Two very different views on Yara France and Nicolas Broutin
Presentation of Nicolas Broutin, Chairman of Yara France, by himself. Nicolas Broutin (born in 1975) – Chairman of Yara France since June 2019. Nicolas Broutin is a graduate of the Institut Supérieur d’Agriculture de Lille and has a management degree from the Institut Français de Gestion. He began his career at Ammoniac Agricole (specialising in nitrogen fertilisation from 1998 to 2006). He then joined the Yara Group in 2007, where he was appointed Sales Director for France and then for the Mediterranean region, covering 32 countries. As Chairman of Yara France since 2019, Nicolas Broutin is in charge of the transformation of the production cycle, which involves decarbonising industrial activities. Nicolas Broutin is passionate about production systems – including plant nutrition – and about supporting farmers in their ambition to use ‘better fertilisers’ in order to meet both climate challenges and the challenges of improving the profitability of their farms. Two very different views on Yara France and Nicolas Broutin…
Presentation of Nicolas Broutin, Chairman of Yara France, by Planctonid
Under formal notice for non-compliance since 2011, the Norwegian multinational Yara has exploited and sacrificed the promising start-up Planctonid SAS – awarded a 2019 COP 21 prize for its advances in water treatment – in order to extend the operation of its Montoir-de-Bretagne plant by three years, despite the demands of the State.
Presentation of Yara France by the Nantes Administrative Court
The fertiliser manufacturer had challenged the numerous formal notices issued by the Prefecture concerning its Montoir plant, one of the most polluting in the Pays de la Loire region. On 14 March 2023, the Nantes Administrative Court ruled in favour of the government, ordering the manufacturer to comply with environmental standards and pay its fines. Read the pressarticle.
Donges environmental association (AEDZRP) exposes its doubts and suspicions
Following news reports about the evacuation of ammonia by ship, the associations and organisations that make up the collective once again turned to the sub-prefect to express their misunderstandings and questions on this subject. See the letter sent to the sub-prefect.
A review of the behaviour of Yara France and its Chairman by “20 Minutes with AFP”.
‘Our choice: the environment and jobs’, but “Yara has chosen redundancy”. This is the message displayed on a banner hanging over the factory gates, not far from a fire of pallets and tyres. On Wednesday morning, around sixty striking employees gathered outside the Yara site in Montoir-de-Bretagne (Loire-Atlantique) to protest against the loss of 139 of the 171 jobs planned by the fertiliser manufacturer since early November. This plant, classified as a ‘high threshold’ Seveso plant, has been the subject of several complaints for non-compliance. In June, Yara was fined €519,900 for excessive dust emissions into the atmosphere. This sum corresponds to part of the daily administrative penalty imposed on Yara France since June 2020. The French government has issued several formal notices against the group, the first of which dates back to 2011. Read the article dated 22 November 2023, just 1 year ago.
Yara France’s non-compliance highlighted by Ouest-France
Yara has decided to convert its Montoir-de-Bretagne chemical fertiliser plant into a logistics centre, a decision it justifies on economic grounds. Criticised for failing to comply with environmental standards and for being a dangerous site, the Montoir site was being closely monitored by the French government, which imposed a record fine of €500,000 on Yara last June. A negotiation meeting was held on Monday in Paris between Yara France and union representatives to discuss the terms and conditions, the timetable for the restructuring and the future of the employees. Read the article dated 7 November 2023.