In July 2025, Domaine de Graux obtained B Corp certification, an acknowledgement of our sustainable practices across product development, company culture, procurement, and community partnerships. Becoming a B Corp was never about a label. It was about formalizing something we already believed in: that agriculture and business can, and must, generate meaningful positive impact.
We want to prove that agroecology works at scale, that it benefits both farmers and the environment, and that healthy soils, biodiversity, and economic viability can go hand in hand. This commitment guides every decision we make, from farm management to procurement, from how we build our team to how we engage with the communities around us.
Being part of the B Corp network strengthens us as a company. It creates space for cross-pollination of ideas, shared learning, and collaboration. For our visitors, wholesalers, and partners, it serves as a credible signal of accountability and transparency. B Corp is not a destination. It is a framework for continuous improvement. And we are just getting started.
Company Culture: Building from the Inside Out
When people think about B Corp, they often think about products, supply chains, or environmental practices. At Domaine de Graux, those things matter deeply. But culture is where it gets truly fascinating, because ultimately, it’s the heart of everything a company stands for. B Corp certification is not just a label we apply to what we make. It is a standard we hold ourselves to in how we work, how we lead, and how we build our team.
If we want Domaine de Graux to be a place where businesses come to reconnect with nature and explore what conscious leadership looks like in practice, we have to demonstrate it ourselves.
A Team Built with Intention
We recruit on talent, attitude, and shared values. Agriculture is still a heavily male-dominated sector, yet we are a predominantly female team and a women-led company. Diverse teams make better decisions, they are more resilient, more creative, and better equipped to tackle complex challenges. That is not an HR talking point; it is something we see in how we work every day.
“Regenerating ecosystems requires biodiversity. Building a strong organisation requires the same logic.” Marie Delvaulx, General Manager
Collaboration as Structure, Not Sentiment
We are a small team where every role is connected: farming, hospitality, administration, and impact coordination do not operate in isolation. That cross-functionality is intentional, and we protect it. Every new team member goes through an onboarding program designed to build understanding across roles. The person managing finances needs to understand what happens in the field, and vice versa. That shared understanding is what makes real collaboration possible.
When farming thrives, the event experience improves. When the event experience improves, it creates the resources to invest back into the land. Nothing operates in isolation, and that interdependence is the foundation of how we work together. We communicate directly, with context, and with a default toward collaboration rather than silos. We address problems constructively and early, assume good intentions, and hold each other accountable, not through hierarchy, but through a genuine commitment to the same mission.
Learning Is Part of the Job
Continuous improvement is a core B Corp principle, and we take it to heart. Team members have access to both on-site and external training, from operating heavy machinery to ergonomic training that protects our team through demanding physical work. We actively support professional development because individual growth strengthens the whole organization.
We also welcome interns year-round, from agricultural students to career changers, from local schools to international profiles. That constant exchange of fresh perspectives keeps us humble, open to new ways of thinking, and eager to keep learning.
A place where everyone is welcome
Regeneration is human as much as ecological. Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion guide how we farm, hire, welcome guests, and engage with our community. Access to healthy food, fair opportunities, and welcoming spaces is not an add‑on, it is embedded in our operations. Our ambition is simple: a place where everyone feels respected, valued, and able to contribute. This shows up for instance in the words we choose, the way we create our workshops, and how we design our spaces across the farm.
We are equally committed to respecting human rights across our entire value chain. This means promoting fair labour conditions, responsible sourcing, transparency with partners, and zero tolerance for forced or child labour. We choose to work with suppliers and collaborators who share our values and uphold high social and ethical standards.
Good intentions need structure. Johanna, our Impact Coordinator across The Nest and Domaine de Graux, is building the framework that turns our commitments into operational standards, not aspirations on a wall. Her work ensures that our B Corp guidelines are tracked, reviewed, and improved over time. We have also integrated B Corp principles into our daily decision-making flow, including a structured procurement decision tree to ensure our choices align with our values, today and in the future.
Product Development: Rooted in Regeneration
Our farm products are more than seasonal delicacies. They all express our values. And will soon shape the culinary identity of our farm-to-table restaurant. From orchard jams made with heritage varieties to nut oil, nut flour, apple juice, and our Black Angus beef, every product is the result of deliberate choices about what we grow, how we process it, and who we work with along the way.
For us, impact is not a box to tick at the end. It is embedded throughout the production process, at the concept phase, in partner selection, in packaging and labelling decisions, in market positioning, and in how we communicate not just the product, but the ecosystem behind it.
Some of our farm products are co-produced with passionate local artisans who share our belief that the shortest distance between field and plate is almost always the best one. Reinette & Co manages the harvest and sourcing of our apples, pears, and plums. Pom d’Happy transforms them into juice and cider. We also work with Diversifruit and Le Bois d’Ogy as part of the broader Belgian conservatory orchard network. All are committed actors working together to preserve old local varieties for generations to come. Moulin du Stwerdu transforms our walnuts into oil and flour. For our Black Angus beef, we work with the cooperatives Wapicowp and Wapimeat for processing and Entier for connecting our meat to local restaurants.
More Than an Orchard
Our conservation orchard is part of the Belgian conservatory orchard network, home to local and old fruit varieties, some rare, some nearly forgotten. This year, we produced our first batch of cider, ready to be tried and tested before a full launch. We very recently obtained the Vergers Vivant label, which recognizes that our orchard is untreated and actively restores biodiversity through criteria such as hedgerow preservation and habitat management.
Together with our ornithologist, we are also deploying a network of nest boxes in our orchard to strengthen bird populations. Early this year, we added 30 new boxes (bringing the total to 45 boxes) in our orchards, supporting species such as chickadees, little owls, barn owls, and kestrels, all crucial allies in natural pest regulation.
Choosing Impact over Convenience
Impact decisions are often subtle, but sometimes they are clear trade-offs. For our jams, we chose a local transformer who is not organically certified, because proximity mattered more in reducing transport impact and supporting local craftsmanship. For the walnut oil, we work with the only Belgian processor capable of handling organic quantities, even if it is further away. We developed our nut flour specifically to valorize the by-product of oil production and reduce waste. Our gift boxes are packed in recyclable cardboard, avoiding plastic components, and product labels are printed locally in Tournai to limit transport.
For meat processing we opt for the slaughterhouse of Ath for its stronger animal welfare approach, independently of cost considerations. Energy use within our production process is minimal: fruits are briefly stored in the already operational cold chamber of our market garden, transported locally for pressing, and for jams the producer collects the fruit directly and returns with finished jars.
“For the meat, we have no alternative to plastic packaging,” Eve explains. “We explored options with sustainable packaging experts, but today there is no viable solution that guarantees food safety. Sometimes impact also means acknowledging constraints and working toward improvement.”
Aligning with B Corp standards did not require us to reinvent our process. As Eve puts it: “We were already applying the same principles, short supply chains, reusable packaging, local transformers. In this case, B Corp simply formalized what we believed in.” But we do see areas to improve: introducing a deposit system for juice bottles, pushing packaging beyond recyclability toward genuine reuse, and increasing the share of our produce that feeds our own restaurant rather than travelling further afield.
Community Partnerships: A Shared Vision
There is a part of sustainability that lives in policies, certifications, and carefully worded mission statements. And then there is the kind that shows up in a field at seven in the morning, in a handshake with a local cooperative, in children pressing their palms into the soil for the very first time.
Every community-based partnership we have forged is a deliberate choice based on proximity, shared purpose and long-term commitment. Our local community is an essential part of our network. And we keep building it, season after season.
Opening Our Gates to the Youngest
We believe the adults of tomorrow need to grow up connected to nature. A big part of that is understanding where our food comes from. In partnership with the LE CRIE de Mouscron, we open our domain to primary schools through the “École du Dehors” programme. We provide the space and a fully equipped educational cart, free of charge. Schools cover only the cost of the animation. The rest, the mud, the curiosity, the questions that don’t have easy answers, comes naturally.
There is something quietly radical about giving children time in a working landscape. They learn to read weather, to handle plants, to understand that food does not begin in a supermarket aisle. A domain that opens itself to the next generation is one that is genuinely invested in the future of the land it tends.
From time to time, we open the farm to the public for Family Days, a chance to walk the domaine, meet the people growing your food, and see firsthand how we work.
Art That Makes You Stop and Think
Not every partnership is about production. Our Art Path is a walking trail through the domain where works by local and international artists – including students from Saint-Luc school in Tournai – invite you to pause, reflect, and see the familiar world a little differently. Art and agriculture share common ground. Both require patience, attention to season and light, and a willingness to let something grow into what it needs to become. The Art Path is an invitation to walk slowly, to look carefully, to remember that a domain is not just a place of production but a place of meaning.
Nature as Key Stakeholder
Certified B Corps are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders: workers, communities, customers, suppliers, and nature. At Domaine de Graux, this principle is not a formality; it is the foundation of our work. Healthy ecosystems are the starting point for everything we do. We regenerate soils, restore biodiversity, and continuously reduce our environmental footprint across the entire estate.
A Landscape Designed for Life
Biodiversity is not an add‑on here, it is foundational to the Regenerative Organic design of the Domaine. Silvopasture, hedgerows, grass strips, and biodiversity corridors spaced every 60 meters create a living mosaic of habitats. Twelve ponds punctuate the landscape, supporting wildlife and essential ecosystem services such as natural pest control, pollination, and nutrient cycling.
Our soils remain permanently covered with clover, multi‑species cover crops, grasses, and agroforestry elements. This living cover protects against erosion, retains nutrients, and allows the soil to regenerate naturally. Water and energy are treated as precious resources: we prioritize low‑water‑demand crops, efficient irrigation, and energy‑saving practices across operations.
This year marks our first comprehensive ecological survey of the Domaine, a full assessment of insects, birds, bats, plant diversity, and habitat quality. We will compare our results with sites under different management systems, offering a rare opportunity to understand the ecological impact of our practices on ecosystems. Early monitoring already shows promising signs: our three bee hotels, installed in collaboration with BeeOdiversity, have higher occupancy rates than comparable sites. Pollen and soil analyses reveal significantly lowerpesticide presence than the average of monitored farms, underscoring the positive effects of our approach on pollinators and ecosystem health.
Soil as The Foundation of Resilience
Soil health is central to our mission. We monitor key indicators, and 2023 results show 3–6% soil organic matter and 15–30 µg of microbial DNA per gram of soil —well above typical values in conventional agriculture where organic matter often sits between 0–3% and microbial biomass between 1–3 µg. These results confirm what we observe in the field: soils at Domaine de Graux are more alive, more resilient, and better equipped to withstand climate extremes.
These indicators guide our daily decisions on grazing, crop rotations, and soil cover. Research shows why this matters: soils with 4% organic matter can hold more than twice as much water as soils with only 1%, dramatically improving resilience to drought and heavy rainfall. This year, we are working on a soil health protocol that is both rigorous and accessible, allowing us to measure even more precisely the positive impact of our regenerative practices.
Reducing Our Footprint Beyond the Fields
Our environmental commitment extends to our buildings as well. In 2025, we undertook an ambitious renovation of the Domaine’s infrastructure, a complex process requiring a balance between ecological ambition, technical feasibility, and economic constraints. We are proud to have achieved 78% ecological materials, significantly reducing the project’s footprint in a sector responsible for a major share of global emissions.
Once we reopen, we will actively measure the climate impact of our operations and translate our commitments into a concrete roadmap for continuous improvement.
Our ambition goes beyond farming. We are building Domaine de Graux into a reference event center that inspires sustainable thinking and offers an immersive connection with nature. As we further develop this side of our activities, we know we will learn and adjust. Those lessons won’t slow us down; they motivate us. We see them as opportunities to raise the bar.
We are regenerating landscapes. We are also trying to regenerate how a business can operate: with honesty, accountability, and long-term thinking at the center. That is what B Corp means to us in practice, asking the hard questions, aligning decisions with values, and building something that holds up under scrutiny, starting from the inside.
Domaine de Graux is also expanding its own research and innovation efforts to serve as bridge between theory and on-farm practice, helping make regenerative agriculture more accessible and replicable. We are expanding this role even further with a large program of workshops, trainings, and learning experiences designed for all these audiences. Soon, the farm will also host a 200 m² agroecology museum, offering an immersive space to explore the history, the challenges and the future of farming.
All year round, Domaine de Graux will act as a safe space for honest exchange and bold dialogue, where diverse disciplines, perspectives, and sectors come together to question and inspire one another. It is a place where ideas evolve, disciplines meet, and new futures take shape. We openly share our practices, data, challenges, and failures so others can transition with confidence. And when we engage in public dialogue or advocacy, we do so transparently, ethically, and grounded in science
“Next-level impact would mean closing even more loops: reuse instead of recycle, internal valorisation, deeper transparency.” Eve de Cannière, Program & Product Manager
And that, perhaps, is the most concrete expression of our B Corp journey: creating a domain, a team, and a set of products and partnerships that nourish not only people, but place, relationships, and possibility.
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