Competitiveness: A Driver of Sustainable Transformation

This belief guides our decisions. And it’s in this spirit that, despite an uncertain context, we made 2024 a record year for investment: €282 million in CAPEX deployed to modernize our industrial sites, improve their energy performance, and enhance their safety. It’s an unprecedented—and necessary—effort to meet the challenges of competitiveness, but also sustainability. 

Modernizing to Produce Better

Across all our sites, these investments are yielding tangible benefits. Take our Expur site in Romania, for example. After a serious accident at the end of 2023, a rigorous analysis was conducted and strong actions were taken: enhanced safety equipment for confined spaces, virtual reality simulations… A clear demonstration that safety is never guaranteed—it’s a constant commitment. 

Growing Our Collective

Competitiveness is also—and perhaps above all—about the people of our Group. In 2024, over 1,000 new employees joined us. We achieved a record of 453 internal mobility movements: career paths that reflect the vitality of our collective and the trust we place in our talent. 

These individuals embody our purpose, Serving the Earth, every single day. Their dedication is our greatest strength. It brings our ambition to life and makes Avril a truly distinctive employer. 

We’ve also chosen an employer brand that reflects our identity: Avril, there is another way. A path that combines performance and purpose, responsibility and boldness. A path that appeals to those who want to make a real impact and find meaning in their work. 

We support this dynamic with concrete initiatives. This year, we launched our Équilibre program, offering four key measures to help balance work and personal life. And our Great Place to Work initiative, now deployed across the Group, is helping us improve by listening closely to our employees. 

Innovating to Move Forward

Transformation also means being willing to take risks. Our Darwin program, which supports intrapreneurship, backed a promising agrivoltaics project this year—at the intersection of agricultural production and renewable energy. It offers new revenue-generating opportunities for engaged farmers and is a great example of our capacity to innovate. 

And because the future belongs to the next generation, we relaunched the Your Future As CEO challenge, giving one student the opportunity to shadow me for 10 days. It’s a unique experience of knowledge-sharing—and a tangible way to open our Group’s doors to the future builders of tomorrow. 

At Avril, we believe in a type of competitiveness that is committed, inclusive, and human. A competitiveness that enables us to invest in the future, attract talent, and Serve the Earth—more sustainably, more fairly. 

Thank you to all our teams for driving this collective momentum. By combining human commitment and operational excellence, we turn our ambitions into concrete impact—in support of sustainable agriculture and a more responsible industry. 

#AcceleratingTransitions #AvrilADifferentWay #Innovation