SMK quality marks are doing well, but not with milk

According to it 2022 annual report the result in milk amounted to a minus of €97.000. According to the annual report, this was partly the result of a lot of follow-up work due to a revision of the quality scheme in 2021. This also required a lot of time for further elaboration in 2022. Furthermore, the costs and benefits of the program are not yet in balance.

More participants needed
According to SMK, this requires further growth in the number of participants. Last year there were around 800 participating dairy farmers, mainly at FrieslandCampina and Farmel. There doesn't seem to be much growth in the number of participants in the last few years. On the one hand, new participants are joining, but on the other hand, more groups of participants are dropping out because they cannot meet the requirements. The area of ​​land managed by dairy farmers in accordance with the requirements of On the way to PlanetProof Milk increased by 2021% in 3 to almost 47.907 hectares. No information is provided about the development in 2022. To fill the shortages, additional project financing is being sought in the short term, according to SMK.

Less enthusiasm for sustainable stables and greenhouses
Things went better in the vegetable corner and with non-food quality marks.
The programs Sustainable Livestock Farming Maatlat, Sustainable Terrain Management Maatlat, Green Label Greenhouse and Green Scheme were implemented according to budget. The costs could be covered by the benefits. In all cases, interest in these programs is declining, but costs remain manageable. SMK gives no reason for the declining interest.