They are one of the symbols of the difficulties of the transition of practices on farms: legumes, these plants capable of fixing nitrogen in the soil, this element essential to the growth of plants but provided today massively via synthetic fertilizers, are struggling to make a big comeback in French plots. In addition to the possible agronomic difficulties, it is often very complicated for farmers to find an outlet for their crops.
Intact Régénérative, whose plant will start production smoothly at the end of the year – the main lines will come into service in mid-2025 – hopes to have found the winning formula. It has raised 55 million euros to build a site near Baule in Loiret. It plans to offer flours made from legumes, which will be used, for example, in bakeries to improve the nutritional value of recipes or in the development of plant-based meat substitutes, but also neutral alcohol, made from the sugar extracted from these plants, which can be used in the food industry or cosmetics. These products offer two guarantees: they are low-carbon and soy-free.
“An unbeatable carbon footprint”
The company is indeed banking on peas and fava beans grown in France. “Traditionally, cracking the plant (operation of separation of sugars, proteins, fibers, etc.) is done by wet method, explains Alexis Duval. We have a dry extraction technology that allows us to produce flours. Afterwards, we sort the constituents on a very small scale using air flows, which allows the flours to be reduced in sugars. It is a natural extraction that allows us to obtain flours with 55 to 65% protein.” The extracted sugars will be distilled to make a neutral alcohol. A biomass boiler, fueled by the fibers of the legumes, produces the heat necessary for the operation.
“Our carbon footprint is unbeatable: we emit between 8 and 10 times less CO2 than traditional processes”continues the former head of Tereos. A decarbonization that also operates in the plots. Because the young shoot has joined forces with the Axéréal cooperative for the supply of raw materials: an opportunity for the 200 or so farmers who will supply the industrialist for this first exercise to integrate legumes into their rotation, and therefore reduce their need for synthetic fertilizers. Legumes, if they are presented as the panacea by agronomists, are often difficult for farmers to promote. Intact hopes, on paper at least, to regulate all the parameters of the equation.
A solution to the use of fertilizers by farmers
“There are two obstacles for farmers to introduce legumes into their rotation, underlines Alexis Duval. First, a technical obstacle, which led us to set up an insurance system with a minimum yield. The second point is a lack of visibility on the market. So we proposed multi-year contracts.” The advantage of partnering with Axéréal is that the cooperative has a legume seed development activity, and can therefore make a selection that is more in line with the requirements of the manufacturer.
“We are going to change the paradigm so that the farmer builds his rotation around the legume and no longer around wheat”hopes the industrialist. The entrepreneur does not hide it, he also doubts the virtues of the “green” fertilizers offered in particular by traditional chemistry players, the issue of nitrous oxide emissions in the plots not being resolved. It remains to find commercial outlets. Intact Regenerative will deliver volumes, still confidential, of neutral alcohol at the end of this year. The real start will take place during 2025 when the most important lines will start up. The company, which is content to say that its solutions will be “competitive”will then know if it has succeeded in its bet, at the heart of the ecological transition.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
