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Cereals, the main food resource for humanity, will soon be required to feed more than 8 billion individuals on our planet and take part in the development of new raw materials and renewable energy sources. In this context, the Céréales Vallée cluster aims to take up the threefold challenge of economic competitiveness, food safety and social and territorial performances required by society in France and Europe :

The Céréales Vallée cluster has two main objectives :

• International – Design plants for the future, an essential basis for competitiveness in agriculture and the cereal sector worldwide, by broadening and making full use of genetic resources thanks to plant biotechnologies
• National and regional – Valorize agricultural production through high performance agro-industrial networks, forming the basis of socio-territorial development, by analyzing and improving plant compositions to offer solutions that are better adapted to new nutritional and non-nutritional needs.

The cluster develops international, industrial, educational and research & development projects based around five strategic themes :
•    Plants for the future
•    Human food ingredients
•    Animal food ingredients
•    Non-food ingredients and products
•    Finished products

Advantages

Céréales Vallée offers a unique and internationally recognized platform of expertise in the field of innovation in cereals, the raw material at the center of the global food, non-food and environmental challenges that are crucial to our society.

The cluster offers real solutions through innovative research and development projects:
•    Produce more to match growth in population
•    Produce better to satisfy food requirements
•    The need for alternatives to fossil fuels
•    Europe lacking in agricultural raw materials

The cluster offers expertise in the field of genetics, a key factor in its performance, enabling it to adopt short, medium and long-term strategies

The Céréales Vallée cluster is based on the long-standing partnership that has existed between Limagrain and the INRA Institute (Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique) for 40 years, and it currently represents 400 different players involved in research, industry, services and education in the cereals sector

The cluster has developed partnerships with the two other clusters located in the Auvergne region (InnoViandes and Viaméca). In addition, clusters that are specialized in plant products aim to create a network that facilitates the launch of ambitious innovative projects involving several clusters, and be the prime interlocutor for the French and European public authorities regarding plant related issues.

Members

The Céréales Vallée cluster brings together around 60 public and private sector members that are involved in research, industry, services and education in the various cereal sectors, to work on innovative research & development, Industrial, educational and international projects. In total, including member subsidiaries, the Céréales Vallée cluster numbers approximately 390 different establishments.

Industrial companies – The cluster has 23 SME’s (< 250 employees) and 6 companies (>250 employees).

Fields include :
- Agro-production
- Biotechnologies
- Research & development
- Cooperatives
- Seeds
- Flour
- Plastics, including an LPS specialized in plastics, « Extrusion Souple de Ste Sigolène” which groups together 25 SME’s.
- Food processing
- Animal foods
- Investment capital
- Banks

Research and development organizations, educational establishments and technical institutes: 15, including the Clermont-Ferrand engineering schools and two universities, but also the Ecole des Mines in Paris.

Associated partners : local authorities, associations, unions, banks, approximately 10 including an association that groups together agro-food industrials in the Auvergne region (300)

Clusters : 7, including clusters located in the Auvergne and clusters specialized in plants.

R&D partnerships

58 projects have been approved since the cluster was set up in 2005.
28 have received funding; global budget amounts to 73.7 million euros, with pubic funding amounting to 30.6 million euros :
•    5.6  million from the Inter-ministerial Single Fund (FUI)
•    11.8 million from the French National Research Agency (ANR)
•    13.2 million from regional authorities (Auvergne and Rhône-Alpes), OSEO and  European Fund

International partnerships

The Céréales Vallée cluster is positioned in a strategic sector that has few players, and is one of the main clusters worldwide specialized in cereal innovation.

Projects that are supported by the Céréales Vallée cluster bring together public research laboratory scientists, industrials, and both French and international academic researchers.

Examples of partnerships :
Actions have been launched in India, China and Australia, as well as activities in Europe

The Céréales Vallée cluster supports « the European Triticeae Genomics Initiative » (ETGI), which is a platform for the coordination and representation of European research into Triticeae genomics. This platform is also linked to the international research community represented by the «International Triticeae Mapping Initiative » (ITMI).

At a European level, the dynamic launched by the Céréales Vallée cluster forms part of the movement established by the Plants for the Future technological platform. Marion Guillou, President of INRA, and Pierre Pagesse, Chairman of Limagrain and Céréales Vallée, are among the 21 signatories of the Plants for the Future - 2025 a European vision for plant genomics and biotechnology document. Céréales Vallée is active in the elaboration and development of programs within the framework of this platform.

As part of the European launch of a tri-lateral project, the cluster is participating in the Transnational Plant alliance for Novel Technologies (PLANT) – toward implementing the KBBE in Europe (PLANT- KBBE) initiative, which involves Spain, Germany and France and whose objective is to develop innovative programs in technologies associated with plants.

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