Opinions Alex Datema
Sustainable agriculture should be better rewarded
As you know, I am quite concerned about the future of agriculture and horticulture. Or rather, I should say: about the future of our food system. I am convinced that we must do everything we can to ensure that we arrive at a sustainable food system. Not only for ourselves, but also for our children and grandchildren. That sustainable food system does not have to be a dream; we actually know in broad outline what it should look like. The only problem is that the current economic laws are getting in the way of that new system.
I say deliberately that the current economic laws are an obstacle to a sustainable food system. The economy is not a fixed fact. The economy is not a law of nature, like gravity. People have created these 'laws' and made them our mantra. So it is also people who can change these laws.
Sustainability now still equals earning less
In the current way of agriculture, it is often economically unprofitable to invest in sustainability. That is what I hear continuously from farmers, and they are right. Making things more sustainable equals earning less. In fact, sustainability is not a permanent part of the agricultural economy at the moment. But the latter is a choice! Together we can also choose to make sustainability a permanent part of the economy. And not as a footnote, but as a starting point in the way the Netherlands produces food. The current economy is "only" based on a number of agreements that we have made with each other worldwide. If we all think that things should be different, then you can adjust those agreements.
Pie in the sky? I don't think so. The sector, from farmer to retailer, has now reached a point where most people believe that it should be more sustainable in the future. I notice that in the many conversations I have, the letters of intent that sector parties enter into with each other, the sustainability projects that are starting. At the same time, I also see that sustainability is not yet common practice. It is not yet the standard. The government is actually only trying to achieve that with increasingly strict legislation. That helps of course, but leads to a lot of resistance to sustainability instead of making people enthusiastic.
For food processing companies and retailers too, investing in sustainability often does not pay off: you put yourself at a disadvantage compared to a competitor who does not do this. And so the current system keeps itself in a stranglehold. The solution is obvious: include all costs and benefits of the production method in the cost price. So also the benefits for and damage to the environment, climate and nature. If you produce more sustainably, your cost price decreases. And with non-sustainable production, the cost price increases because the adverse effects on the environment, climate and nature count. In this way, the most sustainable production method is automatically the winner in the game of the economy.
Translating sustainability into rewards
Impossible? We are on the right track within the sector. Because many who are active in the food system are increasingly feeling the pressure of sustainability, the need to look at more fundamental change is also great. For example, a large number of parties are exploring together whether and how you can make sustainability a structural part of the economy. This starts with everyone looking at your own production method from the same goal, from the same data, from the same KPIs. Just as an example, do we take the CO2 emission per kilo of product as a starting point for the CO2 emission, or do we assume the CO2 emission per hectare in soil-based agriculture? And how do we measure the capture of CO2 in the soil or in biobased building materials? We also have to make these kinds of choices for the environment and nature. If we all look at sustainability through the same lens, we can compare the sustainability claims of different products with each other. This is the first question you have to answer together.
The second step is then: how do you translate that sustainability into value, into a reward so that you actually get an economy in which the party that performs best in the area of sustainability is also economically the strongest. Only when we succeed in organizing the economy in such a way that sustainability gives an economic advantage to the producer, we know for sure that there will be a continuous movement towards a sustainable food system. I believe, no, I am convinced that this is possible.
Alex Datema
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