Environmental certification of farms — High Environmental Value (HVE)

Farms of every production type — vineyards are by far the most represented — either individually or within a collective scheme run by a cooperative, a chamber of agriculture or a trading company. It also concerns downstream processors and retailers wishing to display the logo, and public catering buyers.

What this scheme covers

• C.1A certification of the whole farm, not of a product or a plot: the entire farming activity is assessed across four themes — biodiversity, crop protection strategy, fertilisation management and water resource management.
• C.2Two distinct levels: level 2 rests on a set of means-based requirements covering the same four themes; level 3, called High Environmental Value, rests on outcome indicators measured at farm level.
• C.3A single route to level 3 since 1 January 2023: route A, which requires at least ten points on each of the four indicator grids. The second route, based on the weight of inputs in turnover and on the share of agro-ecological infrastructure, was removed by the revised standard.
• C.4A "valorising mention" under article L. 640-2 of the Rural Code: the "From a High Environmental Value farm" logo may be placed on raw products and on processed products made of at least 95 % agricultural raw materials from HVE-certified farms.
• C.5A certificate issued for three years by an approved certification body, with an initial on-site audit, a surveillance audit during the cycle and a renewal audit before expiry.
• C.6Two regulatory outlets that explain most enrolments: the "certification" route of the Common Agricultural Policy eco-scheme, and the counting of products towards the 50 % of sustainable, quality products required of public catering by article L. 230-5-1 of the Rural Code, introduced by the EGalim law.

The link with Qualiopi

HVE certification covers the farming practices of a holding: it has no connection with Qualiopi and does not replace it. The bridge lies on the support side. Chambers of agriculture, cooperatives, accounting centres and independent consultants sell training and guidance packages towards environmental certification; as soon as those actions are funded by public or pooled money — notably the training fund for self-employed farmers or the sector's skills operator — the provider delivering them must hold Qualiopi certification. A consultant billing pure advisory work, with no vocational training funding, is not concerned.

The process, summarised

1. 1.Position the farm against the four themes before committing: a self-assessment, often carried out with a chamber of agriculture, a cooperative technician or an adviser, shows whether level 3 is within reach straight away or whether level 2 is the sensible first step.
2. 2.Choose between an individual and a collective route. Under the collective route, a structure — cooperative, chamber of agriculture, private company — holds the certification scope, runs the annual internal audits of its members and has its own control system plus a sample of farms audited every year by the certification body.
3. 3.Select a certification body approved by the ministry of agriculture and sign the certification contract; fees and audit arrangements vary between bodies, so it is worth comparing several quotes.
4. 4.Gather data for the whole farm: cropping plan, agro-ecological infrastructure, treatment frequency indicators for crop protection, nitrogen balance, irrigation data. Since certification covers the entire holding, no production line can be left out.
5. 5.Undergo the initial on-site audit with the certification body, which checks the declared data and computes the points obtained on each of the four grids.
6. 6.Keep the certificate alive over its three years: a surveillance audit during the cycle, a renewal audit before expiry, and disciplined communication — the logo follows precise usage rules, notably the 95 % threshold for processed products.