Carbon newsletter Rabo makes mistake with farmer

Participation in the National Week without meat and dairy is in any case sensitive for many companies in part of the food industry, but seems almost mandatory for supermarket chains. Rabobank is the largest financier of agriculture and seems to have to choose and is unable to do so, resulting in unfortunate expressions. 

But it should not be seen that way, explains Alex Datema, director of Food & Agri at the bank. A regular one went this week Carbon Insightsmailing to a group of around 9.000 customers who are interested in everything related to their CO2 footprint. This is a small group among the many millions of customers. The message was not intended for farmers and came from a specific team, which also does not have access to data from agricultural customers.

No data link
This is important to know, Datema thinks, because he too knows the stories that are quickly circulating. Farmers who want favorable credit from Rabobank are often asked to apply JoinData check the box so that company data (cycle pointer) can be shared with the bank. This means that the bank can view not only financial data, but also the company's CO2 footprint, or: how much CO2 is emitted per kilo of milk, feed or meat?

The suggestion was quickly made that the bank could use this data to subsequently deploy anti-livestock advertising. However, that is not the case, assures Datema. "There are many protocols to prevent something like this. We only use our customers' company data between us as a financier and the individual customer."

Never should have
That does not alter the fact that Datema is very unhappy with the mailing and the commotion that has arisen about it. “This should never have happened.” It is and remains an annoying signal. Perhaps the industrial accident will lead to another protocol. The bank says it cherishes its agricultural customers and is taking measures to prevent a recurrence of such a situation.