Author: Dennis

A study done by Belgian bank KBC in 2017 calculated that over 35-40 years, farmers only have the capacity to pay back 25.000 – 30.000 euro per hectare. But if we look at the average price in 2019, we’re already at 46.778 euro! Prices also range per province, from 42.382 euro in Limburg to 64.561…

Bangka, an island located in Sumatra, Indonesia, was one of world’s biggest producer of white pepper. But today it’s mostly known for its tin mines. These mines have polluted the water supply leading to serious health issues for the people and to agricultural land to be unusable. Because of the declining fertility, many of the…

Wanted to share my thoughts after reading The Third Plate by Dan Barber. First a quick summary to frame the book. The first plate: what chefs are currently serving The second plate: the sustainable version of the first plate (think grass fed beef, organic vegetables. The second corrects a lot of the problems that the…

The plan doesn’t happen if there we don’t have amazing products. Amazing products that people seek out because: they want them they support the mission and share the same values In that order. A great example that comes to mind is Tony Chocolonely. Whenever I see someone eating their chocolate, I always ask why they’re…

During the last week, I’ve gotten a bit more clarity over the path ahead. The unifying mission is simple: Accelerate the transition to regenerative agriculture by creating awesome food products. It’s still a little rough around the edges, but here is the plan: Phase 1: Develop awesome food products powered by regenerative agriculture Build an…

Going to try something else. The idea is very simple. Every Monday I share what I’ve learned last week. At the intersection of agriculture, sustainability and consumerism. Values drive action People that are motivated by extrinsic rewards tend to seek wealth, possessions and status. They are also less likely to care about the living world, to make…

I came across this interesting article describing how SpaceX is ramping up its production facilities. It’s headquartered in California, but for its new rocket ship, Starship, SpaceX is building out it’s based on the coast of Texas. And the speed at which they are moving is mind-blowing. SpaceX CEO and lead engineer Elon Musk got…

I came across this 2020 trend report put out by Fjord, which is the design consultancy from Accenture. The main goal of a report like this is to get a foot in the door of big companies, so I take these predictions with a grain of salt. But reading through the report, I found the…

Dutch photographer Henk Wildschut had spent a lot of time in refugee camps. While there, he started noticing and documenting the small gardens he found there. These ranged from small containers of dirt to a row of trees that would provide shade for their tents in a few years’ time. These plants came from all…

This week, I’m riffing on some news. Both Microsoft and IKEA announced plans to be carbon neutral by 2030. And once that’s done, they plan to kick it up a notch: Microsoft wants to remove all historical carbon by 2050. IKEA wants to be climate positive from that point on. These big statements by big…