Marjolein Brasz - CEO Foodvalley

01 April 2023

By 2050, we want healthy, affordable, and delicious food. Sustainably produced. Of course, we won't reach that destination overnight. The current system is a result of decades, centuries of built up, the change will also occur in phases and over time. As with all changes, the status quo needs revisiting, evaluating what works and what doesn’t, and determining what ways, means and routes can potentially lead to better solutions, with and for those involved. Difficulties to be addressed along the way.

At Foodvalley, we don't shy away from obstacles, especially not those that can be tackled by a joint approach and through innovation. We help to pave the way for innovations that will help frontrunners grow, produce, market and find their way onto supermarket shelves, and on our plates. We would like to invite you on our journey in 'shaping the future of food together'!

Three innovation fields

To reach our destination, we focus on three innovation fields: protein transition, food & health and circular agrifood. We do this jointly with a broad group of partners, from farmers to family physicians, from scientists to entrepreneurs, from startups to multinationals.

These parties frequently work on the same topics based on their own expertise and roles and ask themselves similar questions and come across the same obstacles. Often, they aren’t aware of the overlap and as a result, supply and demand don’t match. We help these parties work together, share knowledge and expertise, and as a result go faster and reach further.

Innovation leads

We have fantastic Innovation Leads for each of the three fields: Jolijn, Judith and Jeroen.

They take a detailed look at a burning topic with their teams and move the topic forward with a wider group – often with opposing interests. An interesting example that I am personally proud of is the joint initiative 'the Bean Deal': a collaboration between 56 parties with the aim of increasing protein-rich crops in the Netherlands (including lupin, field beans and soy).

We ensure that these parties come to the table and together formulate a long-term vision, so that everyone – especially offtakers– makes a long-term commitment. This creates a market for sustainable products and fair prices for farmers.

Practical help from farm to fork

As a Practice Leader we aim to turn thoughts and ambitions into practice. We drive collective action with frontrunners across sectors and countries. We provide access to the right people, financial resources, shared facilities and best practices. The result: viable businesses and new healthy sustainable sectors.

Innovation development will help the ecosystem flourish, and as a result the individual players as well. We refer you to suitable existing programmes or develop something new to address what is not there. The goal: to make good solutions for a more sustainable food future succeed.

Our work doesn’t stop at the borders. Because people all over the world are working on themes similar to ours. Paola Giavedoni is the Lead Global Connections. In her role, she opens and expands our international network. Paola identifies which global connections are relevant for our initiatives, communities and partners. She then initiates the right collaborations to accelerate the update and exports or imports concepts where appropriate.

Finally, Emmanuel Anom makes facilities available to those working to bring their products to market. In close cooperation with Wageningen University and Research we access what is present in the wider ecosystem, open it up for use by others, and arrange coalitions and financing to fill the gaps.

Enjoy the read and please reach out.