Not FarmerFriendly, but farmer chains with supers

Mark van den Oever, foreman of Farmers Defense Force (FDF), announced on YouTube announced that Wednesday, February 10, was going to be FarmerFriendly's big day. It turned out differently, the supermarkets are not enthusiastic about the label set up by FDF to increase the margin for the farmer.

Representatives of farmers' organizations and supermarkets, among others, spoke to each other in Utrecht on Wednesday about whether or not to introduce FarmerFriendly. The CBL, the umbrella organization of supermarket companies, declared itself not a party to make a decision. Jumbo and Albert Heijn politely said they do not want to participate in FarmerFriendly. They have a better idea: forming chains with farmers.

Butter with the fish
After a meeting of 4 hours and XNUMX minutes, in which the CBL and the fighters of the FDF presented each other, the CBL brought a short and insignificant press release from. The dome writes here, among other things: "It has been agreed that more parties are needed to come to structural agreements. An independent chair will be appointed for the continuation of the process and we will adhere to earlier process agreements." A new meeting is scheduled for April 2, and then FDF wants butter with the fish, reports the movement in a statement† Then, according to Van den Oever, the essential question is on the table: "Do we hear a 'yes' or a 'no' on April 2 on FarmerFriendly?"

According to FDF, the FarmerFriendly concept, which is now a year old, should remain the basis for the discussions. That is a kind of private tax on shopping in the Netherlands of 3% on the total turnover of supermarkets, including toilet paper and vacuum cleaner bags. This yields approximately €1,2 billion. The FDF wants to divide this sum among the participating farmers who join a cooperative that manages the money for free. Van den Oever says about today's conversation: "The supermarkets are looking for a different route than FarmerFriendly, but there is no better plan so far. If CBL does come up with something better, we look forward to it with interest."

'horse trading'
Sjaak van der Tak of LTO Netherlands was also present. Van der Tak is satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. "Albert Heijn and Jumbo are fully committed to forming good chains with farmers. I call that profit." He calls the Farmer Friendly concept 'not realistic', because it demands money from the collective of supermarkets for farmers without any compensation. "The CBL made it clear in a presentation that it was not a party to go along with this, because competition law does not allow such a decision at sector level. Individual supermarkets can accept it." According to Van der Tak, banker Carin van Huët made it clear from Rabobank that the margins of supermarkets are thin. Participating on an individual basis is therefore unlikely.

The €1,2 billion that Farmer Friendly is claiming is the total profit of the supermarket chains after deducting all costs. The conversation turned into a sort of horse trading. Van der Tak: "When Jumbo's CEO Frits van Eerd noted that it would cost his company €240 million, Van den Oever was also willing to talk about, for example, €80 million."

Learning from beautiful examples
According to Van der Tak, Van Eerd and top woman Marit van Egmond of Albert Heijn declared themselves fully prepared to work on accelerating the acceleration of bringing Dutch farmers and their companies into close chain partnerships. "I understand and support that approach", says Van der Tak, "I am pleased that that sound is finally coming out. I think that is an excellent result of the FDF's campaigns. Jumbo wants to follow that track emphatically. CBL is also behind it as an umbrella organisation."

Van der Tak wants Albert Heijn to further make his knowledge of chain construction available and says that he has found Albert Heijn willing to do so. Van der Tak: "Marit van Egmond of Albert Heijn was the most clear about her position. She would like to contribute to better earning models for farmers through intensive cooperation in chains that ensure distinction. Frits van Eerd of Jumbo agreed. Albert Heijn can show very nice examples with very satisfied farmers."

Healthy revenue models
According to Van der Tak, the CBL has put forward a list of action points to which he has added a few. A plan to make the chain collaboration concrete must be presented by 1 April at the latest, which Van der Tak is committed to. In the meeting, FDF man Jos Ubels also stated that he was willing to discuss chain formation as a basis for healthy earning models for farmers, says Van der Tak.

Ubels spoke out about the meeting in a vlog, in which he indeed says that the FDF can embrace a better plan than FarmerFriendly, but still stick to FarmerFriendly as a minimum. In its own statement, FDF describes it as follows: "All parties agreed on the agreement that an agreement must be reached on April 2 on the proposal that will actually improve the farmer's earning model. And that is positive."

Wipe out of the pan
Ubels does give Van der Tak a blow, because he would like a long discussion process with the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Van der Tak stated to us, just as he said in the press before, that he prefers not to have the government at the table. Ubels seems to have insufficiently let the polite rejection of FarmerFriendly from Jumbo and Albert Heijn sink in.

Also in the statement from FDF, the organization still sticks to its own initiative. "Although no solution or better alternative has yet been presented from the other chain parties for improving the earning model for the farmer, all parties have until 2 April to find an answer."

However, that answer has already been discussed. So-called 'dedicated' chains enable farmers with good entrepreneurial insights to organize their business operations over the long term in such a way that they earn money and, together with processors and retailers, can put distinctive products on the market. This creates a mutual obligation as the basis for a good relationship in which the partners take care of each other's success. After all, they can't live without each other.

This article is part of the content collaboration between Boerenbusiness en foodlog.

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