Third parties are allowed to participate in Albert Heijn’s renowned Better for Nature & Farmer program.

Third parties are allowed to participate in Albert Heijn’s renowned Better for Nature & Farmer program.

Ahold Delhaize is pleased to announce that its beloved local Dutch brand Albert Heijn has invited other market participants to participate in its well-known Better for Nature & Farming initiative. The goal is for Milieu Centraal’s environmental organization’s ecolabel to be more broadly recognized. Together with its partners in the value chain, Albert Heijn sees the necessity of making the food system more sustainable and future-proof. Based on the mission “Making better food accessible together for everyone.”, the supermarket chain is continuously taking strides towards a healthy, social and sustainable community. By changing its programs from a private business logo to a more widely recognized label, Albert Heijn hopes to help the Netherlands create a new food system.

In the Dutch food chain, Albert Heijn serves as a link between consumers, vendors, farms, and growers. In 2017, the Better for Nature & Farmers initiative was launched. For each type of chain, such as dairy, poultry, and pig farmers and growers, the program and its content have been created in close cooperation with farmers and growers. 1,100 farmers and growers have participated in these initiatives to date. Together with Albert Heijn, their goals are to enhance animal welfare, the environment, and farmer income.

Each year, certification organizations separately audit these programs, and Milieu Centraal evaluates them for ambition, dependability, and transparency.

CEO of Albert Heijn, Marit van Egmond, offered comments on the choice. “In order to make progress toward improved animal welfare, a better climate, and a stable business model for farms and growers, collaboration within a closed supply chain from land to customer is necessary. Through Beter voor Natuur & Boer, we have been pursuing this for some time. By making these programs accessible to other parties, we are constantly working toward the goal of creating a new food system, a more sustainable future, and improving the world as a whole.

The project
Albert Heijn is working to better animal welfare, sustainability, and the environment with 450 dairy farmers, 100 pig farmers, 200 poultry farmers, 360 fruit and vegetable growers, and 100 pig farmers in the Netherlands. This specifically refers to the ability of farmers and growers to make a living. Through mutual consultation, Albert Heijn creates long-term agreements with the farms and growers. Every farmer and grower should receive a fair fee during every season. Albert Heijn intends to make up for additional expenditures made by farmers [in sustainability or enhancing animal welfare. For several decades, the supermarket chain has collaborated with numerous growers and farmers. They provide potatoes, fruit, veggies, dairy, cheese, meat, poultry, and meat products.

launching a campaign for good
An excellent illustration of how Ahold Delhaize’s companies are promoting a more sustainable food system is the Better For initiative. A key component of Ahold Delhaize’s decarbonization efforts is encouraging and assisting suppliers to set their own emissions-reduction goals in accordance with the most recent scientific research and joining the Science Based goals initiative. We want to take the initiative in this. We are constantly interacting with the supply chain of our brands and using our influence in the food retail industry to help advance the cause of lowering greenhouse gas emissions.

GSN