Interview Carin van Huet
'CO2 storage offers farmers an opportunity for a new revenue model'
Rabobank has a blueprint made for the agricultural sector to become future-proof in the coming years. To put it bluntly, the financier focuses on fewer rules and more entrepreneurship, which creates new revenue models. For example, CO2 storage in the soil. With Carin van Huët, director of Food and Agri at Rabobank Nederland, we go deeper into the matter.
Jullie hammering relies heavily on less regulation and more target-based regulations. Does this also apply to you as a bank when applying for financing, because the requirements are often quite demanding?
"You can't compare that. When applying for financing, we make a trade-off between, among other things, the return, solvency and the business model in order to create certainty. We have also developed a sustainability matrix. There are categories for each sector that customers can score on. That includes a part of the goals policy."
Does a 'green farmer' therefore also receive more attractive financing at, for example, lower interest rates?
"If you score in the highest category in the sustainability matrix, you can get an interest discount. An example of this is the pilot of the biodiversity loan in Drenthe† If you score high there, you will receive an interest discount of 0,5% up to a maximum of €1 million. With this we aim to make the sector more sustainable. We strive for a joint approach with other parties. In Drenthe, for example, we are working together with the province and FrieslandCampina. We will also roll out the biodiversity loan in other sectors, starting with arable farming."
In the coming decade there will be more quitters than starters. What does your plan look like to help stoppers make a soft landing and help successors without a millstone to get started?
"In the coming years, perhaps 40% of the farmers in our country will stop. Quitting can be complicated and we offer guidance in this. On the other hand, we see the starter problem, often in the family atmosphere, even if it is everyday. - and horticulture requires a lot of equity capital. We try to link the quitters and starters together. Our position enables us to connect entrepreneurs with each other. You can think of constructions in which land and capital are separated. This will continue to be the case in the future. become more common, we suspect. The stopper, or rather a retreating farmer, then retains the land and gives it to a young farmer by means of a lease construction."
Land-bound sectors such as arable farming and dairy farming must continue to lay claim to land. You also finance housing and industry at the same time. Then interests quickly clash in the city-state of the Netherlands. How do you navigate between these internally?
"It is not a battle, it does provide a healthy discussion. It sometimes seems as if the food and agri sector has to offer the solution to the land shortage, but that is too short-sighted. All sectors must contribute to this. contributes to the quality of life and is therefore indispensable for our country."
In your view, do you therefore argue for partitions between agriculture and the rest of the economy?
"This mainly relates to external balancing in the nitrogen file. The margins in the agricultural sector are low. Other sectors have much more clout, which means that nitrogen space will probably disappear from agriculture. This locks the agricultural sector. therefore also to undo external netting, although we are emphatically not a representative of interests. Leasing nitrogen space can be a solution, because this is temporary. Then a farmer can also create a revenue model."
In the vision I read that capturing CO2 in the soil offers an opportunity for extra income and possible new revenue models. Tell?
"Capturing CO2 in the soil is a revenue model under development, for example selling carbon credits to other sectors. You can label such a farmer as a broadener. Nature-inclusive agriculture can also be a revenue model. the income cannot come out of the market. It is also possible that a municipality or province reward such efforts. The construction of the income of the farmer will be more stacked in the future. External orientation is important. We see that entrepreneurs who are more successful in society, such as farmers who organize open days, participate in a business association, etc. They generally have more feelers to respond to trends.That is why we insist on a target policy, because that also makes entrepreneurial creativity."
Wouter Job
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