer an alternative to farmers who feel they cannot move to organic farming. 

While environmentalists may say the benefits of organic farming are self-evident, economic viability remains a huge hurdle. Languedoc in France’s sunny south boasts more than 30% organic vineyards, but in cool climate zones the numbers are much less impressive: Champagne hardly reaches 3%. Without the use of pesticides or fungicides, winemakers in zones such as Champagne and Burgundy risk losing a significant part of their harvest, a financial risk few are willing to take. That many small farmers are facing financial problems is illustrated by a sombre statistic published in July 2019 by the French Mutualité Sociale Agricole: in 2015 French farmers had a 12% greater risk of dying from suicide than the national average. Impoverishment and over-indebtedness are oft-cited causes.

While HVE encourages biodiversity and better water management, it still allows pesticides as a last resort. The French Vignerons Indépendants, an organisation of small wineries, sees this as a realistic middle ground. At France’s first HVE conference this February, Vignerons Indépendants director-general Jean-Jacques Jarjanette said the group fully supports HVE as a complementary strategy to organic viticulture. “Twenty-seven per cent of our members are in organic, but we know that we will not go much further than that,” he said. “That is why we commit to HVE.” 

Joining forces

Terra Vitis is a similar certification that has been around since 1998, but which was used  only by a relatively modest 560 farmers in 2018. In what could be an attempt to join forces, Jean-Michel Baudet, president of the Terra Vitis federation, recently announced on the French website Vitisphère that from 2020 Terra Vitis will incorporate all HVE requirements in its audits; wineries that have Terra Vitis certification will also receive the HVE label. 

The most important question, however, is whether the HVE label will increase sales and value in the same way as organic does. Recent research published by French agency SOWINE shows that half of the French are willing to spend more on organic wine. Conscious of the lack of consumer awareness of HVE, the Vignerons Indépendants are pleading for more government support to communicate their aims and to provide financial incentives to achieve certification. 

With the government supporting HVE, the question remains whether consumers understand what “High Environmental Value” stands for. The label could create the impression that it is actually an organic label, while it is not. Explaining what it stands for is probably the biggest challenge HVE faces. 
Although environmentalists might criticise HVE for not banning pesticides completely, a big group of farmers reducing their pesticide use could have more impact than a small group banning pesticides altogether. Proof that HVE does lead to pesticide reduction will be needed to make the label attractive to consumers, however: if it fails to do that, chances are high that HVE will remain simply yet another label.

Olivier Thery

This article first appeared in Issue 5, 2019 of Meininger's Wine Business International magazine, available in print or online by subscription

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