L’Herbier du Diois is situated at the entry of the village of Châtillon-en-Diois.
The village of Châtillon-en-Diois
L’Herbier du Diois is situated at the entry of the village of Châtillon-en-Diois, 12km southwest of Die. This rural commune, at the foot of the Vercors national park between the Glandasse and Piémont mountains, hosts 666 inhabitants. The narrow streets, traditional houses, and battlements make this medieval village a place of preserved architectural heritage. The commune includes a large area of forests and mountains, which help to support a rich and varied biodiversity. Our company borders some of our fields, which allows us to observe nature in action. We are careful to preserve hedges, regularly plant trees, and tend to our botanical garden which today hosts over 200 species. We have formed a partnership with the LPO (League for the Protection of Birds) and created the “Herbier du Diois Refuge” on our site. In this way, we are committed to welcoming more and more plant and animal species around us, enhancing our natural heritage and using it as a tool to teach the public about nature.
The Diois
The Diois is a region found at the crossroads between the Alpes Mountains and Provence, surrounded by many fields which offers an exceptional biological diversity and a climate that is a perfect compromise between the rigorous climate of the nearby mountains and the dry mildness of the Mediterranean. We alternate from the vast fields of Spring primroses to the dazzling colors of the Summer lavender to the ocean of Fall colors radiance to end the year with our snow-capped Winter mountain tops. Eternal amidst the seasons, our beloved mountain called the Glandasse, who proudly overlooks all the valley from its 2041 meters high perspective !
The Drôme : Pioneer region of organic agriculture in France
Since the 1970’s, several actors (producers, consumers, businesses, and local cooperatives) have brought an organic worldview to the area. The Drôme has become a reference in terms of the development of organic agriculture and today has 1,267 farms that are certified organic or in the process of converting; that’s more than 40% of the usable local agricultural surface area. More than 13% of these parcels are dedicated to aromatic and medicinal plants (PPAM). In the village of Châtillon-en-Diois, more than 60% of plots are used for organic agriculture.
The Biovalée® project®
The Diois is at the heart of the Biovalée (organic valley) project, which contributes to making the Drôme a national and even European reference in terms of sustainable development material. Launched by the villages in Val de Drôme and Diois in the 1980’s, Biovalée has since carried out several projects that support environmental protection. The association encourages the various actors to continuously progress, and has the objective of attaining 50% organic farmers and farms in 2020, to propose 80% local or organic produce in the collective restaurants by 2025, to cover the entirety of energy consumption in the region with local renewable energy by 2040, and that all urban planning documents promise to no longer destroy agricultural land for urbanization.
