'We do PlanetProof, but we don't have enough'

A majority of dairy farmers who supply milk for the PlanetProof label are not making any financial sense. Most of them also think that consumers do not really know what the PlanetProof label stands for. This emerges from the survey that Boerenbusiness and Foodlog have organized among dairy farmers.

The On the Way to PlanetProof quality mark evokes mixed feelings. It produces more costs than benefits, is a frequently heard statement from the sector, so that there is not enough left at the bottom of the line. That is why the private vegetable processor HAK has asked the market to pay more. The company now says it is subsidizing its suppliers, i.e. arable farmers. LTO Arable farming and fruit growers organization NFO dropped out of the consultation this fall because of the requirements of the quality mark.

Strong quality mark
Both agricultural umbrella organizations believe that the quality mark is insufficiently paid for by the market. According to Greenpeace the poor payment is due to the supermarkets not wanting to make their products more expensive. When she was presented with the billionth liter of PlanetProof milk, said agriculture minister Carola Schouten that she thinks it is a strong hallmark. It offers environmental and animal welfare benefits and the consumer appears to be choosing it, says the minister.

Gauging in a joint research project Boerenbusiness and Foodlog the experiences of agricultural entrepreneurs with PlanetProof. We start with dairy farming. In that sector, the label is currently exclusively carried by Royal FrieslandCampina. The largest dairy in our country has a share of approximately 75% of the total milk flow from farms. CEO Hein Schumacher stated at the beginning of the autumn that sustainability requirements are not a revenue model. From now on, FrieslandCampina will simply focus on taste. 

Consumer no longer pays
While policymakers hope the demands will be paid by the market, Schumacher sees a very different trend. He calculated that the share of the profit of the end product shifts to the retail trade. The costs on the part of the farmer increase, while the consumer no longer pays. It cannot be the case that the costs of more sustainable production are passed on to the farmers, wrote Schouten in a letter to the House of Representatives† But she did not offer a solution to compensate for the increased tax burden by increasing the cost of food from consumers' disposable income.

Uit an investigation of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), carried out by Wageningen UR, recently showed that supermarkets do not run away with the margin. According to the Authority, the demand from foreign buyers for sustainable products from the Netherlands would lag behind the supply. Whether the motive lies in oversupply or not, FrieslandCampina has now decided to Don't keep PlanetProof milk exclusively for yourself, but open to third parties. The company does want to retain the exclusivity for producing PlanetProof milk that it has de facto due to its market power: FrieslandCampina members produce three quarters of the Dutch milk flow. 

contrived construction
Other milk processors may purchase the milk and process it into end products on which they can also display the logo. They can now do that from a strictly legal point of view, but organizing the farmers and financing their adaptations is a major effort so that purchasing is a more logical commercial solution.

Theoretically, this would mean that cheese from the competing cooperatives Cono and Rouveen with the logo will be available in Jumbo or Deen stores with milk from FrieslandCampina farmers. That construction is, of course, artificial. It is conceivable that non-cooperative, but private processors such as A-ware or the French Bel Group (Bel Leerdammer), active in the Netherlands, process the milk of FrieslandCampina farmers into dairy for customers who have consumers in their stores who find the quality mark distinctive. . 

According to PlanetProof, approximately 10% of the Dutch milk flow can meet the requirements of the quality mark. With the exception of Albert Heijn, all supermarkets in the Netherlands have now switched to PlanetProof milk. Albert Heijn suggests different and higher requirements and obtains its milk directly from dairy farmers. The milk is processed by A-ware. While FrieslandCampina pays the members who participated in the requirements of the PlanetProof program in 2020 €0,02 more per liter, Albert Heijn is now paying an extra €0,05 to the farmer.

This is how dairy farmer thinks about Planetproof
151 dairy farmers responded to the survey. The largest group (34,5%) who fully completed the survey consisted of dairy farmers with between 100 and 150 cows. 12,4% have more than 150 cows, 34,4% have fewer than 80 cows and 11% have fewer than 50. Just under 21% have between 80 and 100 animals. 29,7% of the total group of 151 participate in PlanetProof and are therefore FrieslandCampina farmers. 

When asked about the strengths and weaknesses, a remarkably large flow of responses emerged. Below we briefly summarize the reactions of the dairy farmers for each question.

Surcharge motivatesWhat motivates farmers to participate? 69% go for the additional cost of €0,02. Other motives - such as making a distinction in relation to competitor suppliers within the cooperative, support and image in society - lag far behind the financial motive. Later in the survey, criticism can be heard of the extra costs that farmers have to incur to be able to cash in on their additional price.

Why don't farmers participate? Only 9% answered that not participating is not possible, because they are not a member of FrieslandCampina. 26% would like to participate, but are not among the chosen ones. 13% say they think the additional price is too low. 20% have a company that is not eligible to participate. An almost equally large proportion (19%) disagree with the method, while a further 13% want to determine for themselves how best to run a dairy farm to meet today's requirements.

When asked why farms are unsuitable or unwilling to participate, the majority of respondents cite the requirements in the field of pasture grazing, permanent grassland and protein from their own land. An organic dairy farmer is striking. He notes that PlanetProof has no added value for him, because a number of requirements exceed those of biological. While the additional cost is significantly lower.

Should PlanetProof exclusivity for FrieslandCampina expire?

No, says 70,5%. Yes, 24,4% say that they want to participate or, on the contrary, open up the use of the logo (which they presumably expect to have added value) more broadly to all dairy farmers in the Netherlands. 5% say they don't have that need, because they supply a dairy processor that has other milk flows to add value to sustainable operations by charging consumers more for it.

Do dairy farmers think PlanetProof is a good fit for a cooperative?

The logo creates inequality through the €0,02 extra that a small group of farmers receives, while they do use all the facilities that FrieslandCampina offers. However, that is not a problem, according to 60,5% of farmers if they also have to meet other requirements. 39% disagree with this statement and believe that all members should receive the same price for their milk. 

Is it a good thing that PlanetProof's requirements have been drawn up by a third party? 

Stichting Milieukeur, the organization behind PlanetProof, has no interest in the requirements set and can therefore formulate them independently. 39% of the respondents think this is a good thing. The group that does not think so is almost the same (38%). 16% have no opinion and 6,7% think it is no problem, because someone has to formulate the requirements. 

Do the €0,02 extra outweigh the additional costs?

No, say 41,5%, while 19,5% say they are only breaking even. Together that makes 61%. Just under a quarter (24,4%) say they earn more thanks to PlanetProof milk on the shelves. 12,2% say they do not yet know how PlanetProof will turn out financially. To this question 2,4% did not answer, an exception in this survey.

Do farmers think that the consumer knows the logo?

47% of farmers think that too few consumers are familiar with the logo. 20,9% think that improvement of brand awareness is desirable. Together that is a group of almost 68%. 21,6% has no opinion about the valuation or awareness of the logo in the market.

Do farmers think that consumers know what the logo stands for? 

No, almost three quarters (72,4%). Exactly half of the respondents think that there are too many quality marks, so that consumers lose their way about their content and meaning. 22,4% think they don't know exactly what the logo stands for. Less than 1% think consumers know what the logo stands for. 20,9% think that improving understanding among consumers is desirable.

Confusion: Who does a PlanetProof farmer produce for?
in a for Boerenbusiness-surveys Exceptional amount and detail of answers, the dairy farmers answered questions about the strengths and weaknesses they experience from PlanetProof and the set of requirements. An important recurring element is the limited added value for consumers, so that the earnings on investments are lagging behind, the high requirements and the fear that the logo will eventually no longer have any extra value due to general introduction.

Striking are the complementary comments that - on the one hand - extensive farms do not fit in the logo and that - on the other hand - the logo can fit well with intensive farms that allow the cow to give maximum milk. What one farmer sees as being in line with what consumers expect (extensification), another farmer does not see that as an asset. Intensive farmers see intensive sustainability as the distinctive character of the logo. This indicates confusion among farmers about the market for which they produce. 

Up next week Boerenbusiness.nl and Foodlog.nl: this is how arable farmers view PlanetProof.

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