Working with farmers to ensure water quality – France / Argentina

In 1992, Nestlé Waters established the agricultural advisory firm Agrivair, based in Vittel, France to assist local farmers in "greening" their agricultural practices. Agrivair supports local farmers with grants, research and technical assistance to promote guidelines on environmental farming techniques, such as crop rotation, elimination of pesticides, and composting of all animal waste. Agrivair also supports the sustainable management of forests, green parks, golf courses and has developed a thermal weed control process for paths, parking lots and railroad tracks. Today, the Agrivair guidelines have been implemented on 92% of the Vittel and 70% of the Contrex water resources land areas. In Argentina, Eco de los Andes is a natural mineral water that originates from 5’000 metres in the Andes Mountains. Joint efforts between Nestlé Waters and local authorities to preserve this water resource and the local environment include two protective zones. The most stringent zone comprises 2’500 hectares of land around the spring where agricultural activities are recommended along organic farming principles, and use of fertilisers and pesticides has been minimised and is strictly monitored.