Community of Practice Business in Landscapes

Background

Every food and consumer goods company relies on landscapes and nature for sourcing raw materials. This connection might seem distant at times, but it is rapidly becoming more immediate due to our lack of awareness in managing these resources over the past decades. Issues like erosion, salinization, depletion, drought, pollution, and the rapid loss of biodiversity are increasingly being linked to the production of our food. The amount of usable agricultural land is decreasing globally: 75% of it is degraded to some extent, resulting in reduced productivity and declining quality of the food produced. The loss of healthy soils costs the world approximately 10.6 trillion dollars annually.

An increasing number of companies and business professionals are searching for sustainable alternatives and ways to implement them practically and make them commercially viable.

For these companies, Solidaridad, Natuurverdubbelaars, and MVO Nederland are launching the Community of Practice Business in Landscapes. This initiative focuses on the sourcing of raw materials and products (such as cotton, mangoes, spices, wood, or coffee) and the interaction that production can have with the landscape in which it takes place. This includes positive impacts on water, biodiversity, and soil, as well as on productivity and product quality.

There is room for a maximum of 15 participating companies. So far, we have received 7 applications from the food and textile sectors, including from Verstegen, Bavaria, Moyee, and Fairtrade Original.

Together, we aim to embark on a journey to learn from each other’s experiences and challenges. We want to create thought leadership and work concretely on cases from the participants’ own practices. All of this will be done under the guidance of passionate experts.

What does your company gain from this?

Taking better care of our production landscape is more than just responsible business; it is smart business in both the short and long term. Why? It can:

1. Increase productivity in the short and long term, ensuring raw material availability over time (boosting revenue);
2. Reduce the use of fertilizers and pesticides (lowering costs and environmental impact);
3. Improve product quality (better nutritional content, less waste, longer shelf life, better taste);
4. Generate customer/consumer loyalty or interest;
5. Enhance your company’s public image;
6. Increase employee loyalty and pride;
7. Strengthen your connection with the local community, farmers, and workers in and around the production landscape, or offer them (economic) prospects for the future;
8. Contribute concretely to addressing biodiversity challenges.