Belgium Archives - Food Planet Prize

Europe’s first certified carbon payment program for farmers could help to accelerate the transition towards regenerative farming across the world.

Soil Capital is on a mission to become the first independent agronomy firm dedicated to transforming farmland at scale. It reflects an urgent need to revitalize soil health and restore the natural fertility of agroecosystems. Over its decade-long journey, its agronomists and farming experts have steered farmers toward more profitable and sustainable agricultural practices.

The turning point for Soil Capital came in 2019 with the launch of Europe’s first certified carbon payment program for farmers, a major step towards incentivizing sustainable farming practices. Unlike the better-known offsetting model, Soil Capital advocates for insetting, where emissions reductions are achieved within the agri-food value chain itself. The initiative explains that this strategy drives greater systemic change by building more future-fit supply chains. At the core of Soil Capital’s approach is its data model, Beyond Carbon, which uses more than 30 indicators to guide farmers on how to manage land in harmony with nature, creating ecosystemic and economic value. It reflects farm performance across five critical areas: soil health, biodiversity, water management, climate, and socioeconomics.

Its farmer-facing application, mySoilCapital, enables farmers to input their data with minimal administrative burden. In return, they gain insights into how to reduce the cost of synthetic inputs, such as fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and fuels, and how to build greater climate resilience.

_{Pictures taken on the same day on two different farms in the same region in France. These two fields show totally different soil responses to rainfall, one being able to absorb heavy rainfall and will keep producing food (right, photo from a Soil Capital farmer), the other becoming a field of mud (left).}

According to the initiative, the Soil Capital Regenerative program has engaged more than 1,800 farmers over 500,000 ha across France, Belgium, and the UK to date. More than €15 million has been distributed in payments to farmers, a result of support from food system stakeholders, primarily within the agri-food sector. These payments recognize the critical ecosystem services farmers provide and strengthen their role in safeguarding food security.

In a significant milestone, Soil Capital became a certified B Corp in 2022, further solidifying its commitment to social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability. The company is also a founding member of the Climate Agriculture Alliance, a coalition which is working to build robust, science-based frameworks for agricultural carbon finance in Europe.

Learn more about Soil Capital.

Written by Gilly Smith
Photos provided by Soil Capital

A one-stop digital platform for food distributors and suppliers could tackle the root cause of food waste through AI.

Choco, a UK based tech company, claims that it has discovered a way to create food sustainability on a global scale. By transforming how orders are handled in the food supply industry, it says that it could prevent waste at source.

Its digital platform connects vendors directly with the producers, cutting out the middle man or woman, streamlining the food chain and making food travel the shortest routes possible. The company’s goal is to create a globally connected digital food system.

Choco claims that 70% of food waste happens in the supply chain before food reaches the consumer. But the company says AI can help tackle this inefficiency deep in the system where a lack of end-to-end accountability and disconnection between producers and buyers has led to a fragmented and complex structure. Without digitalization, transparency and data-driven decision-making is almost impossible.

Choco, which currently works with 15,000 restaurants and 10,000 suppliers to help them save time, money, and food, has a two-step action plan to address the problem. With every value-adding business across the food supply chain using its technology, the automation process, according to the company, would decrease cost, eliminate waste, and immediately increase profitability.

The app’s ability to harness the power of AI to find innovative solutions could lead to better demand forecasting, inventory management, ordering, food waste monitoring, and more accurate cost reports. This unravelling of the back end directly addresses the root causes of food waste within the food supply chain.

Choco is a third-generation business whose societal and environmental values are intrinsically linked to economic success and sustainability. It claims that by creating a direct link between commercial value and environmental impact, it can make a substantial difference in curbing GHG emissions.

And a streamlined, waste-free food system which connects suppliers directly to vendors could compensate farmers more fairly for their produce, according to Choco. The impact of this on farmers in poorer regions could lead to better access to education and community engagement. By regulating supply based on needs rather than price, Choco believes that it can help to ensure a stable and consistent food supply, fostering social stability and security.

The system could even redirect surplus food to those in need, significantly contributing to alleviating hunger and food insecurity on a global scale.

The company’s vision for the next 10 years is bold; it aims to use AI to optimize the food chain for farmers and manufacturers from source to plate, solving food sustainability on a global scale. It says that it has proven the model in Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, South East Asia, and Australia.

Learn more about Choco here!

Country: Belgium

Country: Belgium

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