Climate change, strategic changes: Christophe Congues speaks at the Terega Tennis Open

Christophe Congues was invited to speak in a roundtable organised on 17 November during the Teréga Pau–Pyrénées Tennis Open. The topic of discussion was “climate change, strategic changes”. Representatives of key companies and local authorities attended the event, which was the first of its kind.

The Euralis President began by emphasising the fact that, for farmers, climate change is a reality and as a result, a daily priority: they are the first to observe the effects of climate change on their activities and practices, which have a strong environmental impact. “Farmers must adapt to climate change, which necessarily involves developing sustainable agriculture. With this in mind, here at Euralis, we have chosen consulting (within the framework of the Egalim law) and moved away from chemicals alone to focus on biocontrol products, agronomy and low-carbon energy production.”

Christophe Congues reiterated the complexity of the problem to solve: farmers need to incorporate climate change into agricultural practices while still fulfilling their mission of feeding people. The aim is to increase productivity while reducing their environmental impact, by relying on agroecology, new technologies, organic agriculture, etc. “It’s not an easy problem to solve. Of course, we are supporting farmers in their agroecological transition, in particular by offering them consulting and services. At the cooperative level, which is an extension of the farms, we are adapting our strategy to climate change by developing a robust CSR policy which feeds into all our activities.”

Christophe Congues ended his speech by highlighting the need to educate young people about the various ways to fight against climate change: “rather than pitting them against one another, they should be used in a complementary manner.”