Certification
Organic farming, and High Environmental Value
Two audited certificates, and what each of them covers on this farm.
A farm can describe itself in any words it likes. A certificate cannot: it names products, it names the body that audited them, it carries a number, and it expires. This page reproduces what the two certificates of SCEA Abbaye Saint Pierre de Lacour actually say, and links to the public register where the organic one can be opened and read by anyone.
« Ut in omnibus glorificetur Deus. »
Rule of Saint Benedict, chapter 57
That in all things God may be glorified.
| Who certifies | ECOCERT France, code FR-BIO-01, under COFRAC accreditation. |
|---|---|
| What is certified | The farm's unprocessed plants and plant products: seventy-two species named on the certificate, out of conversion. The list, line by line. |
| Until when | 5 February 2026 to 31 March 2027. |
| Where to check it | On the European Commission's TRACES register, without asking us. The document. |
| What it does not cover | Honey, and the workshop's products until its own certification is issued. The edges, in detail. |
The organic certificate
The farm is certified by ECOCERT France under Regulation (EU) 2018/848 on organic production and the labelling of organic products. The certificate is issued under Article 35(1) of that Regulation and published in the European Commission's TRACES register of organic operators.
Certificate pursuant to Article 35(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/848
- Operator
- SCEA Abbaye Saint Pierre La Cour, l'Abbaye, 82600 Mas-Grenier, France
- Control body
- ECOCERT France, code FR-BIO-01, B.P. 47, 32600 L'Isle-Jourdain
- Document number
- FR-BIO-01.250-0055248.2026.004
- Activity
- Production
- Product category
- (a) Unprocessed plants and plant products, including seeds and other plant reproductive material
- Production method
- Organic production, excluding the conversion period
- Issued
- 11 June 2026, at L'Isle-Jourdain
- Valid
- 5 February 2026 to 31 March 2027
- Accreditation
- COFRAC, section 5, accreditation 5-0035
Open the certificate on the European Commission's register — only the electronic version held there is authoritative.
The product directory, line by line
Part II of the certificate lists the products covered. What follows is that list, translated but not summarised — the groupings and the species are the certificate's own. Each line links to the page that describes how it is grown.
| Category | Products named on the certificate | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Cereals and grains | Buckwheat · small spelt | Organic |
| Fruit | Strawberry | Organic |
| Pome and stone fruit, other | Plum · pear · fig · medlar · mulberry · apple · strawberry tree · raspberry · hazelnut · quince · pomegranate · cherry · peach · apricot · blueberry · almond · walnut · chestnut · olive · lemon · orange · mandarin · kumquat · grapefruit (scattered trees) · blackcurrant · redcurrant | Organic |
| Vegetables, other | Diversified market gardening: tomato · potimarron · pumpkin · squash · courgette · aubergine · sweet pepper · chilli · cucumber · gherkin · bean · chard · salad leaves · leek · broad bean · pea · potato · carrot · cabbage · celery | Organic |
| Diversified market gardening | As a production system in its own right | Organic |
| Pulses and dried vegetables | Legume mixture | Organic |
| Oilseeds | Sunflower | Organic |
| Aromatic and medicinal plants, other | Saffron · parsley · German chamomile · pot marigold · mallow · cornflower · lavender · lemon balm · rosemary · verbena · mint · thyme · sage · monarda · nasturtium · savory · basil · nettle · echinacea · coriander · lime · acacia | Organic |
| Meadows, heaths and pasture | Pasture | Organic |
Two things, in that list. The first is its length: twenty-six fruit species, twenty vegetables, twenty-two aromatic and medicinal plants on twelve hectares. The second is the phrase scattered trees against the citrus — the certificate records that lemon, orange, mandarin, kumquat and grapefruit exist here as individual trees, not as a plantation. The inspection went that far.
The edges of the certificate
An organic certificate covers a defined scope, and this one covers unprocessed plant products. The farm kitchen is being taken through certification for its processing scope; the apiary sits under the separate rules that govern beekeeping. We sell what we can certify, we label it as what it is, and the scope above is the whole of it.
What the length of the list means
A specialist orchard is typically certified for one or two species; a market garden for a dozen vegetables. Seventy-two named species on twelve hectares simply describe how the ground is shared here.
Haute Valeur Environnementale, level 3
The French environmental certification scheme for farms has three levels. The third, Haute Valeur Environnementale, is the only one that is measured on results rather than on practices declared: a holding reaches it by meeting performance thresholds, across the whole farm, on four indicators.
Exploitation de Haute Valeur Environnementale
- Holding
- Abbaye Saint Pierre La Cour SCEA, 82600 Mas-Grenier — SIRET 810 646 018 00012
- Certified by
- ECOCERT France SAS, approved by the Ministry of Agriculture under articles D.617-19 and R.617-28 of the Rural Code
- Standard
- Environmental certification of holdings, level 3, version of 18 November 2022, under Decree 2011-694 of 20 June 2011
- Certificate number
- 193155
- Valid
- 16 June 2026 to 15 June 2029
The four indicators
Biodiversity
Measured as the share of the farm given over to features of ecological interest and the diversity of what is grown. Here that means the hedges and tree lines, the flower-rich margins, the permanent pasture, the old orchard with its wide species range, and the aromatic plants, which flower over a long season. The count is helped considerably by the fact that the farm grows more than seventy species rather than three.
Plant protection strategy
Measured on the intensity of treatment. Organic production already excludes synthetic pesticides; the HVE indicator looks at what remains, and rewards a system built on rotation, varietal choice, mechanical weeding and observation rather than on routine intervention.
Fertilisation management
Measured on the nitrogen balance of the holding. Pulses in the rotation, permanent cover, organic matter returned to the soil and the absence of mineral fertiliser keep the balance low without starving the crops.
Irrigation and water management
Measured on water use relative to the crops grown. This is the indicator that matters most in Tarn-et-Garonne and the one the farm works hardest on: it is the subject of the water and irrigation page.
What certification looks like on the ground
Certification is a consequence, not a method. The practices that produce it are ordinary and unglamorous.
- No synthetic fertiliser, herbicide, fungicide or insecticide. Weeds are managed mechanically and by rotation.
- A rotation that puts pulses, cereals and vegetables in sequence, with the pulses feeding the nitrogen the cereals take.
- Soil kept covered where possible, and organic matter returned rather than removed.
- Hedges, tree lines, flowering margins and permanent grass maintained as habitat — and as the food supply the bee colonies depend on.
- Old fruit varieties chosen for local adaptation rather than for shelf life.
- Traceability records kept per plot and per crop, which is what makes the annual audit possible — and what makes the farm usable as a research site.
Both certificates are renewed on audit; the organic one can be opened at any time on the European Commission's register using the link in the first block on this page.