How "Serving the Earth"​ will transform our Group

It all started with our employees questioning us. In 2017, they asked us about our business model and our vision for the future. “What does it mean to work at Avril?” No company director can ignore such a question, simple though it may be. It is our role, I would even say our responsibility, to respond to this legitimate search for meaning. Because all of us, regardless of our profession, position, age or gender, have the same need to know why we are getting up in the morning.

This Group, which was created by agriculturalists with a vision in the early 1980s, has never questioned its usefulness to the world. It seems so obvious, so intrinsic to what it is and does, as it has been at the heart of its mission for nearly 40 years: to feed people and animals and to protect the planet.

But the world has changed. And now more than ever, companies have a role to play in responding to the current challenges, which go beyond national borders. The climate emergency and demographic growth, due to the pressure it puts on our planet’s resources, are the two main challenges of our constantly developing world. Solutions will be found only by working together. And it is our responsibility, our duty to contribute to that and to support this movement.

So we have chosen to reaffirm the power to act inherent in our original mission, through our purpose. Because at Avril, in the 19 countries where we operate, we take action every day to  Serve the Earth.

“Serving the Earth” is our purpose, our reason for acting, and it compels us. That’s why it’s being accompanied and concretely embodied by six priorities for action, to which our Group is already committed on a daily basis.

These commitments are a source of inspiration for our employees, because they give meaning to our action. Firmly focused on the world around us, they will help us make decisions, compel us to do or stop doing certain things, and teach us how to do things in other ways, differently, so we can take up the challenge of this ambition collectively.

This is a crucial step in the Group’s history and it starts today. It will transform Avril profoundly, shake things up, challenge us, change our viewpoints and open up new horizons for us, in line with our ambition.

Because to be the leader in plant-based solutions for the food, agricultural and environmental transitions is Serving the Earth.