Next Food Collective’s sustainable food system’s director on designing an agricultural system at scale

The Netherlands is the world’s second-biggest exporter of agricultural produce after the US. According to government figures, the Dutch agricultural sector exports around €65 billion (US$68 billion) annually, representing 17.5% of its total exports. Despite a population of just 18 million, the Netherlands is undoubtedly an agricultural heavyweight.

Food Ingredients First catches up with Wouter-Jan Schouten, theme director, sustainable food systems at the Netherlands-based Next Food Collective. The organization connects public, private, and academic organizations to accelerate regenerative farming in the country. 

It’s also one of the driving forces behind the Re-Ge-NL project, a government-backed program that involves 54 organizations and focuses on transitioning the country’s current agricultural system to regenerative practices by working closely with farmers. 

The program aims to upend traditional private-public partnerships to achieve goals such as 1,000 farmers transitioning to a profitable and regenerative farm before 2030. It also wants participating parties to have new valorization models and purchase at least 30% regeneratively. 

According to Re-Ge-NL, regenerative agriculture can save 80% in environmental costs, amounting to approximately €5 billion (US$5.2 billion). 

Schouten tells us more about what his organization has been up to and his hopes for the future. 

How is Next Food Collective working with farmers and producers on regenerative agriculture and sustainable supply chains?
Schouten: We started the first program on regenerative agriculture back in 2018, working with several companies, including the likes of FrieslandCampina, to answer the question, “How can we design an agricultural system at scale?”

We created a set of requirements for what a regenerative system should fulfill at the field, farm, landscape, national, and global levels. We then reached out to about 20 pioneering farms in the Netherlands that are leaders in regenerative practices to understand their outcomes and how we can measure them. 

The question was, “Can we quantify the positive impact?” That’s obviously quite challenging, but we’re working on it. 

We also wanted to see what’s blocking further scaling up for some farms. That’s the first public-private partnership program we did, which was finalized in 2023.

How does Next Food Collective work with governments and the public sector regarding regenerative agriculture?
Schouten: We’re currently in the start-up phase of getting going with the Re-Ge-NL project, a large program backed by the Dutch National Growth Fund; the proposal was granted at the end of 2023.

We work closely with three Dutch universities, including Wageningen University, large pharma cooperatives in the Netherlands like Unilever, grassroots organizations with expertise in organic farming, and financial companies like Rabobank and ABN Amro. We brought all these groups together in one consortium.

What is your main aim?
Schouten: The main aim is making the business models of these pioneering farms repeatable, so it is not so dependent on “a niche.” Essentially, how do we implement these learnings elsewhere so success is not so dependent on the superb entrepreneurship of these pioneering farms? We want these practices to be executed by good entrepreneurs, who are maybe not as pioneering as other farms, but can still make an impact [using tried and tested regenerative practices.] 

What are the sector’s challenges in creating sustainable food systems at a large scale and efficiency?
Schouten: We built our program around four barriers that we see. One: there needs to be a mainstream revenue model so it’s not dependent on a niche. Two: there needs to be transition pathways so farmers can apply existing and new innovations in the transition. Three: There should be predictive models and data collection, so aspects can be measured and valued. Finally, there needs to be more human capital - the design and implementation of structural (informal) educational innovations for regenerative agriculture.

Lastly, what are your hopes for the future?
Schouten: That we prove it works and get excitement within a large part of the farmer sector that regenerative agriculture is possible at scale in the Netherlands. We want to inspire the majority of farms in the country to follow that route.