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Minister Staghouwer of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality believes that supermarkets “definitely have a role to play” in the nitrogen crisis. That is what the minister says after questions from Zembla. Farmers are demonstrating today at various supermarket distribution centers. The Central Food Bureau (CBL) called on the farmers to lift the blockades. The supermarkets would “not be a party to the nitrogen conflict.”
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Minister Staghouwer will speak with the supermarket sector today: “I want the supermarkets to make concrete agreements with suppliers and farmers about, for example, making the range more sustainable. Another way to help farmers become more sustainable is a better distribution of margins and risks and being transparent about this.”
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The minister wants to see results within six months: “If in 6 months it appears that actions in practice do not yield sufficient results, that the position of the farmer does not improve and the sustainability efforts are lagging behind, then I will proceed to deploy binding legal instruments, including legal requirements.”
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The power of the supermarkets
Supermarkets have a huge position of power in the current food system. Research by Zembla shows that supermarkets are actively resisting the House of Representatives’ call to report annually on what they are doing to make the food chain more sustainable. It also appears that supermarkets do not want to make firm agreements about paying a higher price to farmers who produce more sustainably.
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Most farmers barely earn any money from the production of food. They are trapped in a system of rock bottom prices and increasingly higher yields per hectare. As a result, they are not sufficiently able to become sustainable. Meanwhile, the soil is depleted by overuse of fertilizers and pesticides. Biodiversity is declining at a rapid pace.
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Watch the broadcast ‘Supermarket power’
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