© 2021 creation UNI-VERT Powered by CALLISENS
The Uni-Vert COOPERATIVE
Our history & our values
Uni-Vert's 100% organic 4 seasons
France’s leading organic cooperative, with its local fruit and vegetable producers.
The Uni-vert cooperative was created in 1961 in the Gard. It brings together 55 fruit and vegetable producers in the South of France as well as 15 producers located in Corsica. Since 1988, the cooperative has been fully engaged in organic farming.
In summer, Uni-Vert offers a wide range of fruits and vegetables, such as apricots, apples, pears, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and aubergines. We also highlight the “originals”, such as yellow courgettes, round ones, old ones, graffiti eggplants. In winter, as a salad specialist, Uni-Vert produces lettuces, batavias, blondes and reds, oak leaves. Spinach, radishes and chard complete our “leaves” offer. Uni-Vert works with many organic partners: communities, supermarkets, wholesalers, specialty stores, basket distributors, local sales on site. This range of leading players in the distribution of our products, responds to the quality of our productions from our terroirs of excellence.
BACK to "Uni-Vert"...
RETURN
in the “Uni-Vert”…
1961
1961
Creation of the COVIAL cooperative
1991
1991
Creation of the UNI-VERT cooperative
2015
2015
Naturland Certification
2020
2020
Organic Fair Trade certification in France
1988
1988
Organic trial with 2 producers
2014
2014
Exploitation and marketing 100% ORGANIC
2016
2016
ESR certificate (Fair, Solidarity, Responsible)
Towards 100% organic hyperlocal
Our history
Uni-Vert, under the sun exactly
1961. Creation of the Covial cooperative. 1988, first trial with two organic producers. 1991, Covial becomes Uni-Vert and in 2014, the cooperative produces and distributes 100% organic, fair trade, high-quality fruit and vegetables, with management that respects people and their environment.
1998, a key date for Uni-Vert. This is indeed the year when we decide to stop imports. Note new project: working to extend our local production. It took us two years to triple our number of producers and thus increase our arable land from 61 ha to 130 ha – including 26 ha of greenhouses.
Today, our 100% French production amounts to 25,000 tons of fruit and vegetables, including 5 million heads of lettuce. We favor local producers. 80% of them are located within a radius of 70 km around the Uni-Vert headquarters, located in Saint-Gilles, in the Gard. One exception, Corsica. We therefore work mainly with member producers from Gard, Camargue, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence, Ardèche and Drôme. Our cooperative has 70 producers, including 15 located in Corsica.
100% organic, local
and fair
100% organic, local
and fair
100% organic, local and fair trade
It all started in 1961 with the creation of the Covial cooperative. At the time, the company consisted of an organic sales division, of which a purchasing part dealt with imports of specific products. In 1988, a pivotal date, Uni-Vert embarked on its first organic productions, with the participation of Messrs. Chardon and Lagarde. Their exploitation then receives the Nature & Progrès certification. Uni-Vert was created in 1991 to market the organic products of the Cooperative and certain users. It was in 1998 that the cooperative made a radical change and stopped all imports. The South of France, its early sunshine, its exceptional terroirs at the gates of the Camargue, between the Mediterranean coast and the Cévennes, offer Occitania and the Gard department a strategic position in the search for organic farming.
Our membership of the Organic Fair Trade Label in France
The whole chain is involved!
Nearly 5000 peasant farms (federated in 30 agricultural groups) and 40 organic companies come together to defend an agriculture of French origin, fair and 100% organic!
Fair trade developed in the 1980s with cooperatives from southern countries and products such as coffee and chocolate. It promotes partnerships between producers, processing companies and distributors, in order to reduce the social inequalities caused by conventional trade and to support the agro-ecological transition through fair prices.
A tool for the ecological and solidarity transition, fair trade guarantees producers stable and remunerative prices to live with dignity from their work.
Considering that fairness also concerns French producers, the idea of fair trade from France has recently taken hold.
Our cooperative naturally committed to this approach in 2020 to guarantee our members remunerative prices, but also to enhance their daily commitment to aspects such as:
The refusal to employ posted workers: all employees are paid in France, according to French law, which is not the case with all farmers, even in organic farming.
The preservation of the environment: we go further than the obligations of the ORGANIC regulations.
Our commitments. Our quality approach
Since 2015, we have been involved in various certifications and labelings to highlight our values and professionalism. First with Naturland certification (environmental & social), then with IFS (food safety), fair trade (Fair For Life and now Bio Equitable in France), and biodynamics (Demeter).
Our values
Our values
Cooperative
Pour Uni-Vert, première coopérative bio équitable de France, le terme “Cooperation” is not summarized in this word nor in a legal status.
Our cooperative is embodied on the ground by the commitment and the will of all the actors who form our ecosystem. Cooperative is the active association of our know-how to achieve our main objective: the satisfaction of all requirements.
The continuous optimization of our cooperation is based, among other things, on our consultation meetings. We establish production schedules, solve quality problems, manage the operational dimension of our actions and their strategies. They also offer us the opportunity to reflect and discuss our working methods and to question our tools.
Cooperative
For Uni-Vert, the first organic cooperative in France, the term “cooperation” cannot be summed up in this word or in a legal status.
Our cooperative is embodied on the ground by the commitment and the will of all the actors who form our ecosystem. Cooperative is the active association of our know-how to achieve our main objective: the satisfaction of all requirements.
The continuous optimization of our cooperation is based, among other things, on our consultation meetings. We establish production schedules, solve quality problems, manage the operational dimension of our actions and their strategies. They also offer us the opportunity to reflect and discuss our working methods and to question our tools.
INFORMATION
CONTACT OUR SALES DEPARTMENT:
COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT:
France’s leading organic cooperative, with its local fruit and vegetable producers.
CONTACT INFORMATION
UNI-VERT
194 A Petit Chemin d’Espeyran
VC 17 30 800 Saint-Gilles
Tel: +33(0)4 66 2067 80
What's new !
© 2021 creation UNI-VERT Powered by CALLISENS
- Legal Notice
- Privacy Policy
- Sitemap
France’s leading organic cooperative, with its local fruit and vegetable producers.
CONTACT INFORMATION
UNI-VERT
194 A Petit Chemin d’Espeyran
VC 17 30 800 Saint-Gilles
Tel: +33(0)4 66 2067 80
What's new !
© 2021 creation UNI-VERT Powered by CALLISENS
- Legal Notice
- Privacy Policy
- Sitemap
