ÉCOLÉO

French consumers are increasingly oriented towards products that respect the environment and their health, particularly when it comes to sunflower oil. In addition, the issue of remuneration for farmers is the most significant lever for increasing consumer willingness to pay. Against this backdrop, the ÉCOLÉO project aims to create a more sustainable French oleic sunflower oil supply chain, covering all links in the value chain, from production to processing, by addressing five challenges:

• Produce sustainable edible oils based on consumer expectations regarding their diet.
• Take part in collective initiatives to develop tools and methods for adapting, prospecting and conquering new markets.
• Changing agricultural models.
• Ensure generational renewal by upgrading the status of the farming profession and promoting new sustainable practices.
• Improve the fair distribution of added value and productivity gains, in particular through new remuneration schemes to be developed.

In order to help this sector move towards more sustainable practices, the project involves actions at every link in the value chain:

• The development of more sustainable agricultural practices, with the provision to farmers of varieties of interest (agronomic and/or organoleptic/nutritional) that are better adapted to a sustainable cultivation system, and technical support for the agroecological transition;
• A traceability, storage and logistics system to eliminate the risk of contamination by phytosanitary residues;
• A new industrial process combining seed hulling and fully mechanical oil extraction to eliminate the use of solvents, while guaranteeing a sufficient level of de-oiling;
• A refining process to reduce or eliminate the use of processing aids and enhance the oil's organoleptic qualities;
• Marketing of products in line with new consumer expectations in terms of sustainability and health benefits.

• Drawing up technical specifications for the sector
• Implementation of sustainable practices upstream
• Harvesting seeds for a demonstrator
• Validation of technical and economic feasibility on an industrial scale
• Implementation of industrial processes and sustainable products