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Agri-food Vision: Working Together Toward a True Value Food System
Opinion
True Value as a Solution for a Sustainable Agri-food Sector
True Value is all about the total value of food production, including its impact on the climate, the environment, health, animal welfare, and food security. This value must be recognized and rewarded. Not only by governments and companies but also, for example, by supermarkets and consumers. This ensures that those elements of broad prosperity also become part of the mainstream economy.
In brief
Wat is True Value?
A system based on True Value takes into account the external impact of food production, including the added value in the context of broad prosperity. This means that climate, the environment, health, animal welfare, food security costs, and yields are taken into account in assessing and rewarding producers and other supply chain stakeholders.
Many sub-sectors already have several years of experience with individual components of such a True Value system, for example through private quality marks or industry-wide agreements under which businesses are compensated for sustainable practices. Various governmental bodies (local, national, and European) also already make concrete payments for ecosystem services. The time has come to combine all these separate components into a clear and widely supported system.
Aim for an Integrated System
For a True Value system to operate effectively, the indicators and targets used to measure sustainability in the various sub-sectors must be clear. This is known as goal-oriented management. Farmers and horticulturists understand the results they are aiming for and have more freedom to decide how they achieve these goals. Both the chain and government support this movement toward goal-oriented management.
The challenge for the food supply chain is to develop the different individual initiatives into an integrated system that contributes to:
True Value Language as an Important Step
For a comprehensive True Value system, it is important that all parties in the food chain define and value sustainability in the same way. We need a common, consistent language for this: the True Value Language (TVL).
Such a language enables sustainability performance comparisons, for example, between different products, manufacturers, or countries of origin. A common language provides insight into hidden costs (and revenues) of Dutch products versus products from abroad. Such a clear language also helps in making comparisons regarding different sustainability performance metrics.
Rabobank took the initiative in 2025 to establish a public-private partnership dedicated to developing such a common language. This contributes to supply chain transparency, targeted sustainability efforts, fair rewards for sustainable performance, and efficient cooperation between supply chain stakeholders and the government. The aim is that the method will be available for everyone in the sector by 2027 and that this serves as a foundation for accelerating the transition to sustainable agriculture and horticulture.
Consumers and Supermarkets are Important for the Transition
A True Value system concerns the entire food system, from farm to fork. This means that everyone can play a role in this, including consumers and supermarkets.
Price is the most important decision factor for Dutch consumers. Even in 2040, only a small group of consumers will be willing to pay a premium for a product that has social value. The same largely applies to foreign consumers, which is why it is vital that we level the playing field at European level as far as possible.
Supermarkets play a crucial role in the transition to a True Value consumption pattern. This is in addition to the government’s role in promoting sustainable production and consumption through taxes, restrictions, or subsidies. Consumers are always seeking more convenience and spend less time in the kitchen. They purchase more ready meals, order meal deliveries, or eat out. Supermarkets are responding to this with convenience products and services. By 2040, this product range will be increasingly tailored to specific consumer preferences, including health and sustainability preferences. This need for peace of mind can be a key driver of transparency and pricing based on True Value in food supply chains.
Chain Management Needed to Improve Chain Sustainability
To realize the True Value of sustainable agriculture and horticulture, farmers and horticulturists will incur additional costs to reduce such things as emissions and waste runoff, adopt extensification practices, and make efforts to increase biodiversity. The entire chain must generate extra income for agriculturists in order to cover these additional costs. This requires coordination across the supply chain in two areas: Setting prices for services and preventing an uneven playing field with some parties attempting to evade True Value.
We purchase some three quarters of our food in the supermarket. This will not be very different in 2040. However, we are anticipating a transition to more online services, although this will also be dominated by supermarkets. The supermarket landscape will see further consolidation in the coming years, with the number of stores and retail characteristics being concentrated in a limited number of large chains. This will result in supermarket chains being a dominant force in the food supply chain and a key driver of greater transparency and sustainability in line with True Value.
It is important that entrepreneurs in the chain cooperate if they are to contribute to sustainability. A common language forms the basis of this (see the True Value Language frame). Entrepreneurs will
make agreements about the goals they aim to realize based on this common language. Agreements will also be made on the rewards needed to realize these goals, such as additional surcharges and/or sales security. Cooperation becomes less non-committal, takes on a more structural and long-term character, and leads to increasing interdependencies. Price negotiations will become more balanced as a result.
True Value in Practice
Domestically grown lupins: André Jurrius is building a new food chain
Why import soya from far afield if enough healthy protein sources grow here? André Jurrius is putting lupins on the map and is building a sustainable food chain. In Randwijk, André Jurrius runs the De Lingehof Eco Farm. He grows potatoes, onions, and cereals in his fields, as well as a notable newcomer: The lupin bean. This protein-rich crop can help make the protein transition and is also good for the soil. Read more.