Maxime Durand & Stephane Delebasse
BioDemain
February 2021
The transition to organic and sustainable agriculture
- An interview with Maxime Durand, Co-Founder and CEO of BioDemain
Recent university graduates, Maxime Durand and Stéphane Delebassé were jointly motivated and determined to play their part in making the world a better and sustainable place. After talking directly with farmers and others alike in the local agriculture industry, they were set to make a change within the industry. It has been over two years now since Maxime and Stéphane launched BioDemain, a company that directly helps farmers and those in the agricultural sector in the transition towards producing organic products.
Maxime realized how difficult it was for farmers in France (and across the globe) to switch to more organic and ecofriendly methods of farming and yielding crops. Some of these challenges the farmers faced were related to pollution, rapid change in biodiversity and the existing quality of soil (to name a few). What makes BioDemain very unique is that they directly help farmers on the ground to find innovative solutions to these problems and hence make the yield of crops and vegetables organic and sustainable.
So, how is BioDemain helping farmers on the ground?
The company has launched an accompaniment programme for farmers to join hands with BioDemain. By doing this, Maxime and his team have managed to create a network to share similar practices and knowledge and embrace more collaborative approaches towards finding solutions in the sustainable agricultural sector. Biodemain also purchases the products from farmers at a fair price in order to follow ethical practices of the highest standards, before selling it to the market.
Maxime and his team have put in sleepless nights into the formation of BioDemain. They truly are dedicated towards their cause and wish to create an impact in the sustainable agricultural field in the years to come. In 2020, the company had 10 products that was accompanied by 35 producers alike. At the trajectory they are currently growing at, Maxime and Stéphane intend to cover over 2000 acres of agricultural land and directly aid over 100 producers by the end of this year. Their long term goal is to help every single producer and farmer in France who wishes to transition to organic means. They also intend to go beyond borders and address this issue within the European market to countries such as Germany, Switzerland and so on.
Maxime’s advice to budding entrepreneurs who are keen on making a dent in the world, is to actually try and test what they intend to do before nose-diving straight into it. “It is easy and most likely the case to think and procrastinate over your idea. Although, it is important to actually try and test the market, which would hopefully yield better results in the future”, said Maxime to conclude the interview.