‘Food industry must support farmers’

With forecast sales growth of 7% per year, the future for organic food in the Netherlands looks rosy. However, this growth depends on more farmers making the transition to organic production, and that cannot be taken for granted because it’s not easy to switch. The food industry will have to play a proactive role in supporting the transition in the primary sector, according to analysts from Rabobank in the report titled ‘Satisfying the Appetite for Organic Food Products’ (available to download for Rabobank customers via the bank’s website).

Rabobank predicts that organic food sales in Europe and the USA will grow by an average of 6 to 8% annually in the coming years. That poses a challenge for the industry. If the food industry wants to safeguard the future supply of organic raw materials, it will have to provide the right encouragement to farmers in order to facilitate the transition. The food industry can support farmers in various ways. For example, there are programmes to help farmers gather the necessary knowledge, ‘transition labels’ which enable farmers to receive higher prices for their products during the transition, multi-year sourcing agreements and guarantee schemes provided by food processing companies or the government in order to make financing more easily available. 

www.rabobank.com